What to order at buzzy new pizzeria

Outta Sight, from a former Mister Jiu’s chef, offers New York-style pies in S.F. with surprises

The much-anticipated pizza spot from seasoned San Francisco chef Eric Ehler finally opened its doors last month in the Tenderloin. Called Outta Sight, the shop at 422 Larkin St. specializes in large, 18-inch thinand-crispy cheesy New York-style pizza, available both by the whole pie and by the slice.

Ehler, who has experience cooking in fine-dining Michelin-starred restaurants like Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown and working with pizza at places like PizzaHacker, started Outta Sight as a pop-up in 2020. He eventually landed a permanent residency at Fig & Thistle wine bar in Hayes Valley, which he will continue to operate. But the Larkin location is Outta Sight’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant that’s 100% owned and operated by Ehler and his business partner, Peter Dorrance, who met while cooking together at Mister Jiu’s.

Moving from a fine-dining kitchen to a casual slice shop is an adjustment, said Ehler. “When you seek out to be a chef, you don’t think you’ll ever do pizza and burgers,” he says. But the chef has come to appreciate more possibilities in classic foods. “That’s the thing about pizza — it’s a canvas. So many people have connections to it, so why not use that as a platform?”

What that means for Ehler is creating a place that is inclusive and supportive of his community. The restaurant plans to regularly rotate art on its walls and host art openings and parties. “I’d like to be one of those people who could help bring more people to the Tenderloin by having a warm, welcoming space,” Ehler says.

Outta Sight is open weekdays only for takeaway and dine-in customers, with four tables for seating as well as a counter near the window with standing room for six; delivery will come at some point soon, and eventually, the restaurant hopes to stay up until 11 p.m. seven days a week. For now, Ehler is taking things slow and the restaurant closes at 7 p.m. or until sold out.

At the heart of the space is Outta Sight’s pizza, which has already earned a dedicated following. Chronicle critic Soleil Ho named Outta Sight’s orchard pie one of the best foods they had in 2021, and Ehler’s salad dressing has become so popular he sells it on its own. On Larkin Street, Outta Sight offers up to nine differently topped pies at any given moment, displayed in a glass case. Beer and wine are coming soon once licenses are approved. There are also salads, and seasonal fruit and vegetable sides are in the works.

Here’s how Ehler creates some of the dishes that paved the way for Outta Sight to expand from its existing pop-up to the new brick-andmortar location.

Pepperoni

To build the pepperoni pizza, Ehler stretches out his pizza dough (which requires a three-day process to make), seasons the rim with a bit of kosher salt, then ladles on 6 ounces of an uncooked tomato sauce. That sauce contains a mix of canned San Marzano-style tomatoes from California, hand-crushed for texture and then blended with garlic, basil, salt and olive oil. The pizza is topped with both low-moisture shredded mozzarella, a smattering of fresh mozzarella Ehler makes in-house, and a plethora of pepperoni. Ehler prefers the brand Ezzo from Columbus, Ohio, which he calls the platonic pepperoni ideal. “It’s salty, it’s flavorful, it’s slightly smoky and it’s not as greasy,” he says. Once baked, the pizza is finished with olive oil, dried oregano, a shower of shaved Grana Padano or dry jack cheese, depending on what’s available, and a flourish of fresh basil.

Mushroom

Growing up in Iowa, Ehler’s favorite pizza was a white pie — sans tomato sauce — with mushrooms, a style he has re-created at Outta Sight. Ehler’s mushroom pie starts with a drizzle of olive oil all over the dough. Then it’s topped with both dry shredded mozzarella and fresh mozzarella before being covered with an assortment of mushrooms sourced from Bay Area purveyor Black Diamond Mushroom Co. The mix changes based on what’s available, but Ehler almost always includes king trumpet for their sweetness and crimini for what he calls “the oldschool pizzeria mushroom flavor.” Other mushrooms in the mix could include maitake or shiitake, depending on availability.

Vegan

For Ehler’s vegan pie, he takes inspiration from some of the Bay Area’s array of Indian pizzerias, such as Zante’s in Bernal Heights, which features pizza with saag (spinach) and tikka masala sauces. “I’ve been going there for years and they always offered a vegan pizza,” Ehler says.

To make the vegan sauce, Ehler blends together tomatoes, fried onions, ginger, garlic, madras curry powder, garam masala and chile flakes along with a good amount of olive oil to keep the sauce creamy and emulsified. He then tops the pies with a seasonal vegetable or two, like thinly sliced summer squash and pickled Jimmy Nardello peppers. Once the pizza is baked, it’s finished with a drizzle of slightly spicy and herby cilantro-mint chutney.

Garden Salad

Outta Sight’s garden salad is a mix between a chopped salad and a submarine sandwich — it contains crunchy shredded iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, cucumbers and tangy pepperoncini — everything you’d find in a submarine sandwich and then some, minus the bread. Ehler also adds fresh mozzarella, a few slices of pepperoni and a dash of dried oregano.

The tangy dressing contains vinegar, mustard, garlic, lemon juice and a blend of oils — he serves the same dressing for a similar salad at Fig & Thistle that is so popular people buy it by the quart. “It’s like the best version of Wish-Bone Italian,” says Ehler, citing the ubiquitous bottled dressing.

Fruits & Vegetables

Outta Sight also plans to offer a small selection of simple fruit and vegetable sides sourced weekly from the farmers’ market at the U.N. Plaza, a five-minute walk from the new Larkin storefront. These will change with the seasons but could include pairings like figs with shiso and sprinkled with Tajin; stone fruit with an herbed tahini topped with smoked almonds; grapes with lemon verbena; and tomatoes and Jimmy Nardello peppers dressed with lime and olive oil.

“I love the Civic Center market,” says Ehler. “It’s wild, and it has a great variety of Asian ingredients and California regional stuff.”

Outta Sight. 11 a.m.-7 p.m, or until sold out, Monday-Friday. 422 Larkin St., San Francisco. www.thatsouttasight.com

Photos by Omar Mamoon/Special to The Chronicle