Echo Park’s Famous Pizza Buona Returns to Life on Thursday

Good news for fans of Pizza Buona, the longtime corner Italian spot that shuttered in Echo Park last year. Very, very soon folks will one again be able to enjoy the restaurant’s pizzas and sides, albeit from a new storefront just a block away from the original.

The Eastsider first caught word of the move yesterday, noting that the new address at 992 N. Alvarado is not far at all from the original restaurant on the corner of Sunset and Alvarado. If anything it’s about a two-minute walk, tucked into a strip mall in what was formerly a spot called Coco International Foods. The updated iteration will keep many of the same details as before, including the same menu and pizza oven as always, says owner Israel Palacios.

Locals mourned as Pizza Buona turned off the lights late last year, putting an end to the restaurant’s storied 56-year run. The space itself wasn’t down for long though, as the popular Zach Pollack from Silver Lake’s Alimento managed to grab the lease himself, with plans to install a casual new concept called Cosa Buona.

That restaurant, which will also serve pizzas and be a general nod to the Italian-American takeout food of Pollack’s youth, chose the name Cosa Buona in part as a hat tip to the location’s previous tenant. Pizza Buona reopens on Thursday.

Pizza Buona
992 N. Alvarado
Los Angeles, CA

• Echo Park's Pizza Buona Gets a New Lease on Life [Eastsider]
• Rent Hike May Force Echo Park's Pizza Buona Out After 56 Years [ELA]