Since August 2021, chef and pizzaiolo Daniel Holzman, who co-founded the Meatball Shop in New York City, has served New York City-style pizza at Danny Boy’s Famous Original pizzeria in an office building food court in Downtown Los Angeles. On Wednesday, July 17, Holzman debuted Danny Boy’s Pizza in Westwood at the former 800 Degrees on the corner of Lindrook and Westwood. The Westwood expansion will offer 56 seats with beer and wine to accommodate students, locals, and office workers looking for spot-on Big Apple-style pizza, salads, and hot sandwiches.

Holzman worked at some of New York’s top kitchens before opening the Meatball Shop with Michael Chernow in 2010, a casual Italian American restaurant that expanded to multiple outlets but now only operates in Hell’s Kitchen. The chef says he grew up eating at Ray’s Famous Original in New York and conducted years of research to arrive at what he considers the perfect slice. He also co-wrote Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts with Matt Rodbard in 2022 and launched a podcast with Amanda Freitag called On the Line.

Using a three-day cold fermented dough, Holzman’s wide, thin-crust pizzas come with standard cheese, pepperoni, and white pie with mushrooms, as well as a meatball pie, which makes sense given his New York restaurant. Specialty whole pies include a hot supreme with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and hot pickled peppers; veggie; and a buffalo chicken. Danny Boy’s also makes Sicilian square slices and pies (also available gluten-free) topped with cheese and pepperoni, though they can be customized as well.

Holzman’s famous beef and pork meatballs, garlic knots, and buffalo hot wings are available as appetizers, while its classic salads like Greek, Caesar, and Italian combo wouldn’t be out of place at a neighborhood pizzeria. Finally, there are two sandwiches — meatball Parmesan and chicken Parmesan. The menu will eventually include grab-and-go sandwiches and even spaghetti with meatballs for those who want to go beyond pizza and sandwiches. Danny Boy’s will join longtime neighborhood pizzerias Lamonica’s and Enzo’s to form a triumvirate of New York City slice shops in the UCLA campus-adjacent area.

Danny Boy’s Famous Original is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with expanded hours to come at 10899 Lindbrook Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

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Prices taken at time of publishing.

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