Guests line up at a strip mall in Valley Village for pizza, red-sauce pastas, garlic-knot sliders and the warm Italian American hospitality of Anna Pizza and its chef-owner, Thomas DeSantis.
In his years of operating a pizza catering service, DeSantis found business growth to be slow and steady. With his first restaurant, it’s been “off to the races.”
“I just didn’t expect it,” he said, “but it’s the best-ever problem to have.”
Anna Pizza chef-owner Thomas DeSantis prepares pizza in his Valley Village restaurant.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
He made his name in L.A. with Fire & Wood mobile pizza ovens, but at Anna Pizza, he is digging even further into the recipes of foods he grew up eating. In an ode to his grandmother and formative East Coast years, he’s serving Wagyu meatballs in fresh marinara, fried zucchini and mozzarella, hearty portions of rigatoni alla vodka and 16-inch New York-inspired pies.
There are mounds of Italian chopped salads, gooey parm sandwiches, and even an Armenian-spiced spaghetti that’s named for his mother-in-law.
The New York native landed his first job at 15, folding cardboard boxes in a pizzeria. He worked his way up to dishwashing, then cooking and eventually managing. He later moved to Los Angeles without a plan, and when he ran through his savings, he returned to his first love: pizza. He began at downtown’s Urban Oven but in 2021 purchased a mobile pizza oven and launched his own catering company, Fire & Wood.
At that point he was operating out of his 460-square-foot downtown apartment, with an extra double-door refrigerator in his living room. He bought a second truck, moved to a commissary kitchen and begged his sister to move to L.A. and help him with the catering business. Then he bought a third truck.
When the Palisades and Eaton fires tore through Los Angeles, DeSantis deployed his fleets to first responders and others in need.
“We made food for like 48 hours straight,” he said. “Whatever we could put together.”
With a growing fan base and an urge to continue to feed people, DeSantis embarked on his first restaurant. As a Burbank resident, he knew he wanted to represent the San Fernando Valley: He took over the former Gorilla Pies space on Burbank Boulevard, renovating the restaurant with his father and covering it with family photos. His mom, Anna, is also heavily involved.
Anna Pizza’s rigatoni in vodka sauce.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“We were able to come together and create this space where it’s easy to feel like my grandma’s here because they’re all my family pictures up on the wall,” DeSantis said. “If you look at those pictures enough, you’ll realize that that’s our story in picture form. Food is always there. We’re all just New Yorkers that love to eat carbs.”
Anna Pizza is open Tuesday to Thursday from noon to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.
12417 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 821-1777, theannapizza.com
Stuffed cabbage with abalone rice and tomato beurre blanc at Little Fish in Melrose Hill.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Little Fish
They started by selling fried fish sandwiches out of their Echo Park home. In December, Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle debuted their long-awaited seafood-focused restaurant Little Fish with a casual menu — and their cult-classic fish sandwich — by day, and more composed dishes by night.
“We wanted seafood to feel like it could be more part of people’s routine,” Sonenshein said. “I think we were seeing a lot of seafood in L.A. feel either like event food — where you’re going to get an oyster tower — or stuffy. We wanted this genre of food to feel like it could fit into a neighborhood restaurant.”
It took years to build.
The dry-aging fish cabinets of Little Fish in Melrose Hill.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Little Fish began as a pop-up out of their home. As it gathered steam and outgrew their kitchen, they booked residencies at Melody, Checker Hall and others. But as the couple developed new relationships with fishermen and were introduced to more enticing varieties of seafood, they yearned for a space to feature them. They needed a restaurant.
“Seafood is pretty fickle, so if you’re not ready for it, it will pass you by,” she said. “Some fish seasons can be only a couple weeks.”
In 2021 they found the space: a corner unit in a fast-developing stretch of Melrose Hill. They assumed they’d be open in a couple months. Due to the restaurant’s buildout, it took four years.
In the meantime, they opened a casual walk-up outpost in Echo Park, operating from a corner of Dada Market and serving fish congee, their famous fried fish sandwich and other daytime, quick-casual items. (This extended residency is set to end in spring.) They also began selling seafood through Melrose Hill’s grocery store L.A. Grocery & Cafe to introduce themselves to the neighborhood.
Finally, in December, their restaurant was ready.
Daily crudo with plum and citrus at Little Fish in Melrose Hill.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
From behind the nine-seat bar, a dry-aging refrigerator holds whole rockfish, massive tuna heads and bottarga. Soft light glows over a dining room that seats roughly 40. Sonenshein and Vahle serve a handful of crudos inspired by whatever’s caught by a small group of local fishermen that includes fishmonger and Dudley Market owner Conner Mitchell.
A beach sandwich, inspired by Sonenshein’s childhood, layers potato chips onto whole soy-marinated mussels. Stuffed cabbage, a dish she also grew up eating, is transformed by filling the leaves with abalone rice. Kae Whalen — formerly of Kismet, Baby Bistro and Anajak Thai Cuisine — heads the natural-wine program. Little Fish is open in Melrose Hill Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.
5035 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 376-6728, littlefishla.com
The mushroom dip with heirloom bean salad and an avocado chopped salad at Henrietta in Echo Park.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Henrietta
In his years as a server, Max Lesser always knew he’d love to open his own restaurant. In late 2025, the Chi Spacca alum finally did, launching Henrietta in Echo Park with day-to-night service and a small market and bottle shop. Alexis Brown, an Alimento and Superba Food + Bread vet, heads the kitchen, which guests can peer into from counter seats or the cozy dining room.
The dining room of Henrietta.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
For lunch Henrietta serves as an informal deli with a smattering of seasonal salads and sandwiches such as mushroom French dips and turkey with bread-and-butter-style fennel pickles. There are casual boxed lunches to-go, $10 wines by the glass and a selection of pantry goods, cookbooks, imported teas and locally made candies. By night, the restaurant flips to full service with California-cuisine dishes such as persimmon-and-avocado salad, grilled fish with sunchokes, grapes and green chile, and the most popular dish, the plump ricotta dumplings with chanterelles, caccio cavalo and Madeira. Henrietta is open Thursday to Sunday, with lunch served from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner from 5 to 9 :30 p.m., and a market that’s open all day.
343 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 272-6646, henriettala.com
Sandough’s Parma sandwich serves 16-month-aged prosciutto di Parma, stracciatella, heirloom tomato and wild arugula in pizza-like dough.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sandough
A former Chain and Trois Familia chef is folding Neapolitan-inspired pizza dough around local and Italian ingredients at a new restaurant along Melrose Avenue. Sandough, from chef-partner Frankie Guerrero, prepares 48-hour fermented dough for its pizza sandwiches, with filings such as mortadella with ricotta crema and pistachio; meatballs with marinara; aged prosciutto di Parma with heirloom tomato, wild arugula and stracciatella; and fior di latte mozzarella with pesto and heirloom tomato. But a handful of sandwiches and specials are inspired by Los Angeles, including a custom-rub, thick-cut pastrami from local vendor RC Provisions topped with aged Provolone and salsa verde. Sandough is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
7276 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 650-9242, eatsandough.com