I first tried Lamonicas when I had this horrible job near UCLA back in 2004. I met two good friends at that job but it’s the pizza that was really the high point of that entire year.

That goes to show you what a crappy friend I am.

All I did at that job was make pathetic attempts at extending the 1.5 hours of work I had per day. This was parlayed into 3 hour lunches, illegal music downloads and heaps of unnecessary online purchases.

Lamonica’s (blocks away from work) touts itself as the only authentic NY pizza in LA.

They get their dough from Brooklyn, NY.

Using NYC tap water.

Naturally, the first thing that might spring to one’s mind is that bacteria laden water is being used to make your tasty pizza.

What springs to MY mind is a bit more extreme.

I think of the restaurant owner getting his supply from a decrepit water fountain, covered in years of bum slobber, in an abandoned park in the Bronx.

Or some slovenly, grease-stained cook dumping some old mop bucket water into the giant commercial mixer just as a hunk of ash delicately falls from his cigarette. Oh, followed by a hearty, juicy cough.

All combined to create pizza dough with that ‘certain something’.

New Yorkers are as much pizza snobs as they are self congratulatory of the fact they live in the greatest city on earth.

Try to tell one of them that LA has any pizza in comparison?

You’ll get reprimanded faster than if you complained about LA’s exorbitant housing costs .

“You think LA has it bad???….”

Anyways, Lamonica’s is my favorite all around pizza in LA and I don’t care how it measures up.

I was curious to see what an ex-New Yorker thought, so I took her to Lamonicas today.

Knowing she wasn’t the ooh and aah kind of gal (what New Yorker is?), I had to assume that when she said “It’s really good” without any change in facial expression, that actually meant it was really good.

I always order the same thing: A slice of cheese and a pepperoni Sicilian.

BORING PIZZA NOTES:

Their NY style pizza is thin and slightly crispy, but bendable for easy oral insertion. The Sicilian is thinner than others I’ve seen, amazing sauce, could be crispier but who cares!

Just shut up and eat it.

I’m a New Yorker at heart.

1066 Gayley Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 208-8671
http://www.lamonicasnypizza.com/