Tony’s Pizza alum opens highly anticipated Berkeley restaurant

But for those in the know, the grand opening of this pizzeria was about way more than a new place to carb load after class. 

Pizzeria da Laura is the first restaurant from Laura Meyer, an award-winning alum of San Francisco’s Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. She began working at one of Tony Gemignani’s restaurants when she was in high school, launching a decadeslong mentorship with the city’s most famous pizzaiolo. 

“I was helping him build his empire as he was growing and I was learning alongside him, so it was very much a mutually beneficial relationship,” Meyer said. “As he was learning, I was learning. As he was growing, I was growing.” 

As she progressed in Gemignani’s restaurants from kitchen manager to head pizzaiola, she began entering pizza competitions as well. In 2013, she won the World Pizza Championship in Italy for her pan pizza, becoming the first woman and the first American to ever win that category.

Since the word for “winner” in Italian changes based on gender, Meyer recalled that at that competition, they initially announced the winner as a man. 

“There was an assumption that it was a man, and then when they looked at my name, they had to retract that,” she said. “… No one knew who I was. And aside from the few people who were sitting at my table who knew me, when I tell you it was crickets, it was crickets.”

Today, that trophy is proudly displayed in the entry of her new restaurant, alongside other shiny trophies from pizza competitions she’s won over the years. 

Award-winning pizza chef Laura Meyer, upper right, shapes a pizza in the kitchen of her new restaurant Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, Calif., on March 23, 2023. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Award-winning pizza chef Laura Meyer, upper right, shapes a pizza in the kitchen of her new restaurant Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, Calif., on March 23, 2023. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)

Ten years ago, Meyer said, there weren’t many women competing in pizza-making competitions — people assumed she was someone’s assistant. Today, though, she’s seen a shift in the industry. 

“There’s a lot of women in the pizza business that just haven’t really been recognized,” she said. “… It’s just I think the men have been more vocal for a long period of time … whereas I think now more women are demanding attention.”

Meyer is now one of those women demanding attention, starting by naming her first restaurant after herself. 

“It’s something that’s very personal to me,” she said. “This is my life. This is my career. This is pretty much me in pizzeria form. To name it after myself was important because I’m very proud of it.” 

Meyer decided it was time to open her own brick-and-mortar after the success of her pandemic focaccia pop-up, Focaccia da Laura. She chose to open in downtown Berkeley both because it feels like home (she grew up in the East Bay) and to differentiate herself from her mentor.

“Having worked in San Francisco, it’s very much Tony’s world, especially in North Beach,” she said. “And in order for me to kind of feel like I’m my own person and to have the space and the room to grow without as much comparison, I wanted it in the East Bay.”

That said, Meyer still describes Gemignani as family — she’s even the godmother to his son. 

While Berkeley is beginning to build a reputation for its burgeoning pizza scene, Pizzeria da Laura is unlike anything else you can find in the area. That’s because rather than specialize in just one style of pizza, Meyer uses her expert pizza-making chops to offer not two, not three, but four different styles of pizza. 

“This area of Berkeley doesn’t really have any of the pan styles of pizza, and I love the pan styles,” she said. “I mean, obviously it was the first award I won. So it’s something that I am constantly kind of drawn to and I wanted to bring some diversity to the area.”

Pizzeria da Laura offers pan-style Sicilian (a spongy, focaccia-like dough), Detroit (a thick, crispy and chewy crust), and grandma (thin and crispy); as well as a classic New York-style thin crust. Toppings for these pizzas range from the tomato, mozzarella, arugula, prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano pizza that won her the World Pizza Championship  (“La Regina”) to classics like pepperoni and margherita. It’s only whole pies for now, but slices are planned to come to the shop soon.

There’s also pasta dishes, like “Dad’s Ragu” with beef and fennel sausage and pomodoro sauce served over spaghetti, as well as fried eggplant bucatini. There’s cheesy ragu-filled arancini, salad and calzones, too.

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At the grand opening, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin joined Meyer for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Or rather, a pasta-cutting: The ribbon was a long braid of fresh pasta.

“Berkeley’s becoming known throughout the Bay Area as a center for incredible pizza,” Arreguin told the crowd. “And opening this restaurant really builds up Berkeley’s reputation.”

After a failed first attempt at cutting the pasta ribbon, the jumbo scissors sliced their way through. The crowd cheered, and filed inside for pizza.

Indoors, Pizzeria da Laura is light, airy and welcoming. Colorful murals echo the historic building’s geometric art deco facade, and a smoky blue tile covers the bar. The kitchen is open, giving customers a glimpse of the pizza-making. 

The difficulty with a pizzeria that offers so many different styles of pizza is that it’s impossible to choose. Any pizza style can be made with any topping, creating a near-infinite number of combinations.

Detroit-style pizza, upper left, Caesar salad, lower right, and bucatini pasta, lower left, are a few items on the menu at Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, Calif. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)
Detroit-style pizza, upper left, Caesar salad, lower right, and bucatini pasta, lower left, are a few items on the menu at Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, Calif. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE)

After much deliberation, my colleague and I settled on a Caesar salad, a “Marge” pizza (margherita) grandma-style and a 12-inch “Ray J” New York-style pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, two types of pepperoni, basil, stracciatella, fermented honey, parmesan). These choices were strategic, as Meyer told me that the Ray J is extremely popular and that grandma-style is her favorite at the moment. 

I also ordered a “Hey There” cocktail, a lighter, more lemony take on sangria. Pizzeria da Laura only serves beer, wine and low ABV wine-based cocktails as the pizzeria waits for a full liquor license. 

The Caesar surprised me with its chunks of garlicky fresh focaccia rather than crunchy croutons, but I was a fan. The grandma-style margherita – a crispy, cheesy pizza with a spongy texture in the middle — was one of the best margheritas I’ve ever had. I’m mostly vegetarian so I can’t speak for the Ray J, but my colleague deemed it delicious and well-seasoned. 

Breaking off from Gemignani’s pizza empire and opening her own restaurant is nerve-wracking, said Meyer, but it’s also exciting to finally share her very personal menu with the world. 

“At the end of the day, everything on my menu is what I want it to be, and it’s my opinions on pizza,” she said. “… I didn’t want it to be anything else but a reflection of me.”

Pizzeria da Laura, 2049 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m. (lunch hours coming soon).