Noble Rotisserie and Speak Cheezy have come to collaborate on a Californian classic. The almighty, birthed-at-California-Pizza-Kitchen barbecue chicken pizza.
“Super excited for the patio party Friday night to launch this collab,” Noble co-owner Sidney Price said. “Chef is going to be slinging pies on the patio at noble with dairy-free cheese. And yes, Speak Cheezy’s space will have a dairy version out of his pizzeria. TrustedGut will also be doing a pop-up with some of their fun beers we don’t have on tap. And that includes some gluten-reduced brews and kombuchas.”
Those beers include their American IPA and “BEERGUT,” a light rice lager while Noble continues to offer their blonde ale and amber lager. Joining them will be Trusted Gut’s Watermelon Mint Kombucha in a can.
The pizza? It will be available at the pizzeria on 4th and Noble Rotisserie at the 2nd + PCH retail complex. But it’s construction is pure Californian love, likely and proudly earning the sneer of New Yorkers. Noble’s roasted chicken is paired with a smoky bacon jam—much like the one found their amazing cornbread. Some pickled onions. Jalapeños. And a double dousing of the space’s rightfully loved G Sauce. It first has a use of the sauce at the base and then is finished with G Sauce aioli. To complete this Californian masterpiece? A side of Noble’s house-made ranch for West Coast dunking (both literally and culturally).
The BBQ chicken pizza was birthed in California—so it is only right Noble Rotisserie and Speak Cheezy take it on.
Back when the world thought pizza began and ended with pepperoni, sausage, onions, and green peppers, California decided to shake the whole thing up.
It started in Berkeley, with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, who dared to throw the unexpected onto a pizza and cook it in a wood-fired oven—think ingredients that would’ve made your neighborhood pizzeria flinch. But if Waters cracked open the door, it was Ed LaDou who kicked it wide. As the original pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck’s iconic Spago and the mind behind the first menu at California Pizza Kitchen, LaDou brought a new vision to the table: barbecue chicken, hoisin duck, marinated shrimp. This wasn’t just pizza—it was a West Coast rebellion in dough form.
Fast forward to today, and the torch is still burning. James Beard-nominated chef Thomas McNaughton continues the lineage at San Francisco’s Flour + Water. Fifteen years in, the place still draws a cult-like following for wood-fired pies topped with things like bone marrow and rapini—proof that the California pizza ethos isn’t about tradition. It’s about, well, the toppings. With, of course, a perfected dough—be it Napolitan a la Flour + Water or sourdough via Speak Cheezy.
(Coletta’s in Memphis, by the way, deserves a mention for putting barbecue sauce on its pizzas back in the 1950s, much to the love of Elvis himself.)
Why Noble Rotisserie matters in the food scene.
For any parent with children who have severe allergies, the world changes. Birthday parties are helicopter-ing nightmares: Do you have anything without cheese or nuts or soy or…? Playgrounds become danger zones: That kid ate some cake with their hands and those hands are touching nearly every surface of the park. And going out to eat? Basically impossible, not to mention stressful on the kitchen. These were the struggles that Sidney and Steve faced with both of their sons. And this is where Noble Rotisserie was birthed.
One of the country’s allergen-focused restaurants, Noble Rotisserie has redefined how families with allergies can enjoy going out. Of course, as her children have “graduated” into the ability to eat things they never could thanks to some incredibly advanced immunotherapy practices, there are still the countless families who depend on Noble for their dinner-outing needs.
“I think what’s frustrating is the weird pigeonhole the allergen-sensitive motif put on our food,” Sidney said. “Because ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have allergies; this is healthy, quality, well-made food that is good for every human. But I think a strange stigma somehow gets placed on it when this is just, simply put, good food.”
Why Speak Cheezy matters to the food scene.
It is hard to miss the love of Speak Cheezy owner Chef Jason Edward Winters: It is exuded through his family, his community, his stellar pizza collaborations—which include those with Filipino staple Gemmae, Chef Carlos Jurado of Selva, Chef Philip Pretty of Heritage, Chef Eduardo Chang of Sushi Nikkei…
It also doesn’t hurt that the Washington Post named Speak Cheezy one of the best pizzerias in the nation in 2023.
Of course, those bits of love don’t just appear out of thin air; they require authenticity in both personality and professionalism, talent in both the kitchen and communication, and a deep sense of trust—and Winters has achieved that through a decade of mastering his craft, remaining humble to the point of nearly being absurd, and letting his pies speak for themselves.
And his choice of constant experimentation—be it his Detroit-style square or a cold cheese pizza that makes it one of the best cheese pies in the city—is what makes Speak Cheezy a pizza legend. Period.
The Noble Rotisserie and Speak Cheezy collaboration will be available on Friday, June 6. A dairy-free version will be available at Noble from 5PM to 7PM, located at 6460 Pacific Coast Hwy in Suite 125 in the 2nd + PCH retail complex along its Marine Drive facade. A dairy version will be offered at Speak Cheezy, located at 3950 E. 4th St.
Pretty! This has been a really wonderful post. Many thanks for providing these details.