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Los Angeles pizza obsessives are about to have an easier time scoring one of the country's most sought-after pies.
Fresh off being named the No. 2 pizzeria in the United States for the second consecutive year by the influential 50 Top Pizza USA guide, Pizzeria Sei is expanding into a larger home in West L.A.'s Palms neighborhood. The new restaurant, located at 10700 Tabor Street and set to open tomorrow, June 24, will feature a full sit-down dining room, an expanded menu and a more ambitious beverage program, while the original Pico-Robertson location turns into Sei Pizza Bar.
Pizzeria Sei isn't your typical neighborhood pizza joint. Chef-owner William Joo's style is often described as Tokyo-style Neapolitan pizza, combining Japanese precision with Italian tradition. Long fermentation, carefully selected flours and meticulous attention to technique produce the light, airy crusts that have helped turn the tiny Pico-Robertson restaurant into a national destination.
The accolades have followed: this year, Pizzeria Sei once again landed at No. 2 on the 50 Top Pizza USA rankings, tying with San Francisco's Tony's Pizza Napoletana and trailing only New York's Una Pizza Napoletana. The guide praised Sei's "essential yet refined approach to pizza" and called it "a perfect destination for those seeking a modern and refined interpretation of pizza, without frills, but with deep expertise."
The bigger Palms location gives Joo room to expand beyond the menu that made Sei famous. Along with the restaurant's signature Neapolitan pizzas, diners will find two additional styles: fried montanara pizzas and thin, crispy Roman-style scrocchiarella. New toppings, appetizers, desserts and a broader wine program are also part of the expansion.
"Some people like sourdough pizza, some people like yeast-based pizza, some people like crispy-based pizza, soft and airy pizza or even fried pizza that tastes rich," Joo told Eater Los Angeles. "For me, those are really canvases and the topping is the expression of what a chef would do on the plate."
The expanded menu reflects years of experimentation that simply weren't possible in the original space. The new kitchen gives Joo more equipment, more prep space and greater flexibility to explore ingredients and techniques that previously wouldn't fit within Sei's tightly focused operation.
Meanwhile, the original Pico-Robertson location isn't disappearing. Instead, it will continue to serve many of the restaurant's best-known pies while offering dine-in service, takeout and delivery. Jennifer So, who co-owns the business with Joo, sees the two locations as serving different purposes. "You don't compare an evolved Pokémon to the basic Pokémon," she told Eater.
Reservations for the new Pizzeria Sei went live on June 17 ahead of the restaurant's debut tomorrow. For a pizzeria that already ranks among the country's best, the expanded space gives Joo his biggest opportunity yet to show Los Angeles what the next chapter of Sei looks like.