The Magical Taste of Mystic Pizza

Mystic Pizza is the passion project of Lawrence, the pizzaiolo by night, office worker by day.  He is the Clark Kent of pizza makers, with a secret identity known only to a select few.  To the rest of the city he is the enigmatic "Mystic Pizza", a covert neighborhood dealer of homemade hand-tossed pizza.  He has been perfecting his craft and doing a series of pop-up pizza making at parties and events.  You can find him this weekend at Artisanal LA at Santa Monica Place.

Mystic makes the sauce and the dough from scratch and uses the highest quality cheese.  This is truly the definition of artisanal.  Seeing Mystic work is like a piece of performance art as the dough goes up in the air and spins.  My favorite part of the pizzas are the sauce; I'd happily buy jars of it to use as pasta sauce and as something to dip bread in, if they were available for sale.  On a recent pop-up party at his Lair, Mystic was selling several types of pies and I couldn't resist the margarita.  I was hungry and took a bite before photographing, so that should give you an indication of how good it smelled.  The pies were cooked on a pizza stone on a bbq and cooked up in under two minutes.

Mystic sources most of his ingredients at the Farmers Market and can make both vegetarian and vegan options.  He does cater private events, but can otherwise be found in the Los Feliz / Silverlake neighborhood, so his appearance at Artisanal LA brings him to an entirely new part of town.  Welcome to the Westside Mystic!

Follow Mystic Pizza on Twitter and on Facebook to learn more.  Email at MysticPizzaLA@gmail.com

Artisanal LA Comes to Santa Monica this Weekend

Artisinal LA will be hosting their Spring Show at the newly revamped Santa Monica Place this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday.  The event, a celebration of local craft food and beverage makers will include chef demos, expert panels, talks on craft beer and local honey and opportunities to shop and learn.

The location is a 50,000 square foot space off of the 3rd Floor Dining Deck at Santa Monica Place.  Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.  A full list of participants is here, but be sure to look for the hand crafted pizzas from Mystic Pizza LA and don't miss Library Bar head bartender Matt Biancaniello's market fresh cocktails demonstration (Saturday at 1 pm).  Sunday's highlights include a butchering demonstration and a local craft beer panel.

There will also be an opportunity to get a sneak preview of "The Market" at Santa Monica Place and the vendors there before next month's grand opening.  In addition to getting to shop and learn, attendees can nosh at two cafe areas, one from Intelligentsia and the other from the soon to open Daily Dose.  The icing on this delicious cake is that some of the proceeds will benefit St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, which brings hot nutritious meals to homebound senior citizens in Los Angeles.

Artisinal LA: Handcrafted Deliciousness this Saturday & Sunday

If you are the type of person who frequents farmers' markets, shops at Etsy, appreciates the local or handmade or just likes to munch on quality snacks, then Artisanal LA is for you. It is a weekend long community shopping, tasting, and learning experience showcasing local, sustainable and handmade foodstuffs from Los Angeles on this Saturday and Sunday, October 23-24 in the penthouse of downtown's historic Cooper Building. Tickets to the event are $10 in advance or $15 cash at the door.

Your ticket includes local craft beer and spirits tasting, totebags, demonstrations and workshops and the opportunity to shop from more than 75 vendors including Cake Monkey Bakery, Lindy & Grundy's Meats and Perishable, the pop-up pickle shop from Chicks with Knives.

The workshops include home butchering, local beekeeping with backyard beekeepers, garden cocktail infusions and many more.  Some of the proceeds will go to benefit the LAUSD Edible School Gardens, to bring gardens that grow fresh vegetables to more of the 900 public schools in Los Angeles.

If you plan on going to graze on all the fresh vittles, I highly recommend buying your ticket online, both to save some cash and to make your experience smoother.  Tickets at the door are cash only and when they reach capacity they will not sell any more tickets in person.

Seeds, veggies, chocolate, pickles, meat, caviar demos....  what more could you want?  Follow Artisinal LA on Twitter for all the latest news and updates.  The location is 9th St & Los Angeles St and parking is available in the building for $10.

The Cooper Building: 860 S Los Angeles St, 11th Floor Penthouse, Downtown LA 90014