PIzza PIzza

L.A. Goes From Pizza Desert to Neapolitan War

Pizza pizza everywhere...
Pizza pizza everywhere… Photo: Humansvsrobots via Flickr

Pizza has gone gangbusters in L.A. as of late, erasing the past pangs of pizza pudency plaguing us for eons. Following “pizza weeks” from both Eater and Zagat, L.A. Confidential reports on the many worthy options and meticulous details embraced by upstarts like Mother Dough, Stella Rossa, Delfini Citta, Milo & Olive, and Obika, among others. Correctly asserting that Nancy Silverton swung the oven door “wide open” after Puck first cracked it, part of the fun here is reading the words of our more successful pizza dealers, who want to clarify just how prescient they were over the new Neapolitan craze.

800 Degrees-heavyweight Anthony Carron notes, “It’s accidental for me that Neapolitan is the rage—three years ago when I started thinking about it, it was still novel.” Chef Zach Pollack of Sotto notes, “We had an appreciation for Neapolitan pizza as the best a pizza can be. L.A. just didn’t have any.” To which we want to say Pizzeria Antica, but we were never really feeling that one despite its accreditation.

As the story notes, ten new pizza spots are coming this summer alone, including Blaze Pizza from Maria Shriver, though Soleto, like Settebello, gets the finger (the middle). Meanwhile, Pitfire Pizza’s successful owner Paul Hibler establishes that he was first on the cutting edge of DIY pizza places like 800 Degrees.

“We wanted to do a pizza version [of Baja Fresh], which is really ironic because now people are rushing to create the Chipotle of pizza,” Hibler notes, as he gets ready to bring Jason Neroni’s pizzas to Superba Snack Bar next month in Venice, right across from, that’s right, forthcoming pizza slinger Hostaria del Piccolo, now due for Rose Avenue on September 29th.

L.A., it would appear, is compensating for all those years when good tacos were more readily available than a decent slice. No who’s going to be the first to bring us a pizza vending machine?

Slice of Heaven: LA’s Top Pizza Spots [LAC]

L.A. Goes From Pizza Desert to Neapolitan War