At the risk of seeming sacrilegious, IMHO the world can't have enough pizza, even if it is in Chinatown. And if Mia has a hankering for a nice slice, she can just slide over to Outta Sight, rather than having to hoof it all the way into North Beach

Tenderloin Pizza Darling Outta Sight Opens Its Long-Awaited Chinatown Shop

Pizzas by the slice and pie, wraps, wings, and more are coming to Outta Sight’s new location

by Dianne de Guzman Jan 15, 2025, 1:34pm PST Photography by Patricia Chang

Dianne de Guzman is the regional editor for Eater's Northern California/Pacific Northwest sites, writing about restaurant and bar trends, upcoming openings, and pop-ups for the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Denver.

Outta Sight Pizza (643 Clay Street) debuts on Wednesday, January 15, and is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Chinatown and FiDi, get ready: Outta Sight Pizza, the sequel, is now open as of Wednesday, January 15.

It’s been a long time coming for pizza aficionados in this part of San Francisco. In September 2022, chef Eric Ehler and business partner Peter Dorrance opened their first location of Outta Sight in the Tenderloin, following a successful pizza residency at Hayes Valley’s Fig & Thistle. The shop quickly racked up accolades for its thin-crust and tavern-style slices and pies, which include mainstays like pepperoni plus wilder, more playful options like a recent burrata- and ikura-topped special. It’s that willingness to tinker with the pizza formula that lured diners to Outta Sight’s storefront, along with a strong sandwich menu that hit its stride with classic Italian combos and riffs like a confit albacore sandwich with coriander, fennel, and lemon peel — all on homemade ciabatta. Meanwhile, Dorrance and Ehler have become champions for the Tenderloin neighborhood, encouraging diners to explore other businesses along Larkin Street close to their shop.

While the new Chinatown location is not a carbon copy of the first shop, it shares some core tenets with the original (the pizza, of course). But this location’s larger kitchen will let the team play around even more with offerings, Ehler says. Beyond the usual slices, ideas are already percolating for special pies at the 643 Clay Street location. Ehler wants to add a loco moco-style pizza, taking a loco moco gravy with cooked-down onions, garlic, and shiitakes and spooning it over a white pie. Dorrance, meanwhile, looks forward to a return of a butter chicken slice that the group sold at an event last year. Ehler says a tea-smoked duck pizza, which he will smoke in-house, is a possibility, along with offering some thicker slices. “We always want to have a couple of things that have callbacks to spots in Chinatown,” Ehler says. “Dishes that we love or are famous in the area, and pay homage, so to speak. We have an ability here because the kitchen’s a little bit bigger, and we’re more well set up to produce different kinds of pizza.”

There won’t be sandwiches, the duo says, but the shop will offer wraps, with a ginger scallion chicken Caesar to be added to the menu. Wings are also on deck; the items were (briefly) on the menu at the other location, but now with a proper hood to its name, this Outta Sight location will soon feature salt and pepper, General Tso’s, Buffalo, Korean fried chicken-style, plus some other options down the line. Thanks to a beer and wine license, the shop will have some drinking options on hand, and the team is tinkering with the idea of expanding hours to transform into a nighttime wine bar, along with offering late-night “drunk pizzas” in the future. “This space is really neat at night because the neighborhood block is pretty chill, you dim the lights, and it looks really, really cute in there,” Ehler says.

Already, it seems the neighborhood is excited to welcome Outta Sight into the fold. No less than three neighbors stopped by to inquire about the opening date on Tuesday, and Dorrance and Ehler both don’t take that popularity for granted. “When we first opened in the Tenderloin, we ran it bare bones: Eric in the kitchen and me up front,” Dorrance says. “And then you get to know everyone, you get to know their name, and then develop a relationship with them. It’s already starting here and that feels good.”

The same pride that Dorrance and Ehler exude in the Tenderloin extends to Chinatown. Dorrance and Ehler met while working at Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s, just a few blocks over; their favorite restaurants are nearby, they mention, such as Jiu alums Franky Ho and Mike Long’s restaurant, Four Kings; and there are plenty of skateboarding spots around, which the team enjoys during breaks. “A lot of people don’t realize how youthful Chinatown is,” Ehler says, “There’s another Renaissance coming, and because we love the neighborhood and we met here in the neighborhood working, it just felt like a cute little homecoming.”

Tenderloin Pizza Darling Outta Sight Opens Its Long-Awaited Chinatown Shop

Greg