London Eats: Sushi success fuels new deep-dish pizza spot downtown

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Pizza was his first love, but sushi took over. Now, after building a family of sushi restaurants, a London chef has opened a new spot on Richmond Row specializing in personal-sized deep-dish pizzas and crispy wings.

London Pie Co., which opened in early September at 660 Richmond St., is the latest project from restaurateur Minsoo Lee, best known for Plaza Sushi in three London locations and one in St. Thomas.

The new eatery specializes in Detroit-style pizzas baked in single-serving pans, a concept Lee says he’s been eager to try since before his sushi ventures took off.

“I never had time to do pizza, but I wanted to. Now, I’m all set and ready … Now, I am opening a pizza shop, which was originally what I wanted to do,” Lee said.

Lee said his first love was pizza.

“That’s the baseline of the story. Why would an Asian open a pizza shop in downtown?” he said.

For Lee, who once ran a sushi counter inside his parents’ small St. Thomas convenience store, pizza was the idea he had shelved for years because of financial reasons and the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time, the 31-year-old was a chef at another downtown sushi spot, but he lost his job when pandemic lockdowns began. Within a week of setting up a sushi counter inside his parents’ St. Thomas convenience store, business “just blew up”, he said, leading to his first sit-down restaurant.

Now, Lee finally is circling back to his original passion, deep-dish pies baked fast and topped with premium ingredients from lobster to duck confit.

“I always had it in mind that this (restaurant) concept would work,” Lee said. “But I didn’t have a stable income for me to gamble on it…. Luckily, it’s been very, very nice and people are responding to it really nicely.”

The menu reflects Lee’s fine-dining and sushi background, he said, pairing premium and international ingredients with six-inch pizzas, each pie finished with a crispy cheese crust.

The Motor City Classic ($15), an ode to Detroit, is served on a focaccia dough made in-house, topped with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, arugula and olive oil. Customers also can add flavour boosters such as hot honey or a ricotta cheese topping for $2.

More adventurous options include smoked duck confit topped with caramelized onions, mozzarella cheese, parmesan, oregano, greens and a balsamic glaze ($22).

There is also a lobster pie ($24) option and truffle brisket ($24), and entering the menu the near future, a wagyu beef pizza.

Lee also is working on adding oven-baked macaroni and cheese to menu.

“We want to keep it fresh, with a limited number available each day,” he said. “It’s not stovetop mac pretending to be homemade; this will be real, very good mac and cheese.”

New York-style pizza also is available for those who aren’t fans of the deep-dish style, Lee said.

“We just figured not everybody’s going to like the Detroit-style pizza, so I make it into a 14-inch Neapolitan-style pizza,” he said. “Eventually, we’ll expand the menu so that we’ll have all the New York-style pie, too, and then we’ll have slices.”

Gluten-free dough and crispy oven-baked wings, one pound for $13, are also on the menu, alongside desserts such as the espresso tiramisu ($10).

Beyond the food, Lee said his goal is to contribute to the downtown dining scene.

“If small businesses don’t work together, businesses will keep leaving. We need to work together, and we are working together,” Lee said. “Downtown is definitely a really good spot to do business. As long as you know what you’re doing with your neighbours and stuff.”

For now, Lee is focused on refining London Pie Co.’s offerings and rotating the menu to “keep it interesting” and keep customers coming back.

“I’m very excited to bring what I think is good pizza to downtown London, especially for office people and young professionals in downtown,” he said.

London Pie Co. is open Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and closed on Sundays.

bbaleeiro@postmedia.com