SoCal Restaurant Show April 19, 2025 Hour 1

Pizza City Fest Fest L.A. (April 26 to 27th) offers a stellar lineup of Southern California’s best pizza makers in one location, giving fans the unique opportunity to taste, see live demos, and attend panel discussions with culinary experts over two days at L.A. LIVE. We were going to be broadcasting the show live from the Fest on Saturday, April 26th but, oops, we’re preempted instead for an early Halo game on the road in Minnesota. This morning will be our studio-based salute to the 3rd Pizza City Fest L.A. benefiting the Culinary Careers Program (C•CAP).

Jason Winters (Chef / Proprietor) of Long Beach’s Speak Cheezy and Chefs and Pizzaiolos Chris Decker and Michael Vakneen (both partners) of Truly Pizza in Dana point are all participants in Pizza City Fest L.A. We’ll meet them. “At Long Beach’s Speak Cheezy, their 5-day naturally fermented sourdough is one of the original Sourdough Pizzas of Los Angeles. They source their organic flours from local milled grains and generational producers, use only the best quality farmers market ingredients to provide the community with beautiful 14-inch pies from their kitchen to your family dinner table. Speak Cheezy’s take-out style restaurant provides customers with fresh, New York slices and Sicilian style grandma squares everyday from 12 to 4 p.m. or available until sell out!” “Truly Pizza, a handsomely designed full-service restaurant in Dana Point, is a loving testament to collaboration, friendship, and respect for the world’s greatest communal food. Founded by Las Vegas hospitality veteran Donna Baldwin and renowned pizza maker and educator John Arena, Truly Pizza is the culmination of their lifetime of shared friendship and love of healthy artisanal handcrafted food. Together with World Pizza Champion teammates Chris Decker and James Beard Award semi-finalist for Best Chef : Southwest, Michael Vakneen, Truly Pizza has set a new standard for culinary excellence and hospitality in pizza.”

“Pizza City Fest returns to downtown Los Angeles for a third consecutive year as part of its nationwide tour. The two-day celebration promises an unparalleled experience for pizza aficionados and will take place on April 26 to 27 on the Event Deck at L.A. LIVE.

Attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to savor unlimited offerings from the region's premier pizza artisans, all conveniently located in one central hub at L.A. LIVE. Pizza City Fest will highlight the area’s unique pizza landscape and showcase the diverse and exceptional talents of the region's top pizza makers.

Steve Dolinsky, the founder of Pizza City Fest and a two-time Emmy and 13-time James Beard Award-winning food reporter, has curated yet another mouthwatering list of 40 pizza makers spanning the region from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and included a dozen new entries to the culinary roster this year.”