Pizza Week on What's To Eat LA: North End Pizzeria

8600 W 3rd St Ste 2
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 550-8956
Everyday 11AM-11PM

Finishing off this pizza week on What's To Eat LA, we have North End Pizzeria (their website is down but the menu link is below). This spot is an interesting entry on to my list because it operates like a mega chain (in the good kind of way) and yet it isn't...though it has the makings to be such one day.

I would classify this place as a place your office would order when they want to treat the staff to good pizza on a Friday (hence why it's being written today). The pizza is designed like say a Pizza Hut or Papa John's slice but that's about where it ends. The cheese is thick and solid. When you bite into it there's some serious substance going on. It's not like biting into a hearty Chicago style or like biting off a bit of prepackaged string cheese but it's solid. The crust while fluffy and just crisp enough is not really something out of the ordinary. This is yet another parallel to how they could become corporate one day. They understand their competition.

Both pizzas (shown below) have tasty grease. I'll state that right off the bat there's some grease going on underneath the hood of the box when you get it. Don't be afraid though of grease (unless you're watching your weight and in that case why are you even attempting to eat pizza...shame on you!) . It's just essence of cheese for the uninformed. I expect there to be the oily glisten on top of a pie because it shows how much cheese has been used typically. That's not to say that you have a pool of grease waiting for you but basically a more flavorful pie.

Their sausage is great (even the second day reheat rocks)! The pepperoni was chosen for it's non-heart burn after effect. Pretty cool idea.

Okay...now until recently I had never had a meatball and fresh garlic slice of pizza let alone theirs. The combination never really crossed my mind until I just thought about it without the association of pizza. This may be my new favorite combination (at least from them). The fresh minced garlic and their own meatballs were a marriage made in Italian heaven while the honeymoon was in my mouth. A very memorable combined flavor considering that the garlic brought out the deeper flavor of the slightly sweet tomato sauce and made their spicy (not the hot spicy) meatball really pronounced. This was the hit for the party we had this at.

For some strange reason their website is down so I've include the menu for those that can't wait. What's nice is that it also shows their other locations at West LA, Burbank and Cerritos...hmmm sounds like they're already trying for a big branch out. Either way it's great pizza corporate or not. Oh and did I mention the corporate prices...an 18 inch for $13 is hard to beat!

It's been an amazing week of weight gain and greasy used napkins. I thank all of you who've read along and hopefully tried out some of my favorite pizza spots to frequent (though this doesn't include all of them by a long shot).

Free Drink Refills: Yes
Pizza Price Range: $11 to $14 with toppings going from $1.25 to $1.75