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Food

The Country's Best Pizza Is In Los Angeles

michaels-pizzeria-Facebook.jpg
Photo via Michael's Pizzeria on Facebook

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Pizza is a hot button issue not just here in Los Angeles but all over the country. Thick crust, thin crust, white or traditional sauce, gourmet toppings or good ol' plain cheese, deep dish or by the slice: Pizza loyalties are intensely defended. Now bragging rights for the best pizzeria in the whole country have been bestowed by Zagat upon one pizza spot right here in L.A. County, in the city of Long Beach.

That spot is Michael's Pizzeria, owned and operated by Michael Dene.

Belmont Shore-Naples Patch has the info from Zagat, who came up with the list of the city and country's best pizzas. On the pizzeria's origins:

“Michael’s Pizzeria was born out of necessity,” says Dene, a New York City native and the son of Italian parents. “I wanted realItalian pizza, not the take-out, cardboard variety we’re accustomed to eating in the United States."

On Michael's site, their pizza values are laid out clearly:

We know that pizza tastes best when it is wood-fired, that mozzarella should always be freshly made, and that meals are enhanced when paired with the perfect Italian wines. From our service to our atmosphere, our flour to our sauce, this is our tradition-passed down from generation to generation-of Napoli-style pizza. At Michael's Pizzeria, food is heritage.

Plus, a little pizza video (which is, we have to admit, as food porn-y as you can get without actual porn):

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Michael's Pizzeria Promo from Vision Design Studio on Vimeo.

Michael's did not make our recent list of great slices, or the 7 Best Pizzas You're Not Eating (so clearly we aren't eating it, either), so we are trusting Zagat on this one. Should you be so moved to head to the LBC to check it out, there are two Michael's locations there, and a third out in Rancho Mirage to choose from.

Zagat has been rolling out their best pizza picks from cities all over the nation, including DC, SF's East Bay, San Francisco, and Chicago, and New York along with a dizzying, gut-busting assortment of pizza coverage.

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