Michael Lippman

Cheese and bread.  Bread and cheese.  Pretty much the platonically ideal food combination.  There's bagel with cream cheese.  There's brie and baguette.  There's munster cheese stuffed into pita bread and microwaved (one of the best things you'll EVER eat, I promise, something about what the microwave does to the munster is sexually good).  And of course there's the ultimate... pizza. Yesterday I had pizza for lunch (Petrillo's, yum!) and pizza for dinner (left over Trader Joe's Meat Combo Pizza from the fridge, yum!).  And I felt so good and slept so soundly.  Bit of carbs, bit of protein, a complete food.  Pizza nourishes and comforts body and soul in a way even a hamburger cannot.  I really, really love pizza.  I'm 42 and I love pizza more than ever.  And ... here are some places in L.A. where I love to eat it most (with links to websites and/or maps).

1. MOZZA — 

Mozza's fennel sausage pie

When you don’t say "greasy" you say "oily" and you mean "olive-oily" and part of you is thinking you SHOULD have said greasy -- because it is -- but the “grease” is so good you want to lick it up -- it’s like 10 bucks an ounce grease -- and you’re psyched to see big pools of it on the next pie that arrives at your table -- you're at Mozza.  The fennel sausage pie is quintessential.  I also the love egg and guanciale pie.  Plus, it's a restaurant, you can hang here and eat the great food (from Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton) and drink excellent wine at fair prices (thank David Rosoff, GM and wine guy), and do it till midnight.  Order any wine and you will be happy -- it will be thoughtfully chosen and a perfect example of its type (and it will be Italian).  Get the beet and horseradish salad to start and get the budino for dessert -- genius and already an LA classic.  

egg and guanciale                                                                        

                salumi salami

and if this is not a picture of Heaven ...

2.    VITO'S — The best slice pizza in the universe -- or in L.A.  Floppy crust that vanishes into the thin air of the mouth.  Great plain slice, great meat combo slice, and a mind-blowing Mediteranean Veggie slice with fresh spinach, broccoli, ricotta cheese.  In a way, this pizza is so quintessential it's hard to put into words why it's so great.  But wait, Vito has no such problems: "I've got the best product in the whole city, by far.  Nobody does what I do.  I’m here 5 in the morning making dough.  I make my own yeast.  Most guys out there don’t even make their own dough, I make my own YEAST.  Nobody does that.  Where else have you tried?" he wants to know.  I tell him Mozza is pretty delicious.  He raises an eyebrow, “Well, I wouldn’t use that word.  I’d say it's 'okay', that’s a word I’d use, 'okay'.  I want you to SEE how good this is

You think Nancy Silverton makes her own yeast, I don’t think so.”  (??)  “By the way, put me back in the kitchen with Nancy for 20 minutes, I'll make her pizza ten times better.  She doesn’t have her crust just right, and the way she puts her toppings on…”  he shakes his head, pitying her use of toppngs.  "I use the best ingredients.  I care.  Nobody out there cares, I’m embarrassed by the other Italians out there, they just don’t care.  I care.  I consider my customers my friends, I’m cooking for them, I use the best, I’m not trying to get rich off of them.”  Well, he definitely talks the talk, but his pizza definitely he walks the walk.   

3.    RED BALLS PIZZA : 

So first you're super-stoked to find the best pizzerias in all of LA.  Then, after three or four disappointments, you get cynical and don’t want to drive all the way to Woodland Hills to check out yet another version of “the best NY pizza in LA” -- because it probably isn’t.  You learn the place was opened by the guitarist from the Clash and his buddy, who both live in Woodland Hills, and who were one day bemoaning the lack of great NY pizza in their area.  (Same old story.)  On the walls are guitars, and hundreds of rock and roll posters, including a huge, awesome poster of a young Bob Dylan (which does make you very happy).  Snare drum lamps hang over each table from the ceiling.  You order a plain slice.  It's got a couple of those random  crunchy crust bubbles.  The cheese is good and fresh-tasting, the sauce is a little bit sweet in that NY way you romaniticize, the crust is thin, and best of all, the whole slice has a great chewiness.  It’s almost odd (and excellent) that the crust is so thin and yet so chewy.  You drive home in the rain and excitedly bring a slice to your wife.  She has to admit, it’s exquisite.

4.  ZELO .  Oh, Zelo! Oh, corn!   I'm loving corn right now and this is one the ultimate corn treats around: cornmeal pizza with fresh corn and caramelized onions.  The crust is made of cornmeal and has that great corn bread flavor, not as sweet as a corn muffin, but plenty of the same flavors.  And made into something somewhat resembling the texture of pizza dough (though not quite)  Get it with corn and caramelized onions, and the sweetness is so wonderful, yet it's still quite savory.  I reported to my wife and she said "But that's not pizza". And I said, "I hear you, but somehow, it is." This is top notch, worth the trip to Arcadia any day.  Special and exquisite.

5. PETRILLO'S : This was yesterday, remember?  This place has been around forever.  It's a San Gabriel institution.  A school principal in line in front of me was picking up 4 large pies for her teachers, "My teachers will do anything I ask if I feed them Petrillo's".  Crust on the thicker side, great texture, good chewiness.  (Good, positive chewiness in the crust is becoming my top criterion for excellence in pizza, thick or thin.)  The plain pizza is just a tad bland, the cheese could be saltier, but the "special" -- sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc -- is perfect, good ingredients giving that needed extra saltiness, making for a damn near perfect 'za. 

6. ANTICA PIZZERIA .  In 1984, some dude in Naples started the “Verace Pizza Napoletana Association” (VPNA) to promote the pizza of Naples.  He worked tirelessly (and unsuccessfully!) to have Naples pizza recognized as a DOC (like wine) by the Italian government – as if Naples had some kind of special "pizza terroir".  This failed quest aside, now the VPNA goes around the world and grants certificates to pizzerias who make a “true” Naples pizza – with the right oven, and all (or most) of the ingredients flown in from Naples.   Antica has this certification. 

And ... whatever. Let's try the pizza.

It's my first time here, even though I lived in Venice (California) for 5 years.  (I only went to Abbot's.)  Cool space, open, airy, bright, big mural I assume of Naples -- I could drink wine here, a nice bottle with a friend.  And the pizza ... is gorgeous.  The ingredients are beautiful; the sauce tastes of tomatoes rather than “tomato sauce”.  The cheese is soft and delicious and unevenly spread because it’s not the sprinkled-on version of mozzarella.  The crust is bubbly and chewy and crunchy all at once.  I was amazed by how quickly the pizza got cooked, too.  I imagine it’s because the oven is outrageously hot – and you get these great bubbling crusts.   

I second the certification by the VPNA.  

7.  ABBOT'S PIZZA :

And here it is.  Abbot's on Abbot Kinney in Venice.  A great neighborhood joint that’s become justifiably famous outside the neighborhood.  A pizza unlike any other pizza.  Bagel crust.  Some of the crusts are poppy seed, others sesame seed, others onion, etc.  And great toppings.  I was addicted to the 5 onion for a couple of years, the wild mushroom is great, the one with fresh tomatoes and ricotta cheese is awesome ...

I made the mistake the other day of telling my sister-in-law that Abbot’s is all about the great toppings.  She looked really offended and said, “I get a slice of the Margarita every week after the acupuncturist and I love it."  Great.  Perfect.  Didn’t even know they had Margarita.  Last time I was in the owner was waxing poetic about neighborhood joints and how easy it is to compromise on quality, especially in a down economy, but he won't do it.   

8.  TERRONI -- really fun, I really really like this place.

I’ve tried several of their pizzas and they’re all good, but there's one that kind of gave me the "ah ha" moment for pizza at Terroni.  It’s got tomato sauce, some strips of zucchini and squash, some garlic, and some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  No mozzarella.  No melted cheese.  Just the crust, the sauce and a few veggies.  The pizza is uncut, which may annoy people who don’t want to grab it and rip it, but I love grabbing and ripping. 

The crust is extremely extremely thin, which is probably why they don’t cut it -- it really wouldn’t be “presentable” if cut.  It’s just so simple.  I like to add a healthy portion of hot red peppers (not dried, wet) to each bite of pizza.  They serve the red peppers in oil in a little bowl on the side -- and they're genius.  Great wine selection.  And the bartenders happily let you taste every single wine they're pouring by the glass, if you so desire.  I desire.  

9.  D’AMORE'S : 

mmmmmmm, that kinda says it

Absolutely love this place, it wins over Mulberry Street and Lamonicas hands down -- at least on this round of pizza trolling.  Love that soggy floppy still slightly crispy crust with that sand-like substance on the bottom side of the pie -- it’s cornmeal -- which gives it texture and flavor and takes it from good to great. It's a small chain and I can vouch most strongly for the one in Westwood where I've been frequently and had really good pies and slices.  Started by yet another dude who wanted to make an east coast style pizza and who supposedly ships in water from Boston.  Really???

10.  DAMIANO'S

Greasy but good.  Really good.  Consistently good.  Always good.  Never been disappointed -- not when stoned, not when drunk, not when completely sober -- and that's saying something.  Slightly on the thicker side for thin crust pizza.  Did I mention greasy?  But good.  An institution on Fairfax.  The people sitting at the counter tonight all look kinda East village circa 1981, piercings, tattoos, not quite homeless but with some relationship to heroin, you know, that vibe.  The level of darkness in the back is almost a joke.  You could do all kinds of things back there with nobody seeing, and that might be the idea.  Open really really late.  Which is a good thing.  Oh, and the house salad with eggplant capanota is genius, yummy yummy yummy. 

11.  GRECO'S  (Honorable Mention)  

Well, it's my neighborhood joint.  Cardboardy in a good way.  And HUGE slices.