This is another typical average pizza. It will deliver almost anywhere and supposedly very cheap. Although you have to get the deals they offer. I ordered a 14 inch pizza and it was 13 dollars plus a couple for a tip. So for the kind of pizza it is, not cheap. Unless you have a coupon. Which in any grocery store would make you an old lady. This is not the case for pizza however, coupons are a big part of the scene.
Sorry for the blurry picture. To describe it to you, the crust was surprisingly crispy and thin. Still over all on the thicker side but surprising. You can see it was cooked long, by the burned cheese. The cheese is a little too browned. The sauce and cheese were put on pretty heavy. The sauce was not great, kind of a heavy thick paste. The crust on this pizza was better than most of this variety, however the rest of the pizza was kind of a failure.
Classic Napoletana Pizza. That's what this is, not Middle-America pizza, not deep dish, not even N.Y. style. It is the original pizza, same recipe right from Italy. In fact this place even has some seal of approval from the Italian Pizza Gods. It is as genuine a pizza as you will find in the West, I'm sure.
NOTE: "some seal of approval" is actually called the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association. There is a link to the American division if you care to read more about it. There are actually two other places in CA with the seal. Along with many others across the country. Antica was the first in the U.S. to get the seal. Here is the seal:
Nevertheless, this does not mean the pizza is good.
It is surprising that this place has such a respected pizza. The place has a fresh clean look of something like an Apple Bee's and it is in the middle of a big mall in Marina Del Rey. So quite an unlikely place to find such great pizza. However, it is no Apple Bee's. The people working and owners are straight from Italy as is the flour and the tomatoes they use. Although I think sometimes they get their tomatoes from California. Their mozzarella cheese is made fresh in the restaurant. Their pizza is cooked in a wood fired brick oven. It is as fresh and legit as you can get.
I sat down in the place and ordered a classic Margherita pizza that comes in one individual size - 10 inches, though it seemed a generous 10 inches. It was 11 dollars.
It was a great site to see when it came to the table. The cheese was amazing, so fresh and creamy, it melted in your mouth. They were very generous with the cheese too. The sauce very light and simple. In fact I don't believe it was seasoned at all, just a simple sweet tomato taste. The crust was a major part of the pie. Probably a third to a quarter of the pizza was bare crust with no sauce or cheese on it. It had great texture to it. Crispy and chewy with a doughy inside. It all worked well, and it left me wanting more for the rest of the day. I almost stopped by another place on the way back for one more slice. I didn't want to leave a bad taste in my mouth though, so I didn't stop.
It was really great pizza, definitely the only one of its kind in L.A. If I had to complain I can compare it to Lombardi's in NY, which is a similar style, it was not as good as that. It could have used more sauce on the pizza, and it wouldn't have hurt to put a little more into the tomatoes to spice it up. There was just too much bare crust for me. Although the crust was close to perfect, it was too much. A touch dry and mostly flavorless. The cheese was the best part for me. There was a few pieces of basil that helped bring the flavors together, but mostly is was a very simple pie.
This is not my preferred style of pizza, I am more of a NY style (Joe's or Vito's) kind of guy. So out of my own preference I still hold those above this one. Next on the list though, has got to be Antica.
UPDATE: I went back recently and got the prosciutto and arugula pizza. I also got the margherita again. The prosciutto doesn't come with sauce on the pizza. In fact a lot of their specialty pizzas do not have tomato sauce. I asked if we could get it on anyway, they said yes but then brought a bowl of sauce on the side, said it would be better that way. This was fine except the sauce they brought was a marinara sauce not the same sauce that was on the margherita. This was a bit disappointing. The service was also disappointing.
The pizza was pretty similar, but this time the dough was not as crispy and had thinner and soggier middle and a doughier inside. It still had a slightly charred bottom and tasted great. If you get anything but cheese and sauce on the pizza don't expect to be able to pick it up. The bottom is too thin to support any kind of toppings. You might need the knife and fork, true Italian style. I wasn't as happy with my experience this time, but it is still a pretty good tasting pizza. Still better than Bottega Louie. I won't change anything.
Antica Pizzeria - 13455 Maxella Ave. 2nd Fl - Marina Del Rey
This place was off my pizza radar for the last year. Unheard of by probably everyone who didn't live within their delivery zone. Recently it was mentioned in the L.A. Times as one of the best pizzas in L.A. So now people have heard of it. So in hopes of a hidden gem I too traveled to the Culver City area.
Coop Pizza has been in business for 40 years, most recently it changed ownership, but some of the same people run it. It seems it is a very close knit family business, whether they are family by blood I don't know, but they are certainly 'family' now. Only a family bickers at each other while making the pizza in front of the other customers. They are very kind people there though, who truly care about their customers. In talking to them I came to find out they don't like the idea of their new celebrity. They preferred it when nobody had heard of them. They liked their little hole in the wall under the highway. They enjoy serving the same local regulars who come back time and time again. I like the way they run things and I give them credit for this. It can be tough when the whole city criticizes your recipes, it can make or break the business sometimes. I can understand being content with your small business, if it makes you enough money to live and you are content why expand. Why open 10 other places in LA and stress out over all of them, meanwhile the quality starts to decline, people get sick of it and the roller coaster that you never signed up for is on its way down. That was a bit dramatic I suppose, kind of like the life of Britney Spears. Coop pizza is probably not, nor will ever be at that level. I'm just trying to write with some artistic flair I suppose. Excuse me.
Anyway to discuss the pizza. The pizza; and perhaps they will be happy to hear this from one of the many food critics, is not anything worth the drive if you are on the other side of town. If I lived close by I would be happy it was there. To say it is one of the best pizzas in LA is going a little far. This of course, is just my opinion.
The crust was cooked well, it was lightly crispy on the outside, but didn't really have a strong crunch. It went from lightly crispy to very doughy. Although the dough was light and airy and tasted pretty good, it was a little dry. It was just a little thick and not quite crispy enough for me. The sauce was the highlight for me. It had a great rich taste, that was sweet but loaded with different flavors. The sauce and cheese worked well together, their was the perfect mix of oil and salt flavors.
This by definition is average pizza, it isn't exactly N.Y. style thin crust, it isn't Chicago style or New Haven style. It is middle america style. Which is the common pizza not only in middle america but also in L.A. There is nothing wrong with this style, it is what people like. I will say in this tier of pizzas, this is one of the top places I've had. Just personally not my style. Pizza, like I have said before is a local food, and if the local people like it, thats all that matters. This is definitely all that matters to the Coop family. This is a good thing.
All anyone needs to know about me is I grew up in PA and spent a lot of time in NYC. Went to school in upstate NY and for the last 3 years have lived in LA. I love pizza and and have had my share of it, and now I would like to share it with you.
.png)
.png)
.png)
