Last week, both got a taste of New York attitude, pulled into an online argument by Marco Shalma, who writes a newsletter devoted to supporting longstanding local restaurants. In a heated Instagram post, Mr. Shalma lamented the arrival of the Los Angeles cafes, accusing them of being funded by venture capital (they are not) and of serving mediocre coffee. Instead of piling on, many Brooklyn locals came to the defense of the new spots, praising the coffee and pointing out that in fact, both are small, owner-operated businesses. (On Tuesday, Mr. Shalma removed the post and apologized for misstating how they were financed.)
Casey Wojtalewicz and Ally Walsh opened Canyon Coffee in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles in 2022 and quickly built a following for their coffee drinks, chunky toasts and minimal-but-warm aesthetic. They started out as wholesale coffee roasters, but because of their social media presence, he said, “in hindsight we were building a lifestyle brand.”
Mr. Wojtalewicz said more and more of their customers are bicoastal, moving between the hip neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the corresponding precincts of Los Angeles’s East Side. “The pipeline between New York and L.A. is real,” he said.
Mr. Della Femina agreed: “The red-eye is like the crosstown bus now.”
Although she grew up in New York, Ms. Paltrow said she believes Los Angeles is now the best food city in the world. “We are so lucky with the year-round produce, and that drives innovation all the time.”
Asked how she thinks her pizzas will hold up against a New York slice, she responded, “New York pizza is the greatest. There’s no better pizza in the world.”
She quickly added, “As an indulgence.”
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