You’ve probably heard of the sushi burrito, made popular by Bay Area chain Sushirrito in 2011. Now, Sushirrito cofounders Peter Yen and Ty Mahler are back with a new fusion concept: mochi pizza.
“That’s something we enjoy doing: creating something new that makes sense that hasn’t been done before,” Yen says.
The idea came to them as Yen and Mahler were talking about pizza one day and wondering why there weren’t any Asian pizza brands. Rather than add Asian flavors to traditional pizza, they took a suggestion from Mahler’s wife and began to experiment with the concept of a mochi pizza.
“A lot of people love mochi, and everybody is familiar with pizza,” Yen says. “Combining the two? People really want to try it.”
The curry chicken pizza from Mochiko is served on a mochi crust and topped with chicken karaage, mozzarella cheese, corn, jalapeño, Japanese curry and fresh cilantro. (Courtesy Mochiko)
The mochi pizzas are already available at their Mochiko Burlingame brick-and-mortar, which opened in November, and they’ve begun a soft-launch in Palo Alto, sharing kitchen space with the Sushirrito storefront on University Avenue, according to Yen. Redwood City and San Francisco lie just ahead.
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Mochiko offers pizza with a mochi-based, gluten-free crust made with a proprietary blend of rice flours. It took months of experimentation to develop a crust recipe that yielded a chewy-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside texture, Yen says. And as the pizzas become more widely available, visitors can expect expanded menu offerings. including new toppings, sides and desserts in the future.
“There’s a lot of culinary freedom with this format,” he says.
Details: Mochiko is open from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and noon to 8 p.m. weekends at 283 Lorton Ave. in Burlingame. Mochi pizzas are also available from 5 to 7:30 p.m. daily at Sushirrito, 448 University Ave. in Palo Alto; mochipizza.com.
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