#3 Village Pizzeria

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#3 Village Pizzeria

"There's no good pizza in LA." Seriously, everyone that lives here will say this. In case you were wondering, there's also no good Chinese food. I have a hard time believing this. I have a hard time believing that with all of the people here, we cannot get pizza as good as New York. Traditionally the response is that the water in New York is so much more accommodating to pizza than the water in LA. Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that. It seems like this is one of those things like "Macs don't get viruses and PCs do" that one person said and then everyone started believing. (I had PCs for 15 years and never had a virus, my mac has worked on and off for three years with the consistency of an epileptic drunk) Water DOES play a role in the texture of the dough. In the beer world, water plays a role in the texture of the beer as well. Beer and dough have several similar qualities, and like every ingredient that goes into making a beer or a pizza, difference in water plays a role. However, despite Germany and California having very different water, they both manage to make very good beer. Somehow, despite differences in the texture of the water—I assume much more drastic than that between New York and LA—both regions make great—albeit different—beer

So I cannot buy the water is different hence good pizza is an absolute impossibility card. I just can't. I think a lot of it has to do with the main goals of restaurants in both cities. By-the-slice places in New York are fucking amazing, but they also have four billion people walking by every day. LA by-the-slice places have 1/50th what New York has, so the best pizza chefs see no reason to put money into a corner pizza place when they could make fifty times more money harnessing their skills in a nicer environment. New York will always have better street food, and it doesn't end with pizza. Why are New York's falafel, hot dogs, and pretzels better than LA's? It's NOT the water.

Which leads me to Village Pizza. The original Village is on Larchmont, and I personally think it's better. No, I don't think it's a different recipe, I just think more time and care goes into things over there. The second Village is on Yucca right by our place. It is the best New York style pizza in LA. It is. No, it is not as good as the places on every single NYC street, not even close, but it has nothing to do with the water. As far as LA greasy pizza goes, I'm yet to find a subtitute.

Despite the fact that I swear the other location makes better pie, we have spent a shit ton of money at the closer one. We get delivery almost once a week, and until I started working the twelve-hour shift on Fridays, I ate lunch there every week. I adore pizza. I live for it. My next tattoo is a pizza. And Village has been my pizza place for two solid years.

I'm hoping that downtown offers some sort of pizza solace. Yelp! lists 176 places with pizza within walking distance, and I will attempt to plow through all of them. But I just have a hard time believing that one will somehow eclipse Village. Despite not having New York's water system, they manage to make a damn fine pizza, and I will miss it.