The Brief

I love cheese and butter, and I swear I could eat a steak for dinner each and every night. I think I naturally align with a keto or low-carb lifestyle. Except the one thing I could never, ever give up is — pizza.

Savvy businesses across Southern California know this, and many have created low-carb or “keto-friendly” pizzas. Are they any good? I decided to find out.

Before I get to the findings, here are a few cautions: I have yet to find a low-carb or keto pizza that really, truly replaces the real thing. None of these pizzas on the list will be confused for a slice of the Margherita at Pizzeria Mozza.

Instead, the spots on this list will help you scratch that pizza itch without straying from low-carb goals that many of us adhere to as a way to keep blood sugar and weight in check. (Remember that choice of topping makes a difference when you’re carb counting — best to stick to cheese or meat options).

I also gave my test slices some broiling time in the toaster oven before eating, and I had a side of ranch for dipping too. (I figured these faux pizzas could use all the help they could get.) YMMV if you don’t take these extra steps.

Finally, many of these places do not go into great detail about the ingredients in their low-carb crusts. Where the information was available, I included it. If you have a food sensitivity, you might want to do more research before chowing down.

Here are six of the best low-carb and “keto-friendly” pizza options I could find in and around L.A. and Orange County. But I bet I missed some others. If you know of a great place making low-carb pizza, please let me know.

Stoney’s Pizza in Huntington Beach

I will be ordering this white sausage keto pie again and again.

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This was so good that my husband described it as “suspiciously good.” As in, we found ourselves eating as we wondered … could this really be “keto friendly," as stated on the menu? As well as gluten free? Hmmm. Owner Jennifer Kulik said via text that the dough is housemade, and includes cauliflower, zucchini, roasted red peppers “and some other secret ingredients we won’t say.”

This version only comes in a 12-inch pie. I certainly wasn’t fooled into thinking this was the real thing. The texture was a tad chewy, verging on a bit gummy. But the menu — and Kulik — say the entire 12-inch pie crust has only 10 net carbs. A crust that is a little gummy seems like a fair tradeoff when a “real” 12-inch pizza crust could easily pack over 150 grams of carbs.

I ordered the Keto White pizza, with fresh mozzarella, ricotta, romano cheese, oregano and a drizzle of garlic-infused oil. My husband and I wolfed it all down while standing at the kitchen island. No leftovers.

Verdict: Meet my new neighborhood pizza joint. I’m putting in a standing Friday night order.

Price: $13.99 and up, depending upon toppings.
Carb count: The 12-inch pizza crust only has 10 net carbs. For the whole thing!

Papa Johns in Los Angeles and Orange counties

Low-carb tortilla pizza is in your future.

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This almost didn't make the list because ... it's not actually a pizza. There's no attempt to fake a crust here. This is just about Papa Johns pizza toppings served up in a bowl. I tried the chicken alfredo, and the Italian Meats Trio, made with sausage, meatballs, pepperoni, bell peppers and onions. It absolutely hit the spot, even as I still wished for some kind of crust. So here’s what we did: We made our own pizzas using low-carb tortillas.

Here's how to do it: Find a low-carb or keto tortilla of your choice. Toast it up just a bit in the oven, slather on some of the Papa Bowl as your toppings and then finish it off under the broiler with a little more cheese on top. DIY low-carb tortilla pizzas. You're welcome.

Verdict: I know there will be people who turn their noses up at this chain known for bargain-basement pizzas. But if you’re trying to stick to low-carb goals, then this Papa Bowl can help keep you on track.

Price: $8.49
Carb Count: 15 grams for the entire bowl (which seems far too rich for one person to eat in one sitting, so… leftovers!).

Fresh Brothers in Los Angeles and Orange counties

This take-out pizza was especially good once it was reheated, and made for plenty of leftovers.

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Fresh Brothers is a fast-casual pizza chain that emphasizes fresh ingredients and a healthier bent. Wings are baked, not fried, for example. And the salads are ah-mazing. The menu says they offer a keto crust, but I couldn’t find one in the area and I was told by a server in Irvine that they no longer do keto crusts.

But Fresh Bros. does make a “skinny dough,” and their website says these clock in at 14 grams of net carbs for two slices. There is also a personal 7-inch pizza crust that only has 20 grams of net carbs for the whole thing, and that can easily be shared with two people, so two slices apiece. (Of course, I’d rather eat the whole thing myself, but two slices of pizza for 10 net grams is not bad!) So that earned Fresh Bros. a spot on this list. I ordered the Charcotta, seen here, with double pepperoni, ricotta, mozzarella and parm and then a personal size pizza, half pepperoni and half sausage.

Verdict: Would absolutely order again. I think a great dinner would be splitting a salad such as the California Caprese or simple green salad and spliting a personal pizza heaped with low-carb toppings. That would absolutely scratch the pizza itch.

Price: $9.49 and up, depending upon the toppings
Carb count: 10-14 net carb per two slices

Xtra Cheese in Whittier

Xtra Cheese in Whittier is known for its Halal Detroit-style pizzas — and for piling on the cheese. If you like thick-sliced pizza, you are going to love this place. They offer up 8 x 10” slabs of low-carb crust pizza just dripping with cheese. In fact, the cheese-y burnt edges are a selling point. I was never fooled into thinking this was the real thing, The thick slab keto dough might be too doughy and dense for some, and it’s also a slightly purplish to light gray color, almost like kalamata olive bread. But, overall, it did hit the spot.

This place is also known for its inventive toppings, including piped ricotta flowers. There's the street taco pizza (carne asada, jalapeno, radishes and creamy cilantro drizzle), the shawarma pizza (chicken shawarma and pickled turnips topped with garlic sauce), the cheeseburger (ground beef, pickles and American cheese) and the chipotle shrimp (shrimp and a spicy chipotle cream sauce), among others. If you want to drool, scroll through their IG feed.

Price: $25.99 and up. Pricey, but you will have leftovers because the pie is so huge.
Carbs: Not available on the website

Pizza Man in North Hollywood

Not sure you can beat this deal at Pizza Man for an L.A. pizza that advertises itself as keto: $17 for a small pie, with up to six toppings of your choice, not including the cheese and sauce.

We ordered a simple sausage and onion pie from this no-frills spot that also serves salads, pastas, wings, sandwiches and more, making it a nice option for group ordering (as it allows you to stick to your low-carb game plan while everyone else can also get exactly what they want). Some of their specialty pizzas include the Mediterranean, with feta and basil, the BBQ chicken, the buffalo chicken, and the chicken alfredo, all available on keto crusts.

The verdict: Would happily order it again. Split a keto pie and a salad for a Friday night meal that won’t lead to a carb hangover in the morning.

Price: $17 and up, depending upon toppings
Carbs: Not available on the website

Pizza Boy in Glendale

If you look closely, you can tell that there's something different about this pizza crust. It's made from chicken for a zero carb treat.

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Can you get more low-carb than zero carbs? No, you cannot. Pizza Boy in Glendale makes several keto-friendly pizzas, including a pizza crust made out of chicken. Yep, chicken. Other available low-carb crust options include zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, almond flour and coconut flour crusts, plus many more for those with food sensitivities.

We ordered the chicken alfredo version and TBH, the chicken crust was a little strong-tasting, and it verged on being a bit crumbly. But then I reminded myself that I couldn’t judge it against the real thing … and we ate it all. This place is serious about keto pizzas, and offers up an attractive variety including a BBQ chicken, chicken alfredo, and feta and sujuk versions as well as build-your-own options.

The verdict: Chicken crust is not for me, but it could be for you if you are dedicated to a low-carb lifestyle. I was impressed at the lengths this place goes to for people looking for alt-pizzas.

Price: $23.49 and up, depending upon the toppings
Carbs: Zero carb crust, so ultimate carb count depends upon your toppings

If you're online, anywhere adjacent to the World Cup, you'll see that the Argentina team, which will play England in the semifinals Wednesday, is attracting a lot of criticism.

It can be largely grouped into two categories: soccer and culture. In soccer, Argentina’s comeback win against Egypt last week prompted accusations, including from Egypt’s head coach, that the FIFA referees in that match favored Argentina.

Meanwhile, cultural clichés online accuse Argentines of being arrogant and looking down on other Latin Americans.

“I get sad,  I must say, that when I see that, it hurts me a little bit, to be honest,” said San Fernando Valley resident Roxana Lissa. She was born and raised in Argentina and moved to the U.S. more than 30 years ago.

But she's used to it.

“The thing about Argentines is we have such thick skin,” Lissa said.

California’s Argentine population has grown in the past couple of decades. The state is now home to the second-largest concentration of Argentines in the U.S. after Florida.

Exclusion by other Latinos

The negative comments are not new, but social media has fueled them into a firestorm.

Some Argentines in Southern California say they’ve not seen negativity this bad against their culture before.

Mariana Ferrero, who moved to the U.S. from Argentina when she was 13 years old, said the comments are opening old wounds of exclusion by other Latino immigrants in Southern California.

“What bothers me is [the criticism] goes beyond soccer. It's more of saying, "Oh, you're Argentinian. You're not a real Latina,'” Ferrero said.

She says many Latinos assume she’s privileged because she’s lighter skinned.

But Ferrero says her background is not like that at all. Argentina’s struggling economy led Ferrero’s parents to leave their home, their language and their country.

“We packed up. We came here. We lived with nothing in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, worked really hard, odd jobs,” she said.

Ferrero has some explanation for the hostility, however.

“I think some of it is just a perception that we come from a country that tends to be proud and tends to be loud and tends to be boisterous about our wins and about our accomplishments. And let me tell you, there's not many of them,” Ferrero said.

Since soccer prowess is one of those few wins, she says she and other Argentines are going to take this World Cup as an opportunity to be loud and proud.

IRL people love Argentines

Ferrero and Lissa say people who’ve visited Argentina gush to them about the warmth and hospitality of its people and the country’s beauty. And few people question that Argentina soccer star Lionel Messi is one of the greatest soccer players of all time.

“I was wearing my Argentina jersey,” Lissa said of a visit during the World Cup to L.A.’s Guelaguetza Oaxacan restaurant to watch Mexico play.

“People were coming to me and saying, 'I love Messi. I love Messi.' And I felt for the first time, 'Damn, I'm not being criticized,'” she said.

Pablo Baler, a professor of Latin American literature at CSU L.A., says the disconnect during this World Cup may be that people don’t believe Argentina represents the underdog soccer nations of Latin America anymore.

“At times, [the team] can feel more like a corporation than a national team, but the country it represents was in many ways the victim of the same imperial powers now competing for the title: France, England and Spain,” he said.

Baler grew up in Argentina and has many Latin American friends. He doesn’t believe the negativity against his homeland will tarnish its reputation. He said a Nicaraguan friend said to him this week that he’s proud Argentina made it to the World Cup semifinals because the team is “one of us.”

Topline

The background: In June, the City Council voted to establish the moratorium as city staff drafted a proposal for a permanent citywide ban. At the time, the moratorium was authorized for 45 days.

The issue first made its way to city hall earlier this year after a group of neighbors raised concerns that a proposed new In-N-Out in Culver City could hurt air quality and create safety issues for pedestrians.

Status of the proposed ban: Culver City staff wrote in a report to City Council this week that they’ve begun drafting a potential permanent ban on new drive-thrus citywide.

The proposal will first go to the city’s planning commission, a five-person body that makes recommendations to the City Council on development and zoning matters in the city, then head to the City Council for a final vote. Those dates have not yet been set.

One councilmember left door open for a different approach: At Monday’s meeting, Councilmember Albert Vera, who was among the four votes supporting the moratorium extension, said he would be open to seeing recommendations from the planning commission that don’t ban drive-thrus citywide outright.

The contractor building the long-awaited LAX People Mover project has filed a lawsuit alleging the city of L.A. breached its contract in several disputes.

In the suit, filed with the L.A. County Superior Court on July 9, LINXS alleges the city is misplacing blame in construction-related disputes and refusing to extend contract deadlines. LINXS also alleges it’s owed additional payment for the work as a result of the delays.

The project, a 2.25-mile-long elevated train designed to transport riders between airport terminals and local transit, is currently undergoing testing. Work on the train is scheduled to be complete “in a few months,” according to a June interview with Los Angeles World Airports CEO John Ackerman on the L.A. in a Minute podcast.

Chief among the disputes detailed in the lawsuit is one involving repairs to faulty electrical equipment in the system that powers the train, resulting in testing delays last year. LAist reported on this dispute last November and in April.

A spokesperson for LINXS said it has attempted to engage in “extensive good-faith efforts over the past two years” to resolve the ongoing contractual disputes.

A spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that manages LAX, said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. They added that the agency remains committed to “delivering a safe, durable and reliable” train as soon as possible.

The L.A. City Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In its lawsuit, LINXS said that by not granting the contractor’s compensation and time-extension requests, the city is attempting to evade accountability for the delayed train, which was once expected to open in 2023 and is nearly a billion dollars over budget.

The contractor warned in its lawsuit that without an extension of contract deadlines, it might be forced to repay lenders who financed the project as soon as this fall. In that case, the contractor said in its lawsuit that it could become “insolvent and unable to perform,” adding that possibility would have “catastrophic consequences.”

Dispute over metering cabinet

Last February, staff from Los Angeles World Airports and the city’s Department of Water and Power directed LINXS to repair equipment in a metering cabinet that had degraded due to moisture and debris, as LAist previously reported.

LINXS completed the repair work, which required power to be partially shut down between February and July 2025. That temporary power disruption delayed critical testing of the technology that allows for central control of the People Mover’s systems.

LINXS said last year, and also in the current lawsuit, that the repair work is not in its scope of work. As a result, the contractor has said it's owed compensation and a minimum of a 141-day extension to complete construction.

“Since then, [Los Angeles World Airports] has stonewalled the discussions of [LINXS’] compensation and a time extension,” the contractor alleges in its lawsuit.

LINXS, citing information it received from a public records request, alleges the issue stemmed from an instance where LADWP opened the metering cabinet in September 2024 to rectify design issues with the equipment contained in it.

Whereas past disputes between LINXS and the airport were resolved through settlements that have so far totaled hundreds of millions of dollars and resulted in schedule extensions, the dispute over maintaining electrical equipment has been uniquely contentious.

“Other relief events that we’ve dealt with up to this point … we could agree there were some things that were not totally within LINXS’ control,” Jake Adams, an airport executive who is overseeing $5.5 billion in LAX upgrades, said in an interview with LAist in April. “This relief event is very different. We believe there is absolutely no merit to this claim.”

The lawsuit also alleges that the contractor is owed additional time and money for several other ongoing disputes, including that Los Angeles World Airports is refusing to sign a power agreement with LADWP for solar panels installed as part of the People Mover project and that workers on separate airport projects have “demolished” work LINXS completed for the train.

What’s the status of the People Mover?

The People Mover is operating in a testing phase where it simulates how the train will operate when it begins shuttling travelers between airport terminals and the L.A. Metro system.

The testing of the train won’t be impacted by the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Los Angeles World Airports told LAist.

A hearing on the case filed last week has been scheduled for December, according to the L.A. County Superior Court’s website.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will pause non-urgent vehicle stops after two deadly shootings in less than a week, Maine Sen. Angus King's office tells NPR.

King spokesman Matthew Felling says the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the policy shift. Maine Sen. Susan Collins also posted Tuesday on X that she had called for change.

"I spoke with DHS Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," she wrote.

DHS told NPR in a statement that it will not "disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics," and it's unclear what this change will look like in practice.

The most recent death happened Monday in Biddeford, Maine, where ICE agents tried to pull over the car of 26-year-old Joan Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national.

"The vehicle attempted to flee the scene, and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon," DHS said in a statement. However, the agency has not provided any evidence to back the claims. The agents were not wearing body cameras.

Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot by agents in Houston after they attempted to pull him over. The Department of Homeland Security says Salgado Araujo tried to use his van as a weapon, prompting an agent to fire their weapon. But passengers in the van have disputed this account.

Paul Hunker, the former chief counsel of ICE in Dallas, told NPR the standards and principles of when to discharge a firearm are clear.

"I was an attorney for the officers — the person has to pose an imminent threat of harm to use deadly force," Hunker said.

He said whether the person poses an imminent threat is always from the perspective of the officer.

DHS policy

The Department of Homeland Security's policy says deadly force cannot be used solely to prevent someone from fleeing … unless the person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical harm to the agent or others.

DHS accused Salgado Araujo of weaponizing his car against the ICE officer. In Maine, the agency said Durán Guerrero posed a public safety threat.

But in these cases, there hasn't been video evidence to back up those allegations.

The latest development has been welcomed by former DHS officials who said a reset is needed in order to regain the trust of the public and ensure no more lives are lost.

"That person could flee and present a big danger to people around them … that's one of the reasons I think there are few vehicle chases because of the danger and the harm that could happen if one of those goes bad." Hunker said.

He said in the past, ICE's preference has been to assume custody of the undocumented immigrants who were already in jails, making it safer for the agents.

Sarah Saldaña, a former ICE acting director under President Barack Obama, said the shift in policy is a good start.

"I think it's a very practical thing to do until the agency can get its officers more properly trained and attuned to what their effort is," Saldaña said. "Immigration enforcement should not be a deadly endeavor — it should be a method by which to make sure that people are complying with the law."

Despite the shift in policy, there are a lot of outstanding questions about what led to the fatal shootings of Salgado Araujo in Houston last week, and of Durán Guerrero in Maine this week.

None of the federal immigration agents were wearing body cameras, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

After the shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, DHS vowed to quickly deploy body cameras to federal immigration agents nationwide.

But that hasn't happened.

The agency is blaming Democrats in Congress and the partial government shutdowns for this. But it is, again, vowing to deploy body cameras for all agents in the next 60 days.

That footage would have been key to knowing whether the agents followed protocol or not, and to hold the agents accountable, said Lauren Bonds, the executive director of the nonprofit National Police Accountability Project.

"Luckily in both instances there were witnesses, independent witnesses, that observed some things and were able to share some information," Bonds said. "But it's really hard to be able to hold ICE agents accountable in any manner if all we're getting from DHS right now is kind of vague statements about the car being used in a way that was either threatening the ICE agents or, in the case of Maine, threatening the public."

Bonds said the public needs to keep demanding answers and independent investigations to create a change in policy — like the pause on traffic stops made public Tuesday.

NPR's Meg Anderson contributed reporting.