By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
Six months after opening at Palisades Village, ROCA Pizza closed its Swarthmore Avenue eatery effective Tuesday, September 5.
“ROCA loved serving the Palisades community, and are grateful to their loyal customers and valued employees,” a representative from the brand said to the Palisadian-Post on Wednesday, September 6. “The primary reason for closing ROCA was due to unexpected costs associated with pandemic-related opening delays.”
ROCA’s Palisades Village location opened on March 6 in a space previously occupied by SunLife Organics. The restaurant was first announced in July 2021, with plans at the time to open by January or February 2022.
The restaurant, which previously hosted a pop-up experience for more than a year at Caruso’s The Americana at Brand in Glendale, was slated to open an additional location at The Waterside in Marina del Rey this fall.
“Opening plans for the Marina del Rey location are on hold,” according to the representative.
Photo by Sarah Shmerling
The ROCA Pizza brand, which offers an “elevated fast-casual interpretation of Roman-style street food pizza,” is the creation of Rick Rosenfield, a co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, and his wife, Esther. Their pizza is served “al taglio,” which translates to “by-the-cut.”
At the time of its opening, the ROCA menu featured flavors such as Pepperoni Hot Honey, Amatriciana Pizza, and its bestselling Soppressata and Burrata.
“With great sadness, ROCA PIZZA is no longer operating at Palisades Village,” read a statement attributed to Rick and Esther on Instagram posted Tuesday, September 5. “We loved serving this wonderful community, and are grateful to our loyal customers and valued employees who displayed such passion to serve our guests the highest quality products. We will miss you.”
Caruso did not respond to a request for comment about what tenant would take over the ROCA space as this story was published.
Other tenants slated to open at Palisades Village include Saint Laurent, Jacques Marie Mage and Toteme.
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