Courtney Borrone, co-owner of Vesta, tells PEOPLE the band was "very sweet and kind" and enjoyed the eatery's sausage and honey pizza
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Credit: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Courtesy of Vesta
NEED TO KNOW
- BTS member V praised Stanford’s pizza during a concert, calling it the best
- Fans discovered the band dined at Vesta in Redwood City, where they ordered sausage and honey pizza and more
- Vesta’s co-owner says BTS’s visit brought excitement and record business, with fans flocking to try the group’s favorites
One member of BTS thinks the Bay Area's pizza is dynamite.
When the K-Pop supergroup performed at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, May 16, V (whose full name is Kim Taehyung) reportedly praised the local pies.
"Next time we're at Stanford, we'll eat that yummy pizza," he told the audience, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and clips circulating on social media. "I think Stanford's got the best pizza."
While the South Korean boy band didn't name a specific restaurant, fans did some sleuthing and figured out they had dined at Redwood City's Vesta on Monday, May 11.
Courtney Borrone, who co-owns Vesta with her husband Peter Borrone, tells PEOPLE the star-studded visit was “very surprising.”
Credit: Courtesy of Vesta
“We have a lot of tech, Silicon Valley big names here, but not really like celebrity status, so it was very exciting, and also they're like the biggest pop band in the world,” she says.
Courtney says Vesta didn't post about the group's appearance, thinking they might come in again. The band was accompanied by security and the restaurant wanted to maintain a “very professional, private experience,” so that they were comfortable, though some diners did recognize them as they were leaving and snapped photos with them.
While she wasn't there that night, Courtney says she heard BTS's members were “very sweet and kind.”
“Everybody was very excited about the situation,” she adds. “It's a very big deal for us.”
Credit: Courtesy of Vesta
She says the band ordered sausage and honey pizza, which is the eatery's most popular pie, plus carbonara pizza, pepperoni pizza and some small plates.
BTS ended up returning a week later on Monday, May 18, when Courtney says they enjoyed “a lot of desserts.”
When V gave the pizza a shout-out at their concert, Courtney says she began getting messages from fans sending the footage.
“It was kind of mind-blowing,” she says. “I was like, ‘I can't believe they brought up pizza that they ate. That's crazy. But apparently V really loves pizza, it's like his thing, so that makes a lot of sense that he might bring that up.”
Credit: Courtesy of Vesta
Courtney says the restaurant had its busiest Monday ever due to visits from BTS fans.
“It's been really crazy busy, with all these people in town for the show, visiting and wanting to eat their favorite pizza,” she says.
“My husband was here when they came in last night, and that was very exciting,” she adds. “He kind of helped to try and maintain their privacy, but he said it was awesome. They kept telling him, ‘You're number one.' ”
Vesta is a wood-fired pizza spot that also serves small plates, salads and vegetables, sourcing local and organic food. The couple opened the establishment nearly 14 years ago.
“It's just the kind of restaurant where we want to serve food that we love, that we think is delicious, and make it kind of like a very family, enjoyable, hospitable experience,” Courtney says.