I didn't think this would be so tough. I suspect a top 20 list would be more representative, while still forcing limitation (e.g., where are the women?!) Maybe a future thread.
1) David Mamet
2) Albert Camus
3) Raymond Carver
4) Kurt Vonnegut
5) Jean-Paul Sartre
I forgot to mention that his story collection Short Dog is also excellent. Not to the exclusion of other his works, of course; it's just the only other thing I've picked up so far.
Reading Chump Change was almost like finding a Buk surrogate for me--certainly the style and material is much closer to Buk than most of Buk's influences.
Funny that Fante says that his hero as a novelist is Hubert Selby, particular Selby as the author of Last Exit to Brooklyn. LEB certainly...
Dangling in the Tournefortia
Can't remember why I picked that one in the college library (1987). Blown away. Cool librarian checking it out for me let me know about "Barfly."