Obika Mozzarella Bar Brings Real Neapolitan Pizza to LA

Pizza is one of my favorite foods in the world. But, without a doubt, I am very picky about the kind of pizza I eat. I do not like thick crust, super greasy, over-topped pizza. I’m a purist at heart and appreciate simplicity. A pizza should have a thin crust, with just the right amount of complementary flavors and, most importantly, fresh ingredients.

Finding this kind of pizza in LA is not an easy task, but recently I was invited to Obika for dinner. At first glance, it looks like an Asian restaurant with its bold red logo. However, once you step over the threshold, it’s clearly a mozzarella bar and pizzeria.

We were on a mission to find a great pizza and sat down to look over the menu. Obika uses a blend of flours for their dough – wheat, white and semolina. The combination gives the dough a great flavor with a nice crunch. Since Obika is a mozzarella bar first and foremost, they use their own fresh mozzarella on their pizzas. Other ingredients include farm-fresh tomatoes, vegetables, herbs, cured meats, and buratta cheese.

We tried seven different types of pizza, and I have picked my favorite three to tell you about.

1) Pomodoro Biologico e Mozzarella (margarita pizza) – simple, fresh, and good. I liked the simplicity of this pizza. I tasted every flavor intended and enjoyed each bite.

2) Verdure Girgliate (vegetable pizza) – Grilled eggplant, zucchini, radicchio, smoked mozzarella di bufala, and parsley. The grilled veg with the smoked mozzarella were a great combination.

3) N’Duja e Burrata (spicy sausage with burrata cheese) – N’duja spicy sausage, burrata, organic tomato, and fresh basil. Don’t expect large chuncks of sausage in this pizza. It is subtle and in the sauce. It was flavorful but not so spicy that you couldn’t taste anything else. Quite good. Thank you Obika for bringing good pizza to LA.