great pizza in west l.a - yes. it's true.
I have evangelized about Abbot's for years and stuck by The Coop on National and Manning in Palms. I can no longer deny the absolute perfection of a slice of thin crust Brooklyn-style pizza from New York Pizza on Santa Monica at Sepulveda. Located in an unassuming strip mall (isn't everything in l.a...) on the South side of the street, the place has horrific ambience and simply brilliant pizza.
The crust was salty and thin with a hint of chewiness that complimented the soft, fresh mozzarella above it. I prefer my cheese bubbly and brown and both slices had a golden glow speckled with crispy, flinty shards. The pepperoni was greasy and garlicky and the orange flood that poured down onto my paper plate was enough to convince me that i will be a regular.
Ignore the faux "pizza place" signs that contain such cliched slogans as " I spent almost all my money on beer and pizza, the rest I just wasted". They have a certain charm along with the plastic rimmed fake brick walls if you can look past their absurdity. Simply sit, smile at the local guys who are meeting for post (or pre?) work beers, and throw down at least 2 or 3 slices. I just returned back from a summer in Brooklyn and Joes would be proud.
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Went to The Coop for years but it was going downhill. Started going to Julie's on Palms. Still like it and actually still get The Coop sometimes but love the pizza at LaRocco's. Horrors: I like the bacon pizza at Pitfire, too. Vito's not so much. It will do if I'm in the area, which isn't often. Abbot's is really inconsistent. Never have gone wrong at LaRocco's.
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re: kevin
Julie's is okay. "Decent for LA". But be sure to get some chicken chow fun with the gravy on top from San Hing next door. It's bomb. They have a pretty good Szechuan chicken as well. Cheap and huge portions... cash only.
Also, about 50 feet away, Ugly Roll sushi is one of the most affordable and decent sushi places you'll find on the west side.
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I am a new yorker and think all of the pizza in LA without exception is sub-standard by comparison. But I did have a good pie recently at Vito's on La Cienega. I am wondering if others also feel Vito's is decent.
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re: mroban
Peripatetic
Oct 10, 2011 12:46 PM
> I am wondering if others also feel Vito's is decent.
Vito's was the subject of adulation for many years on this board. There are at least 20 threads devoted to Vito's, and it used to place highly on the annual "Ultimate Restaurant" poll. I think Vito's is as good as it's always been, but it doesn't get the love here that it used to since there are numerous noteworthy newcomers.
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re: lapizzamaven
Oh, come on, people...
None of the pizza out here measures up. Probably the best one is Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock. For the rest, you'll simply be describing "good for LA". Even Vito's is just okay.
I live on the west side and go with The Coop simply because it's what a local pizza joint should be, cheap and simple.
You can get decent pizzas at Italian restaurants, but that's a different category. For example, Caffe Carrera, a hidden gem on La Cienega just south of Wilshire, has an unbelievably good white pizza with ricotta, basil, and prosciutto. I mean, my god is it good. But once again, different category.
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Even after trying this "pizza place" last night, I still don't know it's name. However, it was a very good pizza. Thin crust with a bit of chew, and not overwhelmed with cheese. Good! I'm talking about the pizza place on the South East corner of Santa Monica and Sepulveda.
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Living in West Hollywood is a bit of a no-man's land for good/cheap pizza.
However, I do recommend Albano's on Melrose.
http://losangeles.citysearch.com/prof...There's also a good pizza place near Crescent Heights and Santa Monica, which is kinda new and whose name I have forgotten.
Try going to the annual feast of San Genaro (italian fair) when it comes around again, for a good way to sample the cheap italian food, and more importantly the pizza. But being that I'm a noob Chowhounder, take this with a grain of salt.
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Does anyone happen to remember Kosher Nostra on Fairfax about 15 years ago? That was the best pizza I've ever had in LA. How I miss it so.
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I think Abbot's is average, maybe above average at most. I have tried the BBQ and another w goat cheese and veggies. I really LOVE Victor Jr's Pizza I garlic spinach and chicken is a great combo! Anyone tried, have recommendations? I've been eager to try their lasagna...too bad it's closed on the weekends (
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re: bulavinaka
a_and_w
Feb 28, 2007 07:23 AM
Ha! What's the Salad on a Slice? I usually get delivery, so I haven't seen the full range of pies they offer. Which reminds me, if people are getting Abbot's (or really ANY pizza) delivered, try using a pizza stone or frying pan to crisp up the crust.
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re: a_and_w
I give a big second to your pizza stone suggestion... Holly jalapenos, Batman, you haven't had a shot at the Salad on a Slice, yet? It's basically a simple tossed vinagrette salad placed on top of a slice of pizza. Besides accomplishing two things at one time, the salad itself has lots of nice chunks of tomatoes and avocado, while the pizza slice is topped with a creamy cheese - maybe riccota? Anyway, if you've ever been prone to asking yourself, "this pizza is great, but it sure would be nice to have somkething like a salad to offset it," then this is a great choice. I usually get this whenever it's available... makes a great quick lunch, but I view it as appetizer... oink oink!
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I just had NY Pizza & Pasta tonite, and I will agree it is good pizza, but it wasn't up to par with Lamonica's IMHO. The crust was good; however the sauce was disappointing. The cheese and Pepperoni were ~average for NY style. I still have yet to try D'amore's. Is it in Sherman Oaks or Westwood? I googled it and got 2 loc's.
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re: mdpilam
eezerik
Feb 27, 2007 12:42 AM
D'amores they have multiple stores.
What did you not like about the sauce? I will go try it myself...Do they serve pizza by the slice :D
I am looking for a good pizza that rivals posto pizza/pizza grupo in lower east side manhattan. It was the funniest thing because I was there on a week long vacation so my brother and I went out to Pizza grupo and the bartender is serving us drinks, then 2 days later we head to Posto Pizza and eat up a ridiculous pizza bill ($90.00) for three and she is at Posto serving us, staring and wondering, what in the hell?!?The two are connected. THIN pizza, prusciutto and melon, Beer, ahhh yum.
Who has the best margherita / ingredients? THIN crust. Almost cracker thin?
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re: eezerik
tony michaels
Feb 27, 2007 04:47 AM
"Who has the best margherita / ingredients? THIN crust. Almost cracker thin?"
Probably the best example can be found at Antica Pizza in Marina Del Rey.
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dynamike
Feb 21, 2007 08:18 PM
This thread has hung around for so long, and I have nothing to do at the moment, so I figured I'd chime in. :)
Personally, I don't like Abbot's. The bagel dough crust which they use might taste great right out of the oven, but it gets tough and chewy after a while. Abbot's works my jaw like no pizza should.
I've tried Santa Monica Pizza Kitchen. Never again. See my post here:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/369801I haven't tried most of the spots mentioned in this thread, but my current vote goes to Bravo Pizzeria. I would normally grub here after 1am on the weekends to soak up the beer in the system, and I would gripe about the dry, lifeless, over-floured crust (due to reheating?), but then one day I ordered an entire pie and it was pretty damn good. Their sauce is consistently rich, fresh tomatoes are sliced (not diced), and the crust is nice and thin. However, I've since ordered a couple more pies and the only problem I've had is with the crust's consistency--too chewy one visit, great the next.
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eezerik
Feb 21, 2007 07:37 PM
Lamonicas..hmmm. The fastest I ever ate one of their larges was 12 minutes. I would NEVER order on any day other than monday (2 for 1 special). Neither Damores nor Lamonicas is true NY pizza. Too greasy for Lamonicas...They use lard in their dough, too.
But meh Lamonicas is okay...just a good deal, nothing more.
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re: Arthur
Arthur
Feb 21, 2007 11:08 PM
Well, I just Googled "pizza dough" and "lard," and whattayaknow - lots of pizza dough recipes contain lard. Live, learn, and be humble.
But I'd still like a firm confirmation that Lamonica's dough contains lard, please. I know a lot of people who eat there for whom that ingredient would result in dietary conflicts.
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re: Arthur
eezerik
Feb 24, 2007 10:02 PM
Hiya, not sure why I don't get emails when somebody replies, but I didn't.
Sorry you won't get a FIRM confirmation...since I am just passing on what I heard. My apologies for stating it as fact.------My roommate was in line at Ralphs when this burly man was checking out with a bunch of 2Liter sodas. Long story short the guy was the owner of D'Amores and my roommate said,
"Would it be a crime if I said I liked Lamonica's better?" He went on to say how much healthier his pizza is and how many calories his pizzas have vs. Lamonicas. 'Part of the reason is they use lard in their dough.' I don't remember d'amores so I never pictured their pizza as being a "healthy" option. Pizza is RARELY a healthy option for me. Healthy for a wrestler's diet is NO food :p He offered to give us a free pizza next time we're in so I will let ya know how it is.
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pinotgrisgirl
Feb 9, 2007 08:46 AM
You are right on -- NY Pizza and Pasta makes a great pie -- thin, crispy crust, the way a pizza's meant to be!
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Skunk2Racer
Feb 8, 2007 04:33 PM
Try MARIA'S 2 Locations Brentwood, & The Other on Pico Across from The West Side Pavillion
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Lamonicas is good for NY style as well as Mullberry. D'Amores is spotty - sometimes good, sometimes not as well as Jacopos. D'AMores tend to claim they are #1 but never really know where the stat is derived. I am a former Chicagoan who tried Chicago Pizza Works when it was open -- it was not Chicago style pizza and was a disappointment to me. Considering the population base on the west side I am surprised there is not better pizza. Truth be told, you really have to travel east for good pizza - Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock, Zelo pizza in Arcadia, etc.
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re: chowchi1
I was with you until you mentioned Casa Bianca. I would rather eat a piece of cardboard with red paint on it from Little Caesar's then have one bite of that crap the stoned out hipsters in black are wolfing down at Casa Bianca.
Their pizza reeks. No redeeming qualities. The dough, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings, all of it tasted as if birds had eaten it, regurgitated it, and, then the chef re-constituted it into a pizza.
Garbage!
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re: Deep Valley
echoparkdirt
Dec 16, 2011 02:47 PM
I wonder if it's a Chicago thing. I'm from Chicago, and I find the Casa Bianca sausage pizza, well done, a great pie. Shades of the Chicago thin-crust Barnaby's pizza. It has been described as Chicago club-style pizza. It may not be as refined as others, but I'm a big fan.
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I will give it a try. I'll also try this other one you mention -- the Coop.
Although personally I think the other place you like, Abbot's, sucks and is ridiculously overrated. The crust is awful -- sits like a rock in your stomach. And so what if the toppings are good. Anyone can do toppings. It's the crust that's a challenge. I think Papa John's is better than Abbots.
My favorite pizza on the west side is Antica Pizzeria in Marina del Rey, named after Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba in Naples, allegedly the first true pizzeria (opened in 1830, still in business today). It's real Neapolitan pizza. Most importantly, the pizza is cooked in a wood-burning oven. This is the key to a good Neapolitan pizza crust.
It seems that Lamonica's also has a wood-burning oven. I need to try them, too.
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re: ammichaels
a_and_w
Feb 23, 2007 11:16 AM
Wow. I've lived in NYC and CT, and eaten a lot of pizzas in both places. Abbot's is one of the very few places I've found in CA that actually does a decent pizza. I personally can't stand the crust at most neapolitan places -- too floppy and soggy. Abbot's crust is crisp but not cracker-like -- what most NYC-style pizza aspires to be. My only objection is their tomato sauce, which is insipid. Get the olive pesto.
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omotosando
Dec 11, 2006 12:47 AM
Just tried New York Pizza on this recommendation and was very disappointed.
Wasn't very crowded on a Sunday afternoon, but took forever to get a slice (a slice of pizza is supposed to be fast food). Crust was okay - appropriately crispy and chewy - but the pizza had no flavor whatsoever. (I ordered the plain cheese - maybe the trick is you need to order a meat topping to impart some flavor). The pizza wasn't offensive (unlike the California Pizza Kitchen supermarket frozen pizza I was silly enough to buy recently, but that's another story), it was just tasteless. The slice was dirt cheap - $1.75 I believe. I doubt they are using high quality ingredients at that price (hence the tastelessness).
Also, I didn't like the tv blaring in the background (it's a small place, so there is nowhere to hide from the tv).
I won't be back. I think Mulberry St. Pizza on South Beverly Drive is better (not that Mulberry Street is great; it's just better than this place) and the ambience is much nicer.
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re: omotosando
i hear ya - i wrote a recent post about several places i tried on a recent westside trip - when i got my slice of sausage, i laughed ...the bits of meat had no flavor - definitely not sausage i'm used to eating and the red colored water between the thin lifeless crust and the cheese was a joke.....you make a great point about the price - i guess we got what we paid for but damn, after the impressive descriptions of this pizza by others i just shake my head in disappointment. i here mulberry is opening in santa monica and that will be on my list for future westside eating trips !
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re: kjs
omotosando
Dec 11, 2006 09:09 AM
kjs, I wished I had seen your post on New York Pizza before I ventured there. Just read your post and you summed it up perfectly:
"the sauce...what sauce...if someone told me it was red colored water painted on the crust...i would believe it"
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re: omotosando
My thoughts exactly. Dropped in after reading this thread and tried the plain cheese pizza. Decent crust, but totally flavorless cheese and sauce. I decided to give it one more try a week later and ordered the pepperoni. Not really any better, as a little bit of meat topping can't do much to help the flavorless cheese and sauce. I won't be returning.
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Arthur
Dec 7, 2006 12:18 AM
Finally made my way over there today. Not the best but still very good, especially if your taste runs toward pizza with a soggy pool of oil in the center. Succeeded in reminding me of a lot of slices I ate growing up in NY. But I'm not sure I'd go out of my way again to eat there. Lamonica's is generally better.
BTW, parking in Westwood during daytime hours isn't as difficult as some on this page have suggested. The four-story parking structure on Broxton has FREE two-hour parking until 6 PM.
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If anyone drives all the way north to Ventura, try Tony's Pizzaria. It's a little shack on Thompson Blvd. and Figueroa. (the california street exit, turn left at thompson) Great NY pizza, tossed, old oven. And you might see Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers) who stops by on a regular basis. Check it out on yout next road trip.
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Just back from trying a pepperoni slice at New York pizza. It was pretty good, crust was thin and properly chewy/crispy. I like a bit more sauce. The whole pies on some of the other tables and coming from the kitchen looked better.
I must compliment the male owner, though, a guy in his 40s or 50s with close-cropped sandy greying hair. The place was jammed with a girls' soccer team, coaches, and moms all having their end-of-season pizza and trophy lunch, but he made sure to wipe down a table for me to sit at and took my order receipt and checked on my slice when I had been waiting for a couple of minutes. Very attentive! Very different from the female who took my order and seemed totally unconcerned when I mentioned this thread on Chowhound as my reason for stopping in.
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I live two blocks away from New York Pizza and Pasta. We order there frequently since it's so close, but we make the trek to Palms/National for the Coop's awesome cheese pizzas! Coincidentally, we drove there tonight for dinner.
Our general rule is that if we want a plain cheese pizza, we go to Coop, but if we're in the mood for toppings - we'll go to New York Pizza. Have you ever had the Coop's calazones? They're outstanding!
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OK. I just gave them a call based on the recommendation. Hope it's better than Lamonica's.
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I used to frequent New York Pizza (I think it used to be called New York Pizza & Pasta Store) when I lived in Westwood in the '80s. It was some of the better pizza around then, and I guess times haven't changed that much, since everybody still seems in search of a truly satisfying Westside NY pizza place (besides Lamoninca's).
My favorite thing to get there was always the fried eggplant pizza, well-done. Wonder if its still any good?
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I remember there was a place right on Bundy and The 405 called Chicago Pizza Works that served some of the best deep dish Pizza I have ever tasted. I was saddened to find out it had been closed down when I went looking for it a couple of months ago.
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re: kevin
Das Ubergeek
Nov 29, 2006 11:24 PM
Yes... it's a zoo at lunch, be warned, because the options for the denizens of the corporate towers on the SW corner are very limited in that area.
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Try Johnny's New York Pizza, 4002 Lincoln Blvd., Marina del Rey, CA 90292. Phone: (310) 822-0095. Prices: $9 to $15. I try to go in there every time I go to L.A.
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re: Phood
westsidegal
Feb 3, 2007 05:35 PM
i disagree about the alejo's pizza. to me, it's just sort of OK.
the main thing that set's alejo's apart is the raw garlic chunks in oil that they serve with their bread as a dipping sauce.-
re: westsidegal
For a nice experience at Alejo's, go with your friends and order a nice glass or two or three of a red wine of your choosing along with a few appetizers - the fried calemari, your favorite pizza, maybe the chopped salad - and keep the bread and olive oil with garlic coming... just make sure your friends are not vampires as one's breath is more deadly than a wooden stake!
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re: bulavinaka
Also, make sure that you do not go to a party where you will be consuming beer. I made this mistake, after eating at Alejo's. Not a good idea. You are reaking of garlic for a whole week later. The place is amazing. The meat calzone is the size of a small child and is sooo good@
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re: bulavinaka
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re: kevin
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re: echoparkdirt
westsidegal
Dec 16, 2011 10:32 AM
once a restaurant has made the decision to buy the very lowest quality/lowest price ingredients, even if they were to "try," it wouldn't be enough. . . . .
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