Latest news with #PizzeriaSei
Time Out
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Pizzeria Sei was just named the country's second-best pizza joint
In yet another bit of pizza-related news, L.A.'s Pizzeria Sei (also known as Time Out 's top pick for pizza in Los Angeles) continues to rack up culinary awards—this time from 50 Top Pizza, an influential industry guide with roots in Italy and the self-described 'first guide of the best pizzerias in the world.' William Joo's tiny, multiple-award-winning Pico-Robertson pizzeria, which is slated to move to Palms later this year, just clinched the No. 2 spot on the 50 Top Pizza USA guide at an awards ceremony held earlier today inside NYC's Chelsea Market. Two other Southern California pizzerias also made 50 Top Pizza's annual USA list: Nardò in Huntington Beach (which also has a satellite location in Culver City), ranked 24th in the nation, and Dana Point's Truly Pizza, which came in at No. 9 and thus made the top 10. Both Pizzeria Sei and Truly Pizza were also recently recognized at the international Best Pizza Awards. To determine its regional rankings—a recent ranking also dropped for all of Europe —the 50 Top Pizza judges use anonymous inspectors to sample pizzerias across the globe in search of high-quality dough, toppings, service and overall experience. While a national guide naturally isn't as competitive as an international list of rankings, it's still pretty darn difficult to receive recognition in a country full of unique regional pizza styles. We're talking New Haven-style, Detroit-style, Chicago-style and, of course, New York-style. On that note, the top spot on the list went to Una Pizza Napoletana in New York City. Once again, congratulations to Pizzeria Sei, Truly Pizza and Nardò!
Time Out
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Two L.A. pizzerias were just named among the best in the world
In a move that probably won't surprise local pizza lovers, three different standout Southern California pizzerias —and the chefs behind them—just made the top 100 list of the world's best pizzas at the third annual Best Pizza Awards in Milan. William Joo of Pizzeria Sei, also known as Time Out' s top pick for pizza in Los Angeles, came in at number 44 in the world, beating out dozens of pizzaiolos in New York City and cities across Italy. Justin De Leon of Apollonia's Pizza (another one of our favorite pizza joints) ranked number 58, while Chris Decker of Truly Pizza in Orange County's Dana Point clinched the highest spot among SoCal recipient at number 42. Organized by the Best Chef Awards, the Best Pizza Awards first began three years ago and puts an emphasis on individual chefs, rather than restaurants or the places they inhabit. The European awarding body was founded in 2015 by a Polish neuroscientist and an Italian gastronomist and emphasizes a transparent, 'chef-led' voting and selection process. Both Joo (Pizzeria Sei) and De Leon (Apollonia's) have previously earned recognition from the Best Pizza Awards; 2025 is the first Decker has made the awards' global top 100 list. The Best Pizza Awards praised Joo for making Tokyo-style Neapolitan pies that are 'technically refined and full of character.' In particular, the European awarding body recognized Joo's 'salt-punch' technique, which involves sprinkling salt into the oven for a distinct shift in overall pizza texture. 'Today, William Joo continues to explore and elevate pizza through simplicity, balance, and a deep respect for ingredients and tradition," reads the chef's official entry. Joo also made the Best Pizza Awards top 100 list in 2024 and 2023. For Apollonia's De Leon, who also made the list in 2024, the Best Pizza Awards highlighted his unconventional path from art school and photography to pizza-making—in particular, Apollonia's "game-changing square[s]," which feature burnt cheese edges and airy interiors. As for Truly Pizza's Decker, his entry highlights his apprenticeship under acclaimed Las Vegas pizzaiolo John Arena. This year is the first time that Decker has earned recognition from the Best Pizza Awards.
Los Angeles Times
27-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Walking all 15.5 miles of Pico Boulevard in a day revealed hidden parts of L.A.
We took about 37,000 steps forward and one step back. For the fourth iteration of what friends and I playfully call our annual big walk, we embarked on a considerably easier quest. One year after delineating our limits by walking all 28-plus miles of Western Avenue, two years after surmounting all 25-plus miles of Sunset Boulevard, we settled on perambulating Pico Boulevard this month. It lacked the grandiosity of our past pursuits. But Pico's 15.5 miles presented plenty of opportunities — to chat, to consider, to explore, to linger. We met at 9 a.m. on the outskirts of downtown and finished about 9½ hours later on the Santa Monica sand. Along the way we ran into friends, made new ones and reconnected with welcome parts of our collective home. Our guiding principles are simple. After selecting one long Los Angeles street that ends at the ocean, we start walking at its other terminus. Ideally, there's some sort of special marker there. While Western has the Fern Dell Stairs, Sunset's start is unceremonious. Wilshire Boulevard, the site of our first walk in 2022, has eight out-of-place palm trees, perhaps planted as a hint of what's to come. Pico wins with a giant Coca-Cola bottle, outside an entrance to the company's storied bottling facility designed in Streamline Moderne architectural fashion. We started there and never turned. Two miles in, at Pico's intersection with Union Avenue, we took over the street itself as part of CicLAmini. The car-free event put on by a local nonprofit was just beginning, so the street almost felt like ours alone. And we've walked enough to know how rare a public restroom is in Los Angeles, so the portable toilets were appreciated. Eight miles in, we stopped for lunch in Pico-Robertson, where options abounded. Pico, of course, was the street on which the late, great Jonathan Gold once set out to eat at every restaurant, and Pico-Robertson was the neighborhood where he resided during that pursuit. We didn't have that much time. We did, however, split up and sample an array of restaurants: a lauded Tokyo- and Neapolitan-style pizza place called Pizzeria Sei, neighborhood classics Factor's Famous Deli and Jeff's Gourmet Sausage Factory, and the Rooster, a newer addition. We would've loved to eat all together, but there is a remarkable dearth of green spaces near Pico, throughout the city of Los Angeles. Public green spaces, we should say, for we soon encountered back-to-back golf courses covering more than a mile. Pico proved pedestrian-friendly, at least compared to our past pursuits. Sidewalks exist for almost every step of the way. And, for several stretches, they have history built into them. Surrounding Bonnie Brae Street, in Pico-Union, there are a number of Victorian houses, modeled after actual nearby houses, engraved into the sidewalk. In eastern Santa Monica, information about the street and surrounding area is at several locations painted into the sidewalk, forming a timeline as you approach the Pacific. Just don't try to veer to the north or south. Between Arlington Avenue and La Brea Avenue, there are several gates visible from Pico that block both vehicles and pedestrians from easily visiting nearby neighborhoods. The gates, funded by neighborhood councils, date to the 1980s. They have remained a hotly contested issue in recent city council races. And don't accept every apparent office building at face value. At neither the Packard Well Site nor the Cardiff Tower, about 1½ miles apart, did we stop and take notice of the strange, tall facades shielding us from something. If we had, we would've realized there were no windows. There are not offices but massive oil derricks and rigs inside. As part of a 2015 survey on historic districts, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning called the Cardiff Tower 'significant as a rare remaining oil production facility located on a commercial corridor.' Los Angeles! Pico only calls two cities home, L.A. and Santa Monica, which is rare among our long streets that tend to snake between many cities. But double-digit Los Angeles neighborhoods include the street in some capacity. It feels like a relentless parade of new neighborhoods. At the northeast corner of the intersection with Fairfax Avenue, there are even signs for two neighborhoods that somehow start in exactly the same place: Wilshire Vista and Little Ethiopia. At the Daily Pint, where we sourced sustenance for our final leg, the bartender could tell something was up as soon as we all walked in, sweaty and setting down our backpacks. Just the week before, she told us, a similarly disheveled man came in on a solo journey from downtown to Pacific Palisades. It was his punishment for coming in last place in his fantasy football league. We told her we were just doing this for fun. She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then asked what we wanted to drink. Soon enough we were on the beach, admiring the last of the day's sun with the Santa Monica Pier as our backdrop. Pico actually meets the sand in a way that we have not seen with any other long streets. At its last intersection, with Appian Way, there's a little valet circle for a hotel restaurant, and anything resembling a typical road ends. Then there are eight steps down and 100 feet of connected S-shaped sidewalks guiding pedestrians down to the beach. That's still Pico Boulevard, according to every map we consulted. It's like an artist's last, tasteful touch. This was our largest group yet: 22 starters and 19 finishers, including one fearless 4-month-old. January's Eaton fire displaced four of our walkers, two of whom remain marooned far from home for at least a little while longer. Everything still feels a bit different here, obviously. The downsides of Los Angeles life might be a little more top of mind. All that, combined with blessedly less mileage to cover, gave this walk a different feeling than in years past. Less delirious, more contemplative, with more time to notice, to share memories with peers. Most of us have been here long enough to remember old iterations of spaces. One nail salon used to be a coffee shop, where a few of us first learned about Ethiopian coffee ceremonies. Catch One, now a club where bottle service with Jack Daniel's sells for $400, used to be Jewel's Catch One, one of America's oldest Black-owned discos and gay bars. The iconic Papa Cristo's Greek Grill, at Pico and Normandie, just closed, its building now for sale for more than $5 million. Some spaces continue to reign. The Mint, the music venue that once hosted the likes of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, has been around for 88 years. The Apple Pan is not far behind, at 78 years, long outlasting the Westside Pavilion across the street. One thoughtful walker brought along a book of Mary Oliver poems and slowly flipped through it during lulls. She asked others to stop her whenever they felt like it and read the resulting poem aloud. Toward the day's end, we happened on 'Yes! No!,' which was first published in 1994. 'How important it is to walk along, not in haste but slowly, looking at everything and calling out Yes! No!' reads one portion. 'Imagination is better than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.' We were not perfect. But on this day, it is fair to say, we completed our work. And what a luxury it was to do it once more.
