In the hierarchy of foods that pair perfectly with a hit of weed, a cheesy, hot slice of pizza has to rank among the most iconic — right up there with other stoner faves like White Castle, ice cream and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that one of the Bay Area’s most promising new pizza pop-ups would be stationed in front of a Richmond cannabis shop. Every Sunday and Monday, 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center regulars line up at the little tented food stand right outside the dispensary to snag a piping-hot, oil-slicked pepperoni or whipped ricotta pizza. It’s some of the tastiest East Coast–style you can find in this stretch of the East Bay.
The pop-up is called Goldpie, and it’s the brainchild of Scott Hataye, whose day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. For the past seven years, though, he’s also dabbled in the pizza world, moonlighting as the doughmaker at Emeryville’s Rotten City Pizza, a New York–inspired pizza restaurant that closed last summer after an impressive 17-year run. (When I first moved to the East Bay in the late aughts, Rotten City was the closest thing I could find to a proper New York slice shop.)…