I have, and will report back once I try Sei! I will say (no pun intended), while this looks good, it does not look as good as Seirinkan.
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imma try and do a bang bang of this + manzke on Friday.
Hoping to do a walkin at 6:30 for sei for a takeout. Might be impossible. ha
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I banged before maude and the hardest part was stopping at 6 slices so I wouldn’t get too full before dinner.
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In everyone’s experience are the salad and sides worth it or should I just go all pizza on my visit.
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Pizza and tiramisu
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i haven’t been to seirinkan or savoy but looking at the pictures (stolen from tabelog), sei is a lot closer to savoy than seirinkan. even sergio says he’s inspired by savoy.
sei marinara
savoy marinara
seirinkan marinara
sei margherita
savoy margherita
seirinkan margherita
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Our pizza at Seirinkan and the undercarriage:
Been more than 3 years, but the Sei crust is more delicate whereas Seirinkan is more firm (you can see it doesn’t have as much give). Never been to Savoy so perhaps that is a better comp as @PorkyBelly mentioned.
Quality wise, I don’t remember being blown away by Seirinkan - flavors were great, and this really nice olive oil fragrance permeated the pizza. But the crust was not as pliable (and as a result as decadent) as Sei. Also Seirinkan has been doing it for decades while Sei has been doing it for a month so they have a long way to continue to improve.
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I’m sure seirinkin pizzas tastes good , but strictly based on aesthetics I would be disappointed if I made a pizza that looked like that 
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What??? That’s how you know it’s artisanal, baby. 
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yeah, right? i’d also prefer my margherita to have a little bit of sauce, but maybe that’s just me.
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from what i read, Roberta’s uses a starter culture from Ischia which isn’t standard for VPN neopolitan. Sei prob isn’t using starter so they are probably closer to VPN than Roberta’s. Roberta’s cookbook also includes oil in their dough recipe, which is def. a no no for VPN.
Either way, both places are similar probably because they both use all white 00 flour.
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Starter cultures quickly adapt to the local ambient yeasts and bacteria. But VPN rules require fresh or dry yeast, no sourdough allowed.
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The server who took my order didn’t know what savoy style was. I was like oh no worries just something I heard from a friend. But Chef heard me and asked halfway through my pizza if I’d ever been to savoy. I said no but I heard to ask. He smiled and said if guests feel like they’re eating at savoy then he’s happy
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For those asking for savoy style without ever going to savoy
It’s the way that he stretches it out where he picks up the edge of the dough with his hands, and then stretches from the edge, creating a rippled crust. There are these pinches all around the outside of the crust, instead of a perfectly round edge. It’s a rippled edge but also a big pouffy crust. And he did another thing, which was to add salt all over the top of the pizza before it went in the oven and salt on the floor of the oven before he put the pizza in. This is a Neapolitan trick where you throw some salt where you’re going to cook the pizza and it takes off some of the heat, so you don’t immediately burn the dough. Kakinuma calls it the salt punch.
This is quote from pizza czar about seirinkin and savoy. Did you taste the salt punch? @butteredwaffles
The olive oil is also amp up, not saying Sei is 50/50… but did u notice more olive oil?
In Japan, there’s an emergence of Tokyo-style marinara, a 50/50 ratio of tomato sauce to olive oil,
From modernist pizza podcast
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a little background on “savoy style.” I was talking to sergio on my first visit and he said in the beginning everything was savoy style but people started complaining that it was too salty and oily, so he cut back. but if he knows you like it savoy style or you’ve been to savoy and know what to expect, he’ll make it the way he originally intended, with the proper amount of olive oil and salt.
on my last visit, the servers and even sergio’s wife didn’t know what savoy style meant, but if you ask them to put it in the order notes, sergio will know what to do.
you can see the amount of salt and olive oil they use at savoy here:
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2 mins and 40 secs to prep a single pizza. Jfc.
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@PorkyBelly good to know re: convincing them to write savoy style on the ticket even if they don’t know what’s up. I was sitting at the counter already when I remembered to ask about savoy style. Lol I didn’t want to bother Chef but had a feeling he would hear me. And he did!!
@hppzz I didn’t fully pay attention to the other pizzas being made but Chef stretched savoy crust for me. I noticed the salt punch, especially where he dusts the oven floor. Which I didn’t notice for the other pizzas, though it might have happened.
The best part for sure was a few random bites that had little pools of olive oil, so fuckin delicious.
TeamSavoy
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Those customers complaining about Savoy style are the worst. Just STFU and eat it the way he intended. If you don’t like it then don’t come back.
Maybe there needs to be an explanation on the menu or something that the salt and oil is intentional.
Good customer service is how Armen at Mini Kabob is and Johnny Ray Zone at Howlin. “Customer service” should not mean whatever the customers wants and the customer is always right.
Asking the chef/cook to fundamentally change the dish you can go f yourself.
You plenty of options in Southern California. Maybe I am just bitter just ignore this post.
I can’t wait to try this place. This is going to the top of the list. Maybe I can bang bang it with Needle. That would be perfect.
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And maybe prd too!
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