Milana’s is Downtown’s New York-style pizza staple—actually, they’re Long Beach‘s New York-style pizza staple. And one thing that has always stuck with me is something its owner, Adriel Fasci, told me years ago when they first opened: “Y’know, if a plain cheese slice can’t hold up on its own, then it isn’t good pizza. Period.”

Forthright with a thick East Coast, Italian accent and an affable personality, Fasci has built a reputation by making pizza in Long Beach for nearly a decade and making his relatives proud ever since his parents immigrated from Palermo, Sicily to the Big Apple, specifically Brooklyn.