Pizza, one of arguably the most beloved and tasty dishes, will be take center stage on National Pizza Day on Thursday, Feb. 9.
In honor of this momentous occasion, people are encouraged to get out to their local pizzeria and enjoy a slice or two.
According to James Beard Award-winning food writer and “Pizza City” podcaster Steve Dolinsky, who has written two books about pizza and launched a pizza tour in his native Chicago, there’s a lot of diversity and flavor when it comes to pizza in Southern California.
“Pizza is very inclusive,” he said during a recent interview. “You can be creative. You can add Korean ingredients or Latin (flavors). With pizza, I like that it’s versatile; there’s a lot of variety.”
“And I think of Southern California as an emerging and exciting pizza region,” added Dolinsky, who loves pizza so much that he started his own pizza festival in Chicago last year. Since there’s such great pizza here, too, Dolinsky is bringing his concept to Los Angeles with the inaugural Pizza City Fest at L.A. Live, across from Crypto.com Arena, April 29-30.
Pizza City Fest will include dozens of local vendors handpicked by Dolinsky, local pizza guru Noel Brohner, who posts about the scene on his official Instagram account, and festival co-producer Caryl Chinn.
The trio traveled throughout the area over the span of about six months and tried around 60 different pizza places before narrowing down the list to the roughly 40 that will be making all sorts of pies — from thin New York-style slices and vegan offerings to Chicago-style deep dish and Detroit-style square servings — at the festival.
“We want to show the country that L.A. should be taken seriously for its pizza,” he said.
Dolinsky also wants guests at the festival to fill their minds as much as their bellies, so the event will include several panel discussions with experts discussing things like what exactly an L.A.-style pizza is and offering tips on how to make the…
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