- We're backstage at HARD Summer.
Slushii's playing right now and killing it.
I imagine he's working up an appetite,
I'm hungry, I haven't eaten all day.
The minute he finishes, we're hopping in a car together,
and we are gonna search the city
for the best late-night pizza.
("Level Up" by Slushii plays)
- [Cyrus] It's surprisingly difficult to find
delicious late-night food in Los Angeles.
Tonight, I'm meeting up with a fellow night owl
to explore a restaurant that many say
is an exception to this rule.
Are you tired?
- I am... hungry.
I'm, like, so ready for pizza right now.
- You grew up on the East Coast,
how would you compare pizza on the East Coast
to pizza on the West Coast so far?
- I believe that the water tastes different.
Pizza here is so clean-cut that it's like,
almost, it's like too--
- It's like boring.
- I'm not gonna lie, it's weak.
- I am optimistic about tonight, though.
We are going to a place called D'Amore's Pizza.
It is open 'til four in the morning.
It's the most late-night pizza in L.A.
- Let's do it.
(electronic music)
- Hey, I'm Joe D'Amore, founder of D'Amore's Pizza.
We've been here for 31 years.
The dough is made in the morning.
It's rolled into little balls and put in plastic bags.
And we unbag it as we use it, so every pizza is made fresh.
Except for the slice pies, they're eighty percent cooked,
then put in the rack.
And then when someone orders it, we continue cooking it
the other twenty percent as opposed to reheating it.
It's like a fresh pie.
(chimes)
- We grew up on the East Coast, and we've had trouble
finding great pizza on the West Coast.
Why do you think that is?
- The fact's is the water.
(Cyrus laughing) - That's what I said.
- He called it.
- The water has to be from Maine to New Jersey,
as far west as Chicago.
If you go south of New Jersey or west of Chicago,
you rapidly lose the minerals that are conducive
to making any kind of bread dough, bagel dough,
you talk about the New York bagels.
For the first 25 years in business,
I brought the water from Boston.
I couldn't keep bringing the water from Boston
and the flour from Italy,
so I filled the rest of the container with Italian water.
And now I also bring the tomatoes and the olive oil.
It makes the flavor, even, so much better.
- Tell us why you decided that this restaurant
is open 'til four in the morning.
- When the bar's close, they come out at two o'clock
looking for food.
So we figured, okay, we'll stay 'til 2:30.
We stayed 'til 2:30, but then all of a sudden,
waitresses and waiters are coming in.
They have to clean up before they leave.
Then all of a sudden, we get all these deliveries.
Who the heck wants pizza at 3:30, four in the morning?
I found out.
(Cyrus laughing)
I found out.
Hence, now 10 years later, we're open
'til four in the morning every night.
- We're in the market for three slices tonight.
What would your--
- Our most popular?
- Yeah, what would be the three recommendations from you?
- Well you know, still the cheese pizza
is the most popular pizza in the world.
Our most popular pizza that has meat on it is our combo.
But our most popular pizza is called the Pizza Bianco.
It's fresh spinach and roasted peppers, sauteed in olive oil
and fresh garlic, topped with Parmesan, mozzarella,
and ricotta cheese.
- Well, we are looking forward to trying all this.
Two slices. - Oh, man.
(Cyrus laughing) - Alright, we are in business.
- Super cool.
- [Waiter] You guys want any pepper and Parmesan?
- Sure. - Yes.
- Let's do this.
- Oh, yeah.
- So we're starting cheese.
- It's hot.
- Oh my goodness.
- This is East Coast pizza, right?
- It's East Coast pizza.
- This is awesome.
- The crust is just like, a perfect texture.
- It's so crunchy.
- But it still has that, like,
danger that you're talking about that you like.
- This is a perfect balance.
- Yeah, it's fantastic.
- It tastes like boardwalk pizza.
Like, pizza that you get down the Shore.
- Yeah.
- On a nice weekend.
- Do you write music while you're touring as well,
on the road?
- Mhm, especially when, like, we have runs like this,
we're just out for days at a time.
I have a lot of time to, like, simmer out a few tracks.
- [Producer] Ever put in anything weird on your pizza?
- Yeah. I went on a date with a girl in Japan.
She takes me to this place
where they put maple syrup on pizza.
- Okay.
- And it's...
- Really?
- It's amazing.
Ah, this is solid.
- That is lights out good.
There's just so much flavor going on with these toppings.
- So fresh.
- Great balance of like, softness and crispiness.
- Wow.
- So, I've got a question for you. You're 21?
- Yeah.
- And can you kind of walk us through
how Slushii came to be?
- So, I've been producing music for, like, a while
and my Soundcloud got deleted.
All the copyright strikes hit at the same time.
There was no getting it back and I was just like,
"Dude, this is it."
That was like, my livelihood, quote-unquote, you know?
I built that over like, three, four years.
I made the Slushii logo in like a night.
It was just like a last stitch effort,
might as well do it right.
Restart with all the knowledge I have now,
just kind of went for it.
- This, this looks amazing.
- Don't need extra cheese with this one.
- No, no.
(crunching)
- Oh my god.
- That's game over right there.
- Let's take it back.
An important part of your story is
the life you used to have and the life you have now.
- Yeah.
- Tell us a little about your past
and what you were going through,
and how your outlook helped you.
- So, I wasn't necessarily the most popular guy in school.
Didn't really talk to anybody.
I have Asperger's.
I was a lot slower socially in the beginning of high school.
As a result of that, I would kind of isolate myself.
And one thing that really helped me was music.
So like, listening to music, writing songs.
Once I actually started to write more and more,
I kind of realized, I shouldn't really care
what people think about, you know, me.
That really set things off for who I am now.
I really don't care what anybody thinks, you know.
Look at my hair.
(Cyrus laughing) You know, I don't care.
If there was one clear goal from the entire Slushii project,
is it just doesn't matter where you come from,
what you look like, what you sound like,
as long as you have a dream and you keep driving that home,
then you can do it, it's possible.
I'm proof of that.
I'm just a blue-haired guy from Jersey.
- We're three slices deep.
Which, to you, has been your favorite slice?
- Uh, the combo, for sure.
- I'm in the combo vote too.
- I'm not even like an olive fan at all,
or mushrooms, and like, just the way it was put together.
- It all blends together seamlessly.
You don't feel gross after eating it either.
Would you come back here?
- This is my new spot. - This is your new spot?
- Like, forever.
- Well, we appreciate you sharing the day
and the night with us.
And hopefully, we'll see each other again.
I'll be over here.
- Let's grab some pizza some time.
Thanks for having me.
- Yeah, thank you so much.
My tour bus is not here but I will hail an Uber,
or perhaps try to find one of those scooters.
(dance music)