MELODY PIZZA
NOW SERVING NON-STOP NY STYLE PIZZA BY LAX

From our good friends at the always-satisfying Melody Bar & Grill in Westchester (think LAX if you’re not familiar with the area’s proper name) comes Melody Pizza, a New York style pizza shop serving tasty, authentic and wholly satisfying pies.

With everything made to order, pizza maven Ronald “Ronnie” Ianniello, originally from Westchester County, New York, is serving outstanding pizza pies by the slice or whole, including his signature Margherita. Melody Pizza also offers calzones, heroes, wings, salads, and dessert pizzas made with Nutella and peanut butter.

While Melody Pizza is a great go-to place for a quick pizza fix, a great option that shouldn’t be missed is ordering the fine pies at Melody Bar & Grill where you can also enjoy a lively setting and a full bar. During our recent visit to Westchester for pizza dinner, we had our feast at Melody Bar and enjoyed our pies with some fine Venice Duck Brewery beers, which also happens to be owned by Melody founder Christian Warren. Choose from The Dogtown Duck, a West Coast IPA; the Venice Duck (agave blonde); Stoner Duck (hemp brown); Lone Duck (Belgian Abbey Ale); and the Lucky Duck (Belgian white ale). This pizza/beer combo can’t be beat and I’m hardly the biggest beer fan.

Our dinner started with an order of Garlic Knots (think fine little dough balls of garlic rosemary). We also ordered the Chinese Chicken Salad and had no idea this bad boy is a meal unto itself. I also never knew I was a fan of Grandmas style pizza—that’s probably because I had never heard the term before. It turns out there’s your standard round pizza, and Grandmas, which is more square shaped, well, horizontal anyways. Most of the Grandmas pies are 16-inches, although a few are 18-inch pies.

We had to start with the signature Melody pizza, which is basically a meat-lovers pie stuffed with mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, meatball, and prosciutto. This hearty beast will satisfy any meat-eating pizza fan.

Keeping that meat loving pizza vibe going, the Bulgogi, served with white sauce, mozzarella, rib eye, kimchi, scallions, mushroom, and sesame seeds is a new favorite of mine. Unique yet delicious, I like the way they thought outside the box with this pie and came up with a total winner.

Other original and satisfying pies are the Pear, made with sliced pear, caramelized onions, and goat cheese, and the Walnut Special with mozzarella, walnuts, caramelized onions, and goat cheese. So many pies, so little time. I’ll have to come back and try the Bacon Delight, along with the Venice made with chicken cutlet. 

“I want everyone to come here and have the New York pizza experience,” Chef Ronnie told Hometown News recently. “I want to be that neighborhood pizzeria.”

Ianniello claims that the main difference between California and New York pizza is the water used in the dough. A lot of people say that and a lot of Californians always tend to scoff at such absurdity. But, sticking to their guns, the Melody Pizza guys have installed a reverse osmosis filter to make the water comparable to that of New York. All I can say is that the proof is in the pie and their pizza rocks!

Melody Pizza is located at 9146 Sepulveda Blvd. Hours: Sunday-Wednesday 11am to 12am; Thursday-Saturday 11am to 3am. Call 424-227-7686.

Story by Jose Martinez