Born in Jerusalem, Yuda Piha’s early food memories were shaped more by falafel stands than pizza joints. Pizza, he said, was rare growing up.
Decades later, Piha co-owns La Mesa Pizzaworks in East County with his wife, Sarah, a native of Boston, with whom he navigates a challenge unfamiliar to most pizza makers: balancing religious dietary laws with mainstream American pizza tastes.
Behind the counter, Piha doesn’t present like a stereotypical pizzaiolo. There’s no flour-dusted apron or rolled sleeves — he just wears a dress shirt in a pizza kitchen that operates as one of the few full-service kosher pizzerias in San Diego County.
“Once you eat this pizza, you will want more,” Piha said. “We put out a good product that makes you happy.”
Pepperoni has become a symbol of that balancing act. Customers often arrive expecting one of America’s most familiar pizza toppings. They instead find a kosher alternative.
“The reason for having the pepperoni, besides the fact that it’s good, is because it’s a must,” Piha said. “A lot of people that eat pepperoni say it’s almost perfect.”
The pepperoni comes from a specialty manufacturer focused on kosher meat alternatives.
“I’ve spoken to the factory that makes it,” Piha said. “They care about what they put out.”
Piha points to another ingredient he believes has a great effect on the product.
“The second biggest ingredient in pizza is water,” he said, explaining that he sources it separately for the restaurant rather than relying solely on municipal supplies.
“We use special water,” he said. “I go and pick it up.”
The restaurant is Piha’s second venture in San Diego’s food industry. Before opening La Mesa Pizzaworks roughly two and a half years ago, he was part of the ownership group of Time Out, a downtown sports bar serving burgers and burritos. He said rising rent and changing conditions around the downtown area contributed to his exit from that business.
As he became more observant in his faith, he looked for a business that aligned with his religious practice while filling what he saw as a gap in the local food scene.
“Something that San Diego doesn’t have,” he recalled thinking.
The answer, he decided, was his particular approach to pizza.
“Pizza is a cultural thing, especially here in the United States,” Piha said. “Something that the Jewish community didn’t have was good pizza.”
Running the business, however, has come with familiar pressures for small restaurant owners. Piha said rising costs — from fuel to distributor delivery fees — have made operations more difficult.
“Gas is up… then distributors, they tack on another $50 for delivery,” he said. “You have to make it up somewhere.”
He said broader economic pressures also have changed customer behavior, with some diners watching their spending more closely.
“You can see a little bit less traffic,” he said. “People are watching their pockets much tighter.”
Still, Piha said day-to-day business has remained relatively steady, even as margins tighten.
“It’s always going to be challenging,” he said. “But these challenges today are just different.”
While the restaurant was created with kosher customers in mind, Piha said it was never intended to serve only the Jewish community. The pizzeria hosts school fundraisers and serves customers from across the region.
Online reviews regularly praise the restaurant’s crust and specialty pizzas, with customers frequently noting surprise at the quality of its plant-based toppings.
For Piha, that reaction reflects the goal: making pizza that appeals beyond its kosher designation.
“The food speaks for itself,” he said.
La Mesa Pizzaworks, 7406 University Ave., La Mesa. Open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., closed Saturday.
