Pizza has a special place in the heart of every New Yorker, but this love runs even deeper for Carmela Fuccio owner of Pizza Sociale in downtown Los Angeles. She opened the restaurant to honor her family traditions and welcome the community into her “home.”

At Pizza Sociale, it all starts with the dough, which is a simple recipe of flour, water and salt. “I like it to be thin at the bite but still have the air in the crust, so it gives you that New York meets Neapolitan style,” Fuccio said. As a born and bred Italian New Yorker from Brooklyn, Fuccio knows her pizza. Not only is there a shop on every corner where she comes from, but her mom would regularly whip up some pies for almost any occasion.