If all goes according to plan, internationally acclaimed pie shop Pizzeria Sei will move from Pico-Robertson to Palms by September of next year. Chef-owner William Joo, who runs the spot with his wife, Jennifer So, confirmed to Time Out that the couple have signed a lease on a ground floor restaurant at the corner of Overland Avenue and Tabor Street.
Since opening in February 2022, Pizzeria Sei has won the hearts and minds of local and national critics, myself included, with its chewy, Tokyo-style crust and high-quality toppings; the eatery also picked up national recognition earlier this year from 50 Top Pizzas in the United States, coming in at number eight in the country. Even more recently, Sei was named one of the best pizzas in the world. Not too shabby for a city that some people (cough, lots of East Coast transplants) claim doesn’t have a single good pizza.
All of these accolades have come while Joo has cooked and served pies out of a tiny, fairly spartan space along Pico Boulevard with limited seating and nonexistent decor. Now, the couple behind Pizzeria Sei have plans to move their restaurant a few miles west to a larger indoor-outdoor space at the bottom of a mixed-use apartment building. Since the building is still under construction, Joo said the earliest he and his wife would likely be able to open the new space is next September. Until then, Pizzeria Sei will continue to operate at its existing address.
While Sei will still serve its original style of pizza, Joo has plans to offer an entirely new kind of double-baked pizza, he says, once the restaurant moves to Palms. Unlike Neapolitan pies, which some diners dislike for the soft interior, the new dough will offer a more uniformly lighter, airy texture akin to Detroit-style pizza or Chinese youtiao.
This past summer, Pizzeria Sei also introduced the city’s first pizza omakase, inspired by similar dough-centric tasting menus in Tokyo and Italy. Specialty pies, some of which are available a la carte, include a spicy mala lamb sausage with cilantro flowers and a squash blossom- and vegetable-topped white pie named the Hailey, after the couple’s daughter. While the biweekly tasting menu only ran until the end of summer, Joo has announced plans to start offering it again starting on Tuesday, December 10, with reservations dropping on Resy at noon on Tuesday, December 3. The first iteration will feature guest chef Ki Kim, formerly of now-closed Kinn.
It’s currently up in the air if Pizzeria Sei will keep its existing space after relocation, though Joo told Eater that he and his wife might decide to offer takeout and delivery from the shop’s original Pico-Robertson address. The restaurant’s small menu, which includes some appetizers, salads and desserts, has largely been limited up until now by the lack of kitchen space.