So I guess I have one less reason to hate on LA. A little piece of NYC is setting up shop in Echo Park: Two Boots Pizza, a NYC institution, opens tonight on Sunset, practically cheek-to-cheek with the Echo. And people, it’s a place where you can order by the slice if you want– essential to pizza lovers.

As another NYC institution, Liz Lemon, would say, “I want to go to there.”

During my time here, I’ve managed to scout out other worthy pizza joints, in the same mold and even in the same general area. Nicky D.’s on Rowena in Silver Lake is one of them. Their wood-fire oven has provided me with many a tasty pie.

And then there’s Cheech’s on Hillhurst in Los Feliz, where I’ve been rewarding myself with innumerable slices after making the trek by bike up to Griffith Park Observatory. Walking into this little gem of a pizza parlor is like stepping back in time– which is why Cheech’s needs to rethink (and remove) that large flat panel TV they recently bolted to the wall, oddly encased in Plexiglass.

An added bonus at Cheech’s: While you wait for your slice, ignore the TV and take in the walls of the tiny place lined with framed platitudes spelling out, literally, in serpentine sentences with somewhat loopy logic, The True Meaning of Life. (They have to be seen to be fully appreciated.)

Most importantly, with Two Boots, Nicky D.’s and Cheech’s, there is good reason to never again subject yourself to that flavorless food serving chain that has the words “California” and “pizza” in its name.

Two Boots, 1818 Sunset, Echo Park.

Nicky D.’s, 2764 Rowena, Silver Lake

Cheech’s, 2116 Hillhurst, Los Feliz

tftt thrillist

Related posts:

1. Best of East LA Pizza
2. The Boots of the Cowboy
3. Taming the Pizza Monkey
4. The best pizza
5. I’ll have a large blogdowntown pizza