To say pizza is having a moment in Los Angeles doesn’t really do justice to what’s happening in this city. The fact is the pizza scene is exploding and there doesn’t seem to be any slowing down. There was a time when New York transplants would complain that you couldn’t find a New York slice worth the cheese that was baking on it. And they were right, and still mostly are. But what LA chefs finally realized was that trying to imitate New York was the problem in and of itself.

Once the idea that the New York slice was the thing to strive for was stripped away, LA’s pizza scene could thrive on completely different merits. As a result, the war for pizza supremacy has officially arrived, and it’s time to take some sides.