If all goes according to plan, internationally acclaimed pie shop Pizzeria Sei will move from Pico Robertson to the Palms by next September. Chef and owner William Zhu, who runs the restaurant with his wife Jennifer So, confirmed to Time Out that the couple has signed a lease for the ground-floor restaurant at the corner of Overland Avenue and Tabor Street. .
Since opening in February 2022, Pizzeria Sei has won the hearts of local and national critics, including myself, with its chewy Tokyo-style dough and high-quality toppings. The restaurant also gained national recognition earlier this year on America’s 50 Top Pizzas, ranking No. 8 in the country. More recently, Sei was named one of the world’s best pizzas. Not too shabby for a city where some people (cough, a lot of East Coast immigrants) claim they don’t have a single good pizza.
All of these accolades have come while Joe has been cooking and serving pies in a small, fairly modest space on Pico Boulevard with limited seating and no decorations. Now, the couple who own Pizzeria Sei are planning to move the restaurant a few miles west to a larger indoor-outdoor space in the basement of a mixed-use apartment complex. Since the building is still under construction, Zhu said he and his wife won’t be able to open their new space until next September at the earliest. Until then, Pizzeria Sei will continue to operate at its existing address.
While Sei will continue to serve its original style of pizza, Joo plans to offer an entirely new type of twice-baked pizza once the restaurant moves to the Palms, he says. Unlike Neapolitan pie, which has a soft inside that some people dislike, the new dough offers a more uniform, light, and fluffy texture, similar to Detroit-style pizza or Chinese Youtiao.
Photo: Patricia Kelly Yeo for Time Out Full Size Hailey 1.0 Pizza.
This summer, Pizzeria Sei also introduced the city’s first pizza omakase menu, inspired by similar dough-centric tasting menus in Tokyo and Italy. Specialty pies, some available a la carte, include spicy Mala Ram sausage with coriander flowers and Haley, a white pie topped with pumpkin flowers and vegetables, named after the couple’s daughter. . Although the biweekly tasting menu only ran until the end of summer, Zhu announced plans to begin offering the menu again starting Tuesday, Dec. 10, with reduced reservations at Resy at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 3. did. The first iteration will feature guest chef Ki. Mr. Kim is a former member of Kinn, which is now closed.
It is currently undetermined whether Pizzeria Sei will maintain its existing space after the move, but Zhu and his wife may decide to offer takeout and delivery from the restaurant’s original Pico Robertson address. told Eater. The restaurant’s menu is small, including appetizers, salads and desserts, but the lack of kitchen space has previously limited most menus.
