Village Pizzeria
131 N. Larchmont Blvd.
L.A., CA
323-465-5566

Village Pizzeria is another pizza place with East Coast roots (this time New York; the walls are thickly crusted with Big Apple memorabilia) in another tough neighborhood for parking, Larchmont Boulevard. This one is more restaurant than takeout place, though. It even has beer and wine.

Here you can get your pizza with either a thick or a thin crust, and the emphasis is more on the toppings. This place is more experiment-minded with them too. It offers a couple of "veggie" pizzas, and feta cheese often shows up.

Still, none of them can really beat their devastating pepperoni pizza. The excellent mozzarella is topped with spicy, aromatic sausage slices cooked down so far they've turned into a sort of pepperoni jerky, so chewy, salty and concentrated it almost hurts the tongue. This is a gorgeously, indefensibly rich pizza, too -- the plate positively runs with orange sausage grease, and the waitress is likely to volunteer extra napkins.

A couple of simple pasta dishes are available. For instance, chewy meat or mushroom ravioli, baked ziti in fresh tomato sauce with lots of garlic, or penne with chicken and broccoli and even more garlic.

No choice of hot or cold submarine sandwiches on the menu here, they're all heated up in the pizza oven, and seem to have been pressed -- the effect of the ham sandwich is pretty close to a Cuban pressed sandwich. The sausage pizza, made with homemade sausage and a judicious amount of tomato sauce, is one of the more satisfying around.

Larchmont may have its parking shortage, but this place manages to be pretty busy most of the time, proving the old saying: If you build a serious pizza, they will come.


Hours: Mon.-Wed., noon-9:30 p.m.; Thu.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun., noon-9 p.m.

Fax: 323-465-7633