SECRET PIZZA L.A.
Sean Lango, a New Jersey transplant who moved to Los Angeles in 2019, began selling pizzas from his apartment via Instagram in September 2020. He had no previous professional cooking experience, but he had tinkered with pizza-making in his home kitchen before arriving in California. He tapped into an immediate audience for what he broadly labeled “East Coaststyle pizza” — thin, 18-inch pies with pliable crusts, over which tomato sauce and a blend of mozzarella and pecorino Romano baked into a beautiful mottle.
In July, Lango moved his business into a small space in Montecito Heights that has previously housed pizzerias and a wing shop. Customers continue to book time slots for weekend pickups through Instagram links. Automated text reminders make it clear that Lango urges you to be on time. Upon arrival you understand why: He remains a one-man show, and though he lifts his head from stretching dough or ladling sauce to offer a friendly hello, he otherwise needs to stay in motion.
In the sweep of regional and subregional styles now available to us, it can be easy to discount the pleasure of a generous, floppy slice from an evenly tanned disc — the ubiquitous image of “pizza” that many Americans held in their minds for decades.
Lango’s feats of engineering remind you of the inherent greatness of what I’ll go ahead and call a New York slice: The negotiation of folding the thing in two as you tilt your head to catch the first bite before the ingredients begin sliding off. The surface is neither too weepy nor too brittle. The textures feel alive and mutable as they cool. Pecorino adds salty, almost mysterious oomph to the sweet union of tomato and mozzarella. The topping options are basic by design: I like half pepperoni and half fresh mushroom, or maybe half with extra cheese.
The pie is too spectacular to let steam for long in a box. There are scattered tables and chairs set up in a default patio space in front of Lango’s glassed-in kitchen. I want to plonk down the moment I have my prize in hand. Other people usually have the same idea. We’re an absorbed, happy lot.