LA's Hottest Pizzeria is Japanese

Pizzeria Sei is Japanese-Napoli inspired pizzeria

in Los Angeles.

The pizza is based on the Napoli pizza,

but the toppings and the technique makes it unique.

Once in a month I make pizza omakase.

It's 11 course pizza tasting menu.

Normally you see this at the sushi restaurant,

but I do for pizza.

I don't think there's any other pizzeria

in America doing this.

Pizza omakase allow me to experiment and be creative.

I want to push the boundaries of pizza making.

[upbeat music]

Hi guys, my name is William, chef and owner of Pizzeria Sei.

Right now it's 8:00 AM and we have omakase today.

We have a lot of thing to do, come on in.

As you can see, it is very small space.

It's only 18 seats

because we want to keep the quality consistent.

First thing I have to do today is make a sourdough.

Our omakase day is very different

because we actually have nine pizza

and then we have to prepare about five different doughs.

So I use everything sourdough-based on the fry stuff.

They fry in the fryer

and then gives a dough a little more flavor

than yeast-based dough.

The starter has a pleasant smell, not too overly sour.

It's only three years old.

People talk about like 300 years old,

but like usually when you bring the starter

to the certain area, the local bacteria take over.

So doesn't really make a huge difference.

300 year or three years old.

I'm mixing the flour and water

and then starter just to make it shaggy dough.

Then we're gonna keep this wrapped and covered.

We're gonna ferment this at the certain temperature

at certain hours just to make it really digestible.

Now we're done with the sour starter.

We have to lit up the fire on the pizza oven, let's go.

Here's our beautiful oven from Italy.

The pizza oven is on all night, just covered.

Every day in the morning,

I just come and then just take out the dead ashes

and then fire up with the new wood and gas actually.

I use applewood because it's very common

in Southern California.

We're gonna heat up the oven with the gas together

with the wood and then turn off when it's ready.

And then on the service, we only use the wood.

I think wood gives something very characteristic,

just like gives a extra radiation here

that cooks a pizza better.

A lot of Neapolitan pizza place, they go up to 900,000.

But I like my crust a little bit crispier

and then in the oven a little bit longer

than traditional Neapolitan.

So we keep it at 800, 850 max.

My pizza inspired from Japanese Neapolitan.

This style come from owner Susumu Kakinuma-san.

He was trying to learn the pizza,

but nobody thought he wanted Naple.

He learned by himself and develop his own style.

So I started on that take

and then improve every day, every day

to make sure I'm developing my own style,

which is the more airy and light dough

compared to like more like a crispy tree dough.

While oven is hitting up, I'm gonna check up the cheese.

Today we got delivered fresh cheese from Caserta

called il caseificio casolare.

I actually went there last year and then met the owner.

Their buffalo is really happy.

They're getting massage in the farm

and then the way they process it

make it really special product.

We use on the this on the margarita special,

which has tomato, basil and this amazing cheese.

Whenever I get the fresh one, I have to check

because when you move the stuff from the airplane

'cause of the osmosis on the height,

the flavor draws out to the way.

So I have to make sure how many hours I'm gonna drain this

because whey is actually flavor here.

If I drain too much,

the cheese can be quite bland.

If I drain the right amount, the flavor is amazing.

We can see the cheeses inside has a quiet water.

This cheese look like we can drain about four hours

and then start using it.

Because they're handmade,

sometime it comes a little under-salted,

then I'll salt the pizza itself a little more.

Okay, now we cut everything.

We're gonna drain this guys a couple hours in the fridge.

I'm gonna have a meeting with my chefs

to discuss the omakase preps.

On normal service day, we don't need prep list,

but omakase day because we have a lot of complex items,

we actually have to write down everything.

Menu this time is nine pizza and one salad

and then one dessert.

They're gonna do like knife works, I do the dough.

So they're checking what kind of prep list

for menu item because every omakase,

I try to change the menu.

We are on good shape, let's have fun.

Now it is almost 11.

It's time for me to prep the different omakase toppings.

We're gonna start marketing the fresh grated tomato

for our margheritas.

This was actually inspired

from the Spain tapa dish, pan con tomate.

It'll have a crispy bottom, almost like a bruschetta

with the prosciutto

and then the buffalo mozzarella curd.

It's like a very like California

like melting pot altogether.

So we're gonna drain this tomato like couple minutes

in a chinois and then after we drain it dry,

it's ready for marinating with salt.

And then the herbs, garlic and olive oil.

Very high quality olive oil from Tuscany.

Sourcing on the pizza is very important

because if you put the bad ingredients on the pizza,

the dough just takes all over

and then you don't taste anything.

We're gonna cover this tomato just to make sure

it's not oxidized.

And then we're gonna move on

to the shallot vicious cream.

This one we're gonna have it with caviar potato pizza.

On there we're gonna have crispy potato,

pecorino and then fior de latte,

the mozzarella from Italy.

We have shallot from the local farmer's market.

They're really sweet and they're not overly spicy.

I like to use kosher butter for the sauces.

I think it gives a little more umami

than just using regular butters.

We're gonna deglaze with the dashi that we made yesterday.

We're gonna put the cream

and then we're gonna let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes

and then we're gonna blend this.

While this is reducing, I'm gonna work on the next topping,

which is for the Mala Garden.

This is a locally grown cherry tomato.

We put this with lamb sausage, creme fraiche,

smoked provolone, pecorino, parmigiano reggiano.

Some guests say it tastes like a lamb shawarma,

some guests say it tastes like a Chinese skewer.

I like those like complexity like in one bite.

The sheet tray is really hot,

put the cherry tomato on there, little bit of a olive oil,

garlic and herbs.

The key point is just to soften the skin

of the cherry tomato.

Make sure it's not like chewy when you eat the pizzas.

Here's our lamb sausage.

We have to precook the sausage

because Neapolitan pizza, you only cook for 90 seconds.

There's no way you can cook this in the 90 second on the top

of the pizza with the other toppings.

I lift the lamb sausage to touch the smoke.

I want a little bit more smokey to get that gaminess.

We're gonna massage the bed pepper with the salt

and olive oil and off to the oven.

Okay, now it's completely charred.

We're gonna cool this with the covered plastic.

Once it's steamed inside, about hour later,

we're gonna peel it, make sure it's like clean

and doesn't have a burn part anymore.

That's it, I'm done with the with woodfire prep

and then we have most important thing to do, the dough prep.

Let's go make the dough.

Now we're gonna check the pH of our preferments.

Preferment is you just mix the flour, water, yeast

and then just start day ahead

to make sure it has enough acidity to strength the gluten.

This way you don't need to ferment your flour three days.

So preferment, we use only biga.

Biga is a little stiff preferment due to space,

like we cannot put a lot of dough inside,

so we have to figure out a way

to make the dough better in a short amount of time.

PH looking awesome is almost there.

And then we're gonna wait little bit more

and then start autolysing the dough.

Now it's dough time.

We're going to make a double cooked dough base.

We fry and then re-bake it in the electric oven.

It's more hydrated than our regular dough,

so it is more fluffy, light, airy texture,

but because it's double cooked, overall it's more crispy.

This is the dough that I'm gonna use

for the ragu genovese, Asian style.

So you taste like a ragu,

but also you taste beef noodle soup from Taiwan

and we're gonna pair

with the smoked mozzarella and parmigiano.

We're gonna top this with the Thai basil salsa verde,

which is spiked with fish sauce.

Right now we have about 6,000 water, 10 kilogram of flour.

So we're gonna start autolysing.

The autolysing is literally incorporating

the dough like this.

It's not really developed or kneaded dough,

but water and the flour combines

and then develops the gluten more faster.

I see reading as 18 celsius.

Then after 30 minute of autolyse, it'll rise up to 20.5

and then we're gonna put the big guy inside.

Okay, so now the big guy is ready.

It's not sticky, but it has an amazing arko smell.

We're gonna divide the biga and then add it to the dough.

Every dough has a biga base except the sourdough.

For this particular recipe, I use about 50%.

So biga does provide acidity in the dough,

which helps gluten to form quicker.

We're gonna put the water inside to make 60% hydration.

I'm making sure the temperature is where I want it

because once you mix it, there's no way back.

So you have to be really pay attention.

The dough we make has to be like almost zen.

The temperature is what I want.

If you put the water at the all same time, it cannot absorb.

But like if you do this way,

you can put a little more water.

When you hydrate more dough, you get the very like light

and airy products.

Also crisp because you have to first cook longer

than the the low hydration dough.

Now it's getting to the nice ball shape.

We're gonna scrap off the excess water with flour

just to make sure everything is incorporated.

And then we're gonna put the sea salt

and then we're gonna mix no more than one minute.

Salt contracts the gluten,

and then if you just knead it, knead it,

it's gonna get dense.

Okay, now our dough is ready.

As you can see, it's really strong,

but nice, well hydrated, little stretch and forward here.

It gives the gluten strength

to have to put the little bit of more tension

because it's very loose after proof.

It's very light dough.

So the gluten structure

is that you can stretch out the dough without ripping.

You can go like paper thin.

There are six more dough that I'm gonna make, let's go.

When I was young, I wanted to be a sushi chef.

That's the reason why I like to do omakase

because I get to try different things

that I never try on the regular services.

It's really joy to learn something new and I love learning.

It's 3:30, it's close to the opening.

I need to check the a lot of things before.

So let's check all together.

Every day, basil tastes different, dough tastes different,

tomato sauce different.

Pepper is a little bit salty side today.

I'm gonna rinse out a little bit

and then just make sure the pizza is balanced.

This is my final routine before we open.

We're gonna make a pizza that is very simple.

I eat pizza every single day, especially omakase day

because I have to figure out

what is wrong, what is not right.

So I'm gonna stretch the pizzas.

This pinching style is like a Japanese Neapolitan style.

What I'm trying to achieve is this crispy dense tree part

and then super airy part

so you have a little more dynamic on the crust.

So it hardens a little more, adding the smokiness.

And then even in Japan, every shop stretch different.

So this is my stretch.

Sometime the tomato sauce is strong.

You need to put not too much.

After tasting everything,

I think this amount is appropriate.

Basil inside, buffalo cheese, a little bit of olive oil,

and we're gonna put the little olive oil on the crust.

That's just like not to get dried out

because we cook little bit longer

than traditional Neapolitan.

You first cook with the aggressive fit inside the oven,

and then you have to dry out at the entrance,

make sure it is crisp

and then the inside of the prom

is actually properly dry, not raw.

Say number six in Italian, that's why it's six pieces.

And we're gonna finish with Miraval olive oil.

This is a well-lived dough, in my opinion.

It's properly dried, flaky like a croissant,

but also very light.

It's not doughy, chewy at all.

This flavor is really good.

Maybe like a 3% more tomato sauce.

I think that's a good margarita.

Okay, it's four o'clock, our servers are arriving.

We got the people at the back preparing for the omakase.

I feel excited, the guests are coming in.

I get to meet the new cool people.

So we're ready for rock and roll.

Time for you to get out.