I thought about writing this with a New York City flair — but fuggedaboutit. I’m not even remotely from NYC. Yet Vito’s NYC Pizza on La Cienega in WeHo is my favorite go-to (and to-go) pizza.
To be truthful, my favorite pizza is the one I make at home with a dough that takes three days to develop. But if I don’t have time for that, Vito’s is it. And who has the time? It’s the holidays, and as much as you’d like to pretend that you’re at home making your own bûche de noël and mulling wine, you’ve got exactly a million things to do and no time to do any of them. Time to order pizza.
Vito’s, like the ever-popular Mozza, has been in the neighborhood for a while now, having left its original spot in Los Feliz for the current mini-mall set-up on La Cienega. But where Mozza dresses pizza up with authentic Italian ingredients, Vito’s is infinitely more casual. Here’s where you get that slice of cheese pie that takes you right back to the end of your last big night out in NYC. It’s a thin crust, chewy and bready with the perfect sauce-to-cheese ratio that means you can pick it up without worrying about anything sliding off.
Venturing further into the offerings, there’s a wild mushroom pizza for funghi-lovers, a veggie pie with spinach and broccoli, a white pie, and the senza formaggio (no cheese, just sauce, tomatoes, olives and basil). My personal favorite is the Garibaldi, which is a Margherita pizza with meatballs, tomatoes and jalapeños. Yep, jalapeños. It’s genius.
There’s only one size, a (very) large 18 inches, but you can also get pizza by the slice. Pick-up and delivery are options, but squeezing yourself into the tiny restaurant and hanging out with their incredibly fun and friendly servers is always fun too. Prices on whole pies range from $16.50 for a basic cheese to $32.50 for the Cheri O Chi Chi (arugula, toasted pine nuts, gorgonzola and prosciutto). Slices start at $2.50 for cheese.
I’m not alone in loving Vito’s. Zagat gives the food a 27, which scores in the “extraordinary to perfection” range. And the Urban Spoon rating is 92 percent.
Vito’s Pizza is located at 846 N. La Cienega Blvd in WeHo. Add their number to your speed dial, (310) 652-6859. www.vitopizza.com
