DTown Pizzeria serves authentic Detroit-style pizza – deep dish with thick cheesy edges and sauce on top. (photo courtesy of Ryan Ososky)

Picture this – rectangular deep dish crust, thick cheesy edges and marinara sauce poured on top of fresh mozzarella. Makes your mouth water, right?

DTown Pizzeria is serving up Detroit-style pizza in West Hollywood and it’s winning awards. Chef and owner Ryan Ososky was recognized by the West Hollywood City Council in June for being named the 2025 World Champion Pizzamaker of the Year at the International Pizza Expo.

“Ryan’s creativity, craftsmanship and commitment to excellence have made his mark not just locally but truly on the world stage,” Mayor Chelsea Byers said during the recognition. “West Hollywood proudly celebrates this remarkable achievement, the pride it brings to our community and the deliciousness it brings to our stomachs.”

Wearing a T-shirt that said, “In crust, we trust” – Ososky quickly accepted the City Council award, invited the public to the restaurant and then returned to work.

A Michigan native of the Detroit suburbs who learned to cook with his grandparents, Ososky worked under some of L.A.’s most acclaimed chefs including Michael Mina, Charlie Palmer and Wolfgang Puck, and also served as the executive chef for the Church Key and XIV restaurants before coming up with the idea for DTown.

“A buddy of mine asked me ‘If you could open up something in L.A., what would you do?’” Ososky said. “The more I thought about it at the time, I thought that Detroit-style pizza wasn’t really out here.”

And DTown Pizzeria was born. After three years in a different location, DTown opened on Santa Monica Boulevard in late 2023. Beyond traditional pizza flavors, Ososky serves pies without red sauce like the “DTown Burrata Margherita,” featuring burrata, pesto and confit tomatoes or “The Resolution,” which has Japanese A5 wagyu beef, black truffle oil and pickled onions.

“We want to have something that you’re proud to serve,” Ososky said. “There’s cheaper ways that I could do this but that doesn’t excite me.”

Ryan Ososky, chef and owner of DTown Pizzeria, was named the 2025 World Champion Pizzamaker at the International Pizza Expo. (photo courtesy of Ryan Ososky)

Beyond the recent Pizzamker of the Year award, Ososky is also a three-time world champion in the best pan and Detroit-style pizza category at the same expo. Despite the awards, Ososky said his business is not immune to the immense challenges of the restaurant industry including the cost of labor and ingredients. Customers also expect a cheap product when they eat at a pizzeria, he added, but keeping prices low is nearly impossible when using premium ingredients. The pressure of owning a restaurant is unique, he said.

“There’s no job that compares to owning a restaurant,” Ososky said. “When money is coming out of your bank account for you to pay stuff and other people’s lives are involved, nothing hits the same way.”

While hoping for more foot traffic, Ososky said the West Hollywood community has given the pizzeria a home and invites everyone to come to the restaurant to experience authentic, Detroit-style pizza.

“Sure, I’m proud of the awards, but I’m proud that we’re still grinding through it,” he said. “I think we put out the best Detroit-style pizza around.”

DTown Pizzeria is located at 8424 Santa Monica Blvd.