Los Angeles is pizza heaven at the moment. From the beach cities to Hollywood, downtown and beyond, the city is smitten with puffy-crusted, expertly charred rounds oozing with all manner of cheesy goodness. Here are the best new places to find your L.A. pie fix this summer.
After two stellar years in Brentwood, Pizzana this month bring its “Neo-Neapolitan” wonders to Robertson Boulevard. You may know Pizzana as “the pizza place from the Sprinkles woman and the guy from NCIS,” but co-founders Candace Nelson and actor Chris O’Donnell invested their Italian-loving hearts as well as their cash. The dough is organic and stone-ground from Italian flour and fermented for 48 hours in a “slow dough” rising process. San Marzano tomatoes are grown in Naples exclusively for the restaurant. In May, Michelin awarded the pizzeria a Bib Gourmand. Order the salmone pizza with smoked salmon, ricotta crema, dill, parsley, bottarga, chive, lemon zest— an homage to the Wolfgang Puck classic from the old Spago’s in West Hollywood.
Part of Matteo Ferdinandi and Chef Angelo Aurian’s Factory Place Hospitality Group, the Arts District cheese chapel (located in a former Los Angeles Gas Company warehouse) turns out masterful pies that are equal parts crisp, saucy and pliable. Sixth & Mill’s pizza margherita, made with tomato, fior di latte cheese, oregano and apulian olive oil, is the Platonic ideal of the form. My go-to is the pizza bianche, a white pizza bubbling with amporapini, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and mushrooms. Michelin also honored Sixth & Mill with a Bib Gourmand, and the venue opens a marble-and-mozzarella-happy location this fall at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.
Since the day of its launch in February of last year, people started calling Triple Beam the best pizza in L.A., and I’m not going to fight it. The collaboration between Matt Molina (formerly Mozza, now Everson Royce Bar) and Mozza’s Nancy Silverton lets you play director by making Cecil B. DeMille-style framing gestures to indicate how big you want your slice to be. The Roman-style pieces come in thick squares (or wide-screen rectangles, if you prefer) and crunch as if in Sensurround. You’ll like it, you’ll really like it.
A Fashion District pizza window from the talents behind dearly-departed Sotto that serves pies and slices worthy of a trip across town. Superfine‘s nine pizzas include Salami Honey (Spicy Salami, Provolone, Grana Padano, Buckwheat Honey) and Sausage Rabe (Housemade Sausage, Rapini, Fresh Mozzarella, Ricotta, Ricotta Salata).
Here’s how you know Los Angeles has truly found its pizza purpose. Last month, the quintessential Naples-based pizzeria opened an outpost just north of Sunset in a garden in Hollywood. L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele—or Antica, to you, me and anyone who’s read Eat, Pray, Love—fires up perfect Neapolitan pies in 60 seconds but with taste that packs 150 years of experience in every bite.
Neapolitan indulgence for the Soul Cycle set. The Brooklyn-born dough darling, which started as a pop-up at the Platform, spins out discs of tomato, mozzarella and basil along with wilder options like Crispy Glover (tomato, taleggio, guanciale, red onion, garlic, chili and bread crumbs). Festive, noisy, unnervingly good.
