Another year. Another Expo West is upon on! Sadly, this year, Carmella couldn’t make the trip this year. So, she’ll be drooling vicariously through photos I text her, like the pizza at Masa of Echo Park!I’ve landed in California and will be spending the next few days eating my way…for work purposes clearly! Weight Watchers is on hold for me, but again, it’s for work! Since Carm couldn’t join me this time, my friend Eric (follow him at Philly Vegan Guy) is my co-pilot. We already hit up my fave Donut Friend (first thing). So let me tell you about Spot #2, Masa of Echo Park!
L.A. & Pizza are not 2 things I put together. Hey! I’ve had some damn good vegan pizza in LA. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just not something synonymous for me, However, our friend Andy who’s been doing work out in Cali gave the tip to Masa of Echo Park. I’m happy report that vegan pizza greatness happening there with TONS of vegan options…and an old fave, Teese cheese (from the makers of Dandies - Chicago Vegan Foods)!
Right on Sunset, and down the street from my nerdom favorite, Time Travel Mart, Masa of Echo Park is a bakery and cafe that offer vegan options of salads, paninis, pasta and pizza. Even better, they specialize in Chicago-style deep dish pizza . With me growing up in the pizza game in NY & NJ, and now being a resident of Philly, you KNOW this is something Eric and I had to try!
Let me preface this by saying that I don’t like to wait for anything unless it’s really worth it. Masa’s deep dish pizza (at least when we were there) had a wait time of 45 MINUTES! We were told that from the jump. You’ve got to appreciate that. Without being stuck to a tight schedule, and really wanting to try this pizza, the wait wasn’t a big deal…and it was worth it…seriously!
We didn’t go with anything fancy. Straight-up plain deep dish is what we wanted and it’s what we got! Deep dish done right gives you the right balance of cheese (under the sauce), FRESH sauce and herbs with a crispy crust. We got it right there! It checked all the boxes for me.
After our meal, we got to talk to our waiter a bit. He was originally from Scranton, PA, and picked up on Eric’s South Philly accent. The dude says “wooder” instead of “water.” Nevertheless, we struck up a nice conversations with a few chuckles about Philly and what L.A. life is like. Through that, we got to learn a bit about the local community and Masa being very community-oriented as reflected in the fliers and posters for local events in the space.
Simple. Filling .Delicious. That’s how I’ll describe Masa’s pizza. If we had more time in the area, I’d make the trip back to try some of their other pizzas (or build my own) and items. However, we had a drive to Anaheim ahead of us, and a lot of food to pound into our faces.
I highly recommend Masa. As much as I would love this spot to be all vegan. We’ve got to support those places bringing us vegan options…and doing it well!
Masa of Echo Park
1800 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
masaofechopark.com