Lorena Asidao-Spence grew up eating pizza in her native Chicago. When she decided to launch a pop-up in 2021, she wanted to put her twist on her childhood favorites.
“Pizza is just universally enjoyed, and it gives us the opportunity to introduce different ingredients,” she said. “There are a few places here that I like here for pizza, but it’s not the same as when I go back up north.”
During COVID-19, Asidao-Spence started experimenting with making bread, which morphed into fine-tuning dough and, eventually creating her own pizzas.
Pizza Kusina (instagram.com/pizza.kusina) made its Atlanta debut in 2022 at vegan market Bien Vegano, and has since popped up at events, breweries and coffee shops around metro Atlanta, slinging both traditional pies and some with unique combinations.
Asidao-Spence who serves as the pizzaiolo while her husband, Roger Spence, helps with the marketing and design, describes her 11-inch pizzas as “neo-Neapolitan style,” using traditional baking techniques but with different ingredients and flavors.
Credit: Courtesy of Pizza Kusina
Credit: Courtesy of Pizza Kusina
Though there have been different iterations of her dough, she’s settled on a sourdough hybrid cooked longer and at lower temperature than normal for a Neapolitan-style pizza.
Alongside the expected pepperoni, Margherita and cheese pizzas, Pizza Kusina serves a rotating list of specialty pies, many named after family members, including the Tita Editha with mushroom adobo, smoked gouda, mozzarella, parsley, Calabrian oregano and Parmesano-Reggiano; and the Lola Dana with mozzarella, smoked gouda, mascarpone cream, halloumi and Pecorino romano.
Pizza Kusina has also featured vegan pies using falafel and samosa filling as toppings. They have also collaborated with Gabriel Tungol of pop-up Barangay for a pizza that used longanisa, a type of Philippine sausage that’s a nod to the backgrounds of both Tungol and Asidao-Spence. Another tribute to Philippine culture is the pop-up’s name — “kusina” means “kitchen” in Tagalog.
Asidao-Spence said what appears on her pop-up menu depends on the venue or the type of event, and she’ll often tinker with different ingredients before landing on a winning combination, though the staples like Margherita will always make an appearance.
Credit: Courtesy of Pizza Kusina
Credit: Courtesy of Pizza Kusina
“It’s always a work in progress,” said Asidao-Spence, who is working on developing a gluten-free dough. “I’ve been happier with the results lately, but it’s such a learning process.”
The couple, who live with their four children, ranging in age from 5 to 20, in Cumming, have started branching out with catering services and a sister pop-up, Peoples Kusina (instagram.com/peopleskusina), to showcase Philippine and Jamaican baked items including ube cookies, turon and bebinca, a casava cake, as well as savory items like curries.
“The goal is being able to do this full time and incorporate our kids, whether that manifests itself as a food truck or trailer or something else,” Asidao-Spence said. “We don’t want to go crazy. We’re good with being our definition of successful and our definition of happy.”
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