|
March 30, 2007
|
VILLAGE PIZZERIA
| |
|
A FAMILY AFFAIR: Owners Nancy and Steve Cohen and their daughter, Alicia (center).
HUELL HOWSER, left, will showcase Village Pizzeria and Larchmont Blvd. on KCET on Sun., April 29 at 7 p.m.
ORIGINAL BROOKLYN RECIPES MAKE PIZZA PARLOR POPULAR
By Alicia Doyle
As Village Pizzeria celebrates its 10-year anniversary at 131 N. Larchmont Blvd., owner Steve Cohen said customer loyalty and a quality product are what keep him in business.
“The recipe originated with three guys from Brooklyn,” said Cohen, 50, whose eatery draws connoisseurs from as far as Orange and Ventura counties. “The taste is good and the response is great.”
In celebration of its decade on Larchmont, the pizzeria will offer a free buffet on Sat., April 14 from 2 to 4 p.m.
“We’ll have a jazz band, a balloon guy and a magician,” said Cohen. “There will also be antique cars and collector’s motor bikes.”
Cohen’s interest in the restaurant business began in his mid-30s when he came out west from New York to San Francisco, where he found a Village Pizzeria that became a home away from home.
“I had a cultural love for pizza growing up in Brooklyn,” said Cohen, “so I found a place to eat pizza, drink beer and hang…a place they knew me.”
One day he was drinking a beer and watching sports when he noticed a picture was missing from the wall. He asked the waitress where it had gone, and was told the owner took it down because the restaurant was going out of business.
“That’s when the stars aligned for me in some peculiar way,” recalled Cohen, who worked as a clothing salesman before going into the pizza business.
With no experience, he bought the eatery in 1994 and stayed in business until 1997 when he had to decide whether to renew his lease for five more years or go another route. The pizza business was starting to slow down, he said, so he thought perhaps the eatery’s best days were over.
Meanwhile, part of Cohen’s deal gave him the right to open a Village Pizzeria in another location. While on vacation in Los Angeles, an empty store on Larchmont caught his eye.
Ten years later, Village Pizzeria is frequented for its original Brooklyn recipes that call for Wisconsin mozzarella, fresh crushed garlic and sauce made from scratch. Pizzas are hand-spun from dough prepared daily using fresh yeast. They make their own meatballs, a fresh crushed garlic-and-clam mixture, and pesto according to house recipes.
“We also make our own sausage; we buy 70 pounds of pork butt at once, hand fillet it, add spices and grind it ourselves,” said Cohen’s wife and co-owner, Nancy, who works at the restaurant along with their daughter, Alicia, and son, Matthew.
Customer favorites include plain cheese and pepperoni pizzas and the meatball sandwich. “People walk by and smell the garlic,” Nancy said, “then they come in, eat, and say, ‘whoa, that’s really good’.” The eatery has been rated “excellent” in Zagat for the past four years, been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show twice. “I don’t even know half the time when reviewers are eating here,” says Nancy.
The Cohens donate to area schools and churches, Covenant House, Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, and tsunami relief efforts. “We give to almost every charity that comes in here,” Steve Cohen said.
|
|
|
Larchmont Chronicle
542˝ North Larchmont Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Editor & Publisher: Jane Gilman
Associate Publisher: Irwin Gilman
Established 1963
All rights reserved
Copyright 2010 Larchmont Chronicle
Home | Dining Guide | History | Contact us | Local Links | Demographics
Advertising | Ad rates | Advertising Insider | Special Editions | Ad tips
Admin
Information about the Larchmont Village, Hancock
Park, Miracle Mile, Park LaBrea areas of Los Angeles, california.
The larchmont Chronicle provides information, news stories, local
events, advertising, real estate information, real estate listing
advertisings, Los Angeles area demographics and other neighborhood
news.
|
Home
Current Issue
