The world of Long Beach pizza is vast and fiercely competitive. Amid the stretching and proofing and topping, The 4th Horseman has managed to stand out as a horrorcore swan song to the mightily humble pie. And with its new expansion? Firmly cements the pizzeria as one of the coolest, one of the most consistent, and one of the most cadaverous.
More games, more space, more horror: The 4th Horseman doubles its space in DTLB
“One of our biggest problems was seating if not our biggest problem.”
These are the words of The 4th Horseman’s co-owner Jeremy Cross. And he was standing in what used to be the Dark Art Emporium. The beloved art gallery of the dark happily and strategically moved to the East Village so that the Horseman could expand. The DTLB staple has doubled its occupancy, with an entirely new space. New murals. A new pool table (which someone decided to be a dick and steal the 8-ball already). More arcade games (including the 90s classics House of the Dead and Cruisin’ USA).
The 4th Horseman is the true OG of pizza-as-a-canvas in Long Beach
The two Jeremies—4th Horseman owners Jeremy Cross and Jeremy Schott—share a lot with each other beyond the names. Each are artists in their own right. Cross’s work being featured at their Dark Art Emporium and Schott being one of the finest cinephiles around, having worked in the film industry. They love to support artists (hence why they also own the Dark Art Emporium).
And in this sense, it seems obvious as to why they would choose a chef that has an artistic slant to their work as well.
The 4th Horseman has never been more consistent or more delicious
While 4th Horsemen’s classic pies have always been a steady, dependable choice—I still stand by the fact that their plain cheese its signature pizzas that really set it apart: Not quite New York(though happily foldable) or Neapolitan (there is no wood-fired oven), but certainly Californian (where toppings include everything from carnitas and house-made vegan sausage to blueberry chipotle sauce), the pizza at 4th Horseman has come to define a part of Long Beach’s rich pizza scene.
Chef Mike Royal is the mastermind behind the pies that come out of the space’s tiny-but-mighty kitchen. They’re yeasty wonders acting as odes to the dark side. While they’ve always had specials, their special pizzas have been amped up.
”We’ve gone to doing them monthly,” Jeremy Cross said. “They’ve been that successful… Before we used to do a handful across the year but Chef Mike has really just amped it up and people are eating it up.”
And this month is no exception: the Chupacabra, an al pastor-centric pie with a slight bit of heat, is a wonderful salt bomb in all the right ways. Previous iterations? The Cronus, an ode to the Greek with tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, feta, mozzarella, Greek salad dressing, Kalamata olives, and spinach. There was the Green Inferno, a pesto-centric savory bomb of a pizza with just a bit of spice.
In other words, go. Play some pool (well, maybe later). Play some arcade games. Drink their amazing play on an Irish red on nitro that is the Red Reaper, a collaboration with Noble Ale Works. Eat some pizza you can’t find elsewhere. Support what is one of our locally best.
The 4th Horseman is located at 121 W. 4th Street.
