As part of our growing list of reviews of Kobe pizza restaurants, we present these enthusiastic comments about a NYC-style pizza slice place in Kobe; Jesus Pizza. Great spot.
On a quiet street in a nice neighborhood (not far from Kobe’s famous Kitano Ijinkan Gai), you will find Jesus Pizza; one of two very good pizza slice places in Kobe (the other one being, 2 Brothers Pizza near Sannomiya Station). Of the two, Jesus Pizza is less central, but a much larger, more comfortable shop.
The sign is old, the colors faded, and has a simple, seven-digit phone number. While much of Japan has a 11-digit format (three digits, then four, then four again), when I was a kid in America, we would format our local phone numbers just like on the sign at Jesus. When I looked at it, I assumed the sign was purchased from an old shop in the US.
So why is this place called Jesus Pizza, anyway? What’s the deal with that?
Well, I asked: The pizza master on duty that day said it is simply because the owner is into Jesus. “Ohjisan wa, Christian desu.” Okay. I’m guessing there is more to the story than that, but that’ll do for now.
Let’s get into the pizza.
While there is a pizza menu on the wall outside (and another inside), the best way to know what kind of pizza slices are available is to check out what’s on display in the case. The NYC-style pizza slice experience at Kobe’s Jesus Pizza includes the New York tradition of putting the pizzas behind glass, showcased in a box on the counter.
Kobe’s Jesus pizza slices usually does several flavors (five types of pizza, plus maybe some “specials?”). When I came by, they were doing an event that day, and they were to close at 2 PM, so; pepperoni and cheese slices only. That was fine by me, I was very ready to sample one of the best pepperoni pizza slices in Kobe.
I ordered two slices, and to drink, a cold PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon, an American “blue collar” beer).
As the pizza arrived, I was excited to be there. Kobe is a great city, and pizza is one of God’s finest creations. A beautiful combination. The mood in the shop was just right, for me, celebratory; it was pizza time.
Jesus Pizza in Kobe makes a perfect, NYC slice. There are a lot of experiences were the Japanese do what feels like a “copy” of an international classic, but this pepperoni pizza slice was the real thing. Not copied, but co-created in the New York City tradition, yet half a world away.
And there was that watery, thin, slightly sour PBR to wash it all down. I can’t say that I think Pabst is a particularly good beer (I think most of the standard Japanese beers you can buy at the supermarket are better). Pabst is a very similar, but slightly more “edgy” alternative to Budweiser (which might be among the worst beers in America, IMAO). On this day, that PBR was just right, and a tasty compliment to the slices.
It helped that I got the timing right; I arrived in time for a fresh slice, just out of the oven. Great pizza experience.
Inside, Kobe’s Jesus Pizza is a comfortable, roomy shop. To sit, you can choose between counter seating facing the street or a few sit-down tables.
Like many pizza slice places in Japan, the vibe of the shop is set up to include a kind of “checklist” of New York City references; it’s the fat, crispy slices of pizza, but there are often two other features you can count on in a NYC pizza shop in Japan; hip hop playing overhead, and some reference or another to skateboarding.
Slices, hop-hop, and skateboards. You’ll see this same trifecta at shop after shop in Japan. For example: You can see a shot I took of a well-worn board under the table at Henry’s Pizza slices in Osaka. You’ll see it again at the NY-Italian neighborhood inspired shop Rocco’s Pizza slices in Tokyo. You’ll see at least the hip-hop part at Dookie’s pizza slices in Nagoya. (Those are all great pizza slice shops, by the way, some of the best in Japan). As the Pizza Czar of Japan, I have eaten at New York-style pizza shops in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, and more, and the NY-influenced formula is very consistent, and often makes for a great vibe.
Why that combination, again and again? While the hip hop and pizza are very NYC specific, the skateboarding addition is more curious. I think it probably begins with a certain kind of young Japanese guy in Japan; probably a skater, not particularly studious or traditional, maybe he likes to party. Maybe that guy has a few tattoos. He is looking for a business idea to fits his lifestyle; low cost to create, low cost for customers, fun for him (and for his friends). Maybe he learned about pizza while living in NYC for a summer. Or maybe he is copying the NY vibe from another pizza shop in another Japanese city (and the reference becomes a part of the Japanese skateboard culture itself). The NYC pizza shop fits that kind of “formula” – and is often a wonderful template for a tasty, affordable, slightly “punk” experience.
I could feel that formula coming as I stepped into the shop, in part because the music at Jesus Pizza was so good.
The music was awesome: There was an excellent down-tempo mix streaming off a cell phone to a tiny Bose speaker above the pizza case. Soul, R & B tracks, and with some more current, aggressive samples dropped in (“Cash rules everything around me”), all expertly blended into one another. In my notes, I wrote; “A lot of original sources from samples that would be easy to recognize for a hip hop head (‘Killin’ me softly.’ ‘Mary Jane.’ ‘We spend most our time, living a gangsters paradise.’).”
Here is a tangent for you: That last track “Gangster’s Paradise” is a 1995 track by Coolio. That may sound like it is an “old” song, but that is the new part. The original is “Pastime Paradise” by Steve Wonder, from 1976. Both the beat and many of the words from the hook in Coolio’s song are sampled from the Stevie Wonder hit. In the mix, the two songs were being blended back and forth together. I asked about the mix that was playing and the pizza master was good enough to share that the arrangement was done by a DJ named J.Period. If you’re a real hip-hop head, you may be sort of laughing at this point, because my “notes” are an accidental near-perfect description of what J.Period is famous for: taking well-known, somewhat current hip-hop tracks, and spinning them back together with the original songs they sample from. I have enough music knowledge to hear what was going on, but it was that day at Jesus Pizza that introduced me to J.Period. Thank you, very much.
Hip hop. Pizza. Good stuff. What about the skateboards? I had to look around for a second, but yeah, as expected:
Lolas is a “hardware” company, affiliated with one of the shop workers. In the picture in this review, you can see some Lolas truck bolts hanging off the pizza case. Classic. Jesus Pizza has sub-culture stacked within sub-culture.
You don’t have to know anything about music or “wooden toys” to be into Jesus Pizza – the pizza alone will carry the day.
As pizza slices go, these pizza slices are fantastic.
I am always trying to learn a little bit more about pizza. When I had dinner at Azzurri Pizza, I learned something about ricotta cheese (and how it might work in combination with the spicy flavor of Italian red chill flake-infused oil). Here at Jesus, as I watched him preparing a slice for someone else, I learned something new as well:
In the NYC pizza slice tradition, the pizzas are made in advance, and put in the case. If you’re there at the perfect time (like I was on my visit), or in a busy time (where they are selling-out quickly), you may get a fresh slice, right out of the oven. If it’s been a few minutes since the pizza was finished, they’ll take your slice(s), and throw them back in the oven to re-heat them.
That is often a great experience, but the re-heating process is commonly “less than perfect,” as cooking the pizza twice can dry it out. It’s not ununcommon to have an over-cooked, dried-out slice (this was true for me with my Detroit-style slice at NIM’s Pizza in Tokyo. Probably true at Pizza Joint Pike’s in Sapporo).
At Jesus Pizza on this particular day, I watched the pizza master use a spray bottle to spray down the slices before he reheated them. Ah-ha; that was a good lesson for me. A couple blasts of misty water can help hydrate the slice a little and keep it from drying out. For an observant Pizza Czar like me, that was all very interesting.
In addition to slices, Jesus does full pies. You can eat them in-house, or get them to-go.
(And I would assume some app-driven service will deliver them as well.)
In addition to the music and pizza, there are many more cultural references to American ethnography. The pizza, of course. The NY Yankees cup on the counter. The choice of pictures on the wall.
There is even a dystopian shot from the classic American movie (set in New York City), Taxi Driver.
That is a young, very dodgy looking Robert Dinero posted up next to the cross.
At Jesus Pizza in Kobe, the atmosphere is created as layer after layer of references and “ingredients” are curated and assembled. It takes a while to create a vibe like this. It’s all clean, comfortable, intentional, and very well done.
(This has been a fun review to write.)
As a closing note; this same street also hosts Kobe’s Beyond Coffee – which is both a roastery and a “craft coffee” shop (very craft, full hipster – Gavin McInnes would be proud, maybe.). I had the chance to get a very special cup of Beyond Coffee coffee after lunch that day; also a great experience.
Okay, Jesus Pizza. I think that is enough for this piece. Great shop, delicious pizza. I’m a fan.
Pizza Restaurants in Kobe
— Azzirri Pizzeria in Chuo-ku, Kobe
— Trattoria E Pizzeria Elefante in Chuo-ku, Kobe
— Chicago pizza at BrewPub Starboard Pizza in Chuo-ku, Kobe
— Local, neighborhood Neapolitan pizza at Pizzeria Allocco in Chuo-ku, Kobe
— Kobe’s 2 Brother’s Pizza in Sannomiya in Kobe, Japan