Right this it's frozen pizza, it's the sort of stuff
We would have grown up with, but today I'm exploring the world of
Italian American style pizza across the east side of LA and I'm pretty sure we can do better than this!
My mission on this LA pizza crawl is to showcase
Just how much great pizza is on offer within this city! LA is where it's at
There is three really great places, which I think showcase LA's best pizza
And the first of which is called Cosa Buona in Echo Park around 15 minutes from where I live! Andiamo! (Let's go!)
First place- Cosa Buona! That doesn't say it at all but it says it right here
This is an American Italian style place
what I imagine American Italian stuff to be! Like smoky mozzarella sticks, eggplant parmesan and
controversially an
Hawaiian pizza - and I feel in the interest of trying and making sure that we get a full experience here
I should get the Hawaiian even though I'm a dead set against pineapple on pizza
But that I know will set it aside because this one actually looks quite good- it's got the pineapple, Canadian bacon, onion, chiles and smoked mozzarella
So you can't go too far wrong!
Okay, so we're going PIZZA! I want to say the pepperoni let's go pepperoni- it's a classic!
It used to be an old school pizza restaurant and a new chef has come in here and completely
Injected new life into this little corner of Echo Park! When it opens in the evening, there's a queue out the door!
Let's try some pizza!
What I'm most excited about this pizza is that crust!
Look how beautiful and doughy that looks!
I'm not seeing like scary chunks of pineapple like the sort of pineapple pizza
I would have grown up with would have been sort of chunks that came out of a can. I'm not seeing any major chunks
So I'm happy about that, I'm going to stop talking now and get into some eating
Ah man- that is so so
Good, it is all about that crust
I mean I've been here I've tried this crust and that's why I've come back! The marinara sauce is really good
it's subtle enough, but it tastes the
Tomatoes without overpowering with anything else. I haven't added any chili oil or any chilies here and you actually don't need them
It's full of flavor and there's good bit of spice from those pepperoni as well. It's pillowy
it's doughy- it's got that lovely chew
It's like the perfect kind of end and it's like the perfect kind of
Palate cleanser after all the other flavor from the pepperoni and the marinara sauce and that smoked mozzarella as well
This is an awesome slice of pizza!
This is the one I'm slightly nervous about and this is the Hawaiian pizza
I am NOT a Hawaiian pizza fan, but I feel like if you're going to put it on your menu
It's got to be good in a place like this. So I'm gonna grab off the piece that actually has a visible piece for pineapple
It's definitely like a heavier slice of pizza, but there's bacon is really nice and crispy
you got the red onion in there, and I'm not seeing like too much marinara sauce on this but
It's pretty good
What works here is that the pineapple is kind of gone a little bit caramelized but it's the
combination of that little bit of spice in there that hit of spice in
Contrast with the sweetness of the pineapple and then you've got the saltiness of the bacon and then that hit of red onion
It's really really good
This is a really great example of what a modern American Italian pizza is it's all about the dough. It's all about the ingredients
It's all about that combination of flavors and they have nailed it here
Nice to meet you! I'm Donal- do you mind like giving us just a quick line about it? First thing what sir Damon where'd you come from?
This restaurant came
From Zach Pollack who has another restaurant, Alimento- the idea was to do
Neapolitan pizza dough- he studied just traditional but with these throw back
American toppings! And that crust is what it's all about. Like yeah feels like somewhere between like the base feels somewhere between like
a classic Italian pizza
and this kind of crazy crust
It's tasty - I mean we make the ham here- we pickle the jalapenos
So we have this great balance of smoky sweet spicy
that's exactly what I was saying! Where are you going? We're going to triple beam and we're gonna go Casa Bianca!
Oh great
So you get a lot of different styles today the guys from triple beam are buddies three different styles and three that are all important
To this neighborhood. That's great - you're speaking my language. This is great. Okay. I'm off to eat more pizza. Nobody's gonna beat you. Thank you. So
Good. We got the inside track on what the pizza is all about!
And this is exactly why I wanted to hit up these exact three pizza places
They showcase what LA's pizza scene is all of it
Bye!
Next up is triple bean pizza. The guys are big fans. It's only recently opened
It literally opened about four months or five months ago. They serve pizza by the slice
So you go in and it's kind of like counter service and you choose what you want
They slice it up and you end up with a tray of beautiful pizza. We are here
This is what I'm talking about
This place is super popular right now and in the window right outside
So I'm hoping we can actually get in and get to see some pizza being made
So Triple Beam Pizza is like the raddest pizza- I was not a fan of pizza
Sorry! Until I started working here and now I'm obsessed with it! Super thin, super delicious
It's like a great cracker and then they just put all this awesome stuff
This is what's cool about this
It is places that like you can basically choose how much of a slice of pizza you want and they've whole host of different
toppings heirloom tomato summer squash
Roasted eggplant mushroom, which is sold out! Margarita, sausage pepperoni. Thank You
PIZZA! Thank you very much. We're going to eat
I
Don't think this happens in LA very often you don't see this pizza by the slice thing going on
This is kind of like Roman style pizza. There's a whole host of different
Ingredients on top we've got heirloom tomato. You've got beautiful zuchinni or courgette on top here
I
Love the fact that you can come in here and you can have a little bit of everything and that's what I've done every time
I've come to triple-team. It's literally I order every bit of pizza. There is on offer that thin crust. You've got the thick crust
It's a really great place to wear to try your favorite pizzas topping
Okay, I'm gonna stop talking and I'm gonna dive in here a good place to start is since it's seasonal and is some heirloom tomato
That is
Pizza like no other I mean it's a such a different style to what we've tried in Cacak wayna. It's crispy on the outside
There's a bit of chew in the in the center
But it's all about that kind of crackle and crunch as you bite into it
but as soon as you kind of delve in a bit deeper there is this like nice bit of chew in there you can see
That like there's beautiful olive oil going on in here. It's just really kind of moist we've got like a salami one
We've got eggplant or aubergine. We've got a pepperoni pizza and the one that I'm pretty excited about
Is this sausage meat one now?
You think of Italian
Pizza and it's that kind of like soft
Thin crust it's like kind of dripping under the weight in that like Naples style of the of the toppings. This is different
It's crunchy on the outside. Its got that chew of the dough and it's all about those flavors
It's it's basically the dough is the perfect vehicle for all these different things going on here
But to have it in LA to have it on my doorstep. That's what I get really excited about now
I do have to finish this off
But they did tell me that I'm gonna get an opportunity to go in and see how they make these big slices of pizza
So I've got some eating to do and then let's go in
So do you take you you cook them off first and then you add the topping I'd like three that's right
So that's what we do and then we send them to the topper and then they do all the okay
So they they do that all over and then I put it back again
Okay, so basically over here you've got the dough station they roll out the dough and
Market, it goes into the open. It bakes off and it gets all bubbly and golden gorgeous
And then these ones are basically ready to be topped and there's a whole like topping station over here
So you've got like the mozzarella, you've got a whole host of different ingredients ready to be tough
There's the fennel and a little bit of red onion for the sauce. Which one you got marinara?
This is this is really awesome. Okay, guys, this is Eli. He is the manager of triple teaming
You're gonna tell me a little bit about eggs with a bouquet of a race. Yeah, Matt Melina. I'm Nancy Silverton
They just always have this dream of opening up a Roman style
You know
This stuff is so cool it is this really cool. We need to talk about it. This is Cesare
And so he worked at roseola which was the place in Italy in
The whole time yeah
Please don't take a picture of me
But I was like for posterity we need it some people ask
Whether use like the founders who died like it's almost like a memorial like I have some little candles. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
Those are the folks who got it started and gave us the spirit. Well, it's so cool seeing
More success to you right so much right. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, come check us out. Yeah, go check the babe
Okay, we've done cosa Buena beautiful doughy pizza
we've done triple bean pizza that crispy crunchy chewy thing going on and the next stop is
old-style
American Italian pizza at its core what you'd expect from one of those old mum and pop star restaurants
I'm already feeling a little bit full but let's go
This is Casa Bianca, and this is one of my favorite neighborhood Italian restaurants
When we first moved to Los Angeles, this was one of the first places we came to it was so cute. And so cool
there's like neon signs outside and it's got this whole like
1950s diner still thing going on. It's really cool and the menu like spans. It's not just pizza
it spans across all those American Italian classics like breaded mushrooms and mozzarella sticks and zucchini sticks and
garlic bread and all the things you kind of like
Most Italians may cringe over but they do it and they do it with passion and they don't care about what the Italian you think
Because they are Italian and this is Italian food to them only
Five o'clock in the evening right now and the place is already jam-packed
it's probably more people in this restaurant than any of the other pizza restaurants we've been in and there is like
Compassionate neighbourhood following here. So it's gotta be good
Good. How are you? Let's do a small of the effect on a small of the sausage pizza
Okay, we have got
the sausage pizza on this side
The eggplant aubergine pizza over here and I like the fact that they come in their own little pizza trays
You got your nice little slice coming in. You can serve it up. I'm gonna start off with the sausage pizza now
look
I'm gonna fess up
I have had this pizza a lot of time so I can I could not probably already beige for the fact that this is good
But I want to talk you through why this is good
It's like heavy on the cheese, it's full of that beautiful tomato sauce, but this one in particular has this sausage meat
Which is spiked with fennel and it is so flavorful. It's sweet
But it also has this kind of aniseed being running through this is olive a thin crispy crust
And there's not much kind of aeration going on here
But what is interesting is the bite of the slice because you have the crunch any of the crispness
We also have like like semolina or polenta on the base of it
So you get it all over your fingers and when you bite into it you get these from a little little pops of crunch
Here is such a
Good feature. Okay. I've tried the one I know but this is the one it has not a lot of write-ups
They've interestingly, you know
Like put the pattern and they've laid the egg plant or the aubergine slices
on top and then they've eat it with loads and loads of cheese, so
The beautiful thing about this is that we get a yeah, a rather fantastic cheese pull just like that
Take up one of these slices
Second bike I'm sorry
That's just a really fantastic piece
So you got that tomorrow so that you've got to choose you got the egg funders has got a really soft
What I love about the pizza here is that they use like dried oregano. Just
Sprinkle over the top. So you get this kind of like weird like dried herb taste going on here
So I get aromatics that aren't like fresh, but they're that kind of like musky sort of dried flavor
Really really fantastic Peter. My vote is probably the sausage pizza, but this is a close second
It's a fantastic demonstration of you know
How you can play with pizza and how you can treat take it from like classic Italian stuff to doing something a little bit different
Come together behind you come to Europe. This is where it's at. And this is ultimate comfort food
Just to give you a background net is mr. Pizza in Eagle Rock
My sister you and your sister we run it tell me a little bit about Casa Bianca because it is like it is a neighbourhood
classic my parents started in 1955 and
They passed on but we're maintaining the tradition
we're keeping all the recipes they came up with over the years and and
given to my parents by
His mother Frank was a food with the fantastic cook. And is it true?
I've heard rumor that President Obama used to eat here as a college student. That's what they say, right?
Eat over ever. Oh, this is 1980. He was a kid Nick, right? It's a good I would roll with it
It's fantastic and then tell me cuz obviously when you walk in here you were you've got so many celebrities off from the walls
Teri hatcher and who's the most famous person you've had in the in the restaurant Claire nice was filmed a movie here
No, I got to meet him Wow a legend
We moved here two or three years ago
And we we live in the neighborhood and it was the first place we came to eat
So it was a great start in tell a so it's a pleasure to sit down and meet you in person
Thank you so much for talking to us and that we've eaten all the pizza. So I'm a happy man. This is great
I got the real I got the Godfather pizzas
So I've just had a quick chat with Ned and we're kind of in the back
Alley over of what Casa Bianca is all about. And so we're in the key. You can see there. They're busy making a
busy busy kitchen, but it's
Basically, one of the most popular restaurants in Eagle Rock, so we're thrilled to get a bit of a Barney the scenes look. Thanks that
I'm a pizza to go. Thank you. Okay. See you guys. Thank you very much
Okay, it is safe to say
Our Pizza mission is complete three, very different American Italian pizza joints and three that I think kind of represents
What American Italian pizza is it's not just one thing
It's like it's people's
perceptions on how they've experienced pizza growing off and how they've translated that into something new and something fresh the things I've tried I feel
Showcase that it is worthwhile trying go seek out the best American Italian pizza in your neighborhood, and I'm sure you will not be disappointed
Job done mission complete what's next?
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This isn't pizza, we're going to eat some real pizza
