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On Wednesday night, dozens of pizzaiolos crammed into the kitchen of La Sorted’s in Chinatown to make hundreds of meals for a newly formed food-relief coalition: the LA Pizza Alliance.
More than 25 independent restaurants and over 90 volunteer drivers teamed up to send 245 pizzas to anyone affected by the multiple deadly fires that destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures and burned more than 40,000 acres.
Thin-crust bar pies, gargantuan wheels of New York-style pizzas, cheese-crusted Detroit-style rectangles, fluffy Sicilian slices: All styles and shapes and sizes passed from oven to cardboard boxes to delivery drivers to the hands of evacuees, first responders and anyone else in need who called in or placed an order online.
“Pizza is for the people,” said La Sorted’s owner and co-organizer Tommy Brockert. “I think it’s the most accessible, affordable food for the general public: small family, large family. It’s something easy, and it’s been a part of everybody’s family life for a long time. It’s something you literally put on the table and share with one another, so of all the foods, why not pizza to bring us together?”
Participating chefs from Apollonia’s, Pizzanista, Little Dynamite, Naughty Pie Nature, Triple Beam and more coordinated which shelves of the deck oven could be free for their use, and which pies might be able to rotate; who gets what counter space; what are everyone’s cook times; who needs some room to throw dough; and who’s getting the giant delivery of pepperoni.
Ozzy’s Apizza from North Hollywood poured ranch directly onto the chefs’ and volunteers’ own pizza meals and, from a distance, into their mouths upon request.
As L.A. fires continue to decimate the region, restaurants and chefs across every level of dining are donating food and services to feed Angelenos and service workers.
At the center of the restaurant, long tables normally used for dining were repurposed into work stations for assembly lines of volunteers and storage for towers of cardboard pizza boxes.
The pizzas rolled out across the county to first responders, individuals who’ve been displaced and volunteer workers. A constant stream of delivery drivers lined up at the front door while three to four organizers huddled at laptops in a corner, helming the event’s “command center.”
The LA Pizza Alliance came together in less than 48 hours. Brockert woke up Wednesday morning and, while looking at Instagram, noticed how many local pizzerias were offering pizza to the community. Why not unify their efforts?
The restaurateur placed a call to David Turkell, a community organizer and the man behind a viral pizza-meme Instagram account, who quickly sent out the word.
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What began in 2019 as a Little Caesars parody account called LOL Caesars has since become Turk’s Pizza Party, an online gathering place for the global pizza community and a platform for Turkell — a political organizer who spent time on the Obama presidential campaigns — to connect independent restaurants and the fans who simply love their pies.
Turkell and Brockert, both raised in Los Angeles, wanted to help their city. The La Sorted’s owner had hoped for 10 pizzeria participants; they wound up with roughly two dozen, plus more who want to participate in the future.
They posted a link for volunteer sign-ups Wednesday afternoon and netted nearly 100 drivers. Others called in to volunteer, while some simply showed up unannounced and expressed their will to help.
“With these times, it’s tough to actually see who’s doing what, and who’s out there, and who’s supporting,” Turkell said. “So this is a really good, heartwarming message to show that there’s a big community for everybody, and everyone’s here to support each other.”
Since the fires began, La Sorted’s has offered a “pay it forward” program, where a $25 online donation sends a pizza to someone in need. Last Saturday, during what turned out to be a dry run for this week’s effort, Brockert and his chefs sent 1,600 donated hot dogs and mortadella sandwiches, but without coordinating drivers and pickup times, the small restaurant and its pizza orders became bottlenecked.
For the LA Pizza Alliance event, they needed more organization: an ever-updated Excel spreadsheet.
“It’s super organized,” said La Sorted’s partner Greg Barris. “It’s almost like the military.”
It began around 7 a.m., when Brockert arrived at the restaurant and started assembling meatball subs and hot dogs; he, Barris, their staff and a team of volunteers made and delivered 2,000 of these. Around 4 p.m., the pizzaiolos began to arrive, cooking in shifts until around 11 p.m.
The collaboration allowed orders from multiple pizzerias at once. “It’s really fun to watch Prince Street go out with Triple Beam, or Apollonia’s go out with La Sorted’s,” Brockert said. “When else can this happen?”
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Legendary local meat purveyor RC Provisions teamed up with Armenian bakery Ill Mas for a special basturma pizza. Phoenix Bakery and Levain donated cookies for deliveries and volunteers, while All About the Cinnamon contributed brownies and cinnamon buns. The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills dropped off haute charcuterie boards to feed the masses. Brands donated olive oil, flour, shredded mozzarella, meatballs, beer. Former Ms. Chi Cafe chef Kelvin Young popped up on the front patio grilling his suya, or West African meat skewers.
Some pizzaiolos traveled from Portland, Ore. Others came from San Francisco and San Diego. Each time a new pizzeria’s team entered the building, Turkell would scream: “WE GOT [PIZZERIA] FROM [LOCATION] IN THE HOUSE” to the sound of cheers around the La Sorted’s dining room.
Though currently living in the Bay Area, Tess Geyer’s family was born and raised in L.A. — so when she and her husband, Square Pie Guys co-founder Marc Schechter, heard of the LA Pizza Alliance, they knew they had to get involved. That morning, they loaded up their car with donations from Berkeley to transport to L.A., driving through the state with essentials for evacuees as well as ingredients to make pizza in the kitchen of La Sorted’s.
They’d hosted their own bar-pie fundraiser in San Francisco on Jan. 13, and brought some of those thin, crispy-edged bar pies down with them. Tribute Pizza arrived from San Diego with a delivery of California burritos for the participating chefs.
The camaraderie was unmistakable, the mood like a party. According to Turkell, the chefs joined forces with a hunger not only to feed others but to prove something.
“This is a byproduct of a culture that’s been told for centuries almost at this point: ‘L.A. doesn’t have good pizza,’” he said. “People say it’s in the water. People say it’s the sauce. And it’s frankly not true.”
In addition to dispelling the belief that Los Angeles and broader California can’t produce a good pie, and besides helping the city in the wake of the wildfires, these pizzerias began the LA Pizza Alliance for longevity. As independent restaurants continue to close at alarming rates, a common refrain was that it’s better to support one another.
The competition, Turkell said, is with the big chains — not with each other. And these dozens of pizzamakers have no interest in slowing their support for the city of Los Angeles or for their culinary community.
“This isn’t the last you’ve seen of the LA Pizza Alliance,” Brockert said, squeezed against the wall of his own kitchen. “We’re going to have many more meetings, because when our pizzas combine, we can’t be stopped.”
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