THE PIZZA CHRONICLES

Black Angus Steakhouse Bulls Eye Bar

Bridget and I visited the Bull’s Eye Bar at Black Angus Steakhouse in Northridge, Ca. and we ordered a few items from their new bar menu.  The tasty pizza dough is supplied by  http://www.pattyspizza.com/

PERSONAL-SIZED PIZZAS

10” round thin crush with 8 slices.

Pepperoni and Baby Portabella Pizza
Fire-grilled crust with pizza sauce, pepperoni, baby portabella mushrooms, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. $8.99

BBQ Chicken Pizza – NEW!
With lightly smoked BBQ sauce, grilled chicken, Mozzarella cheese and topped with fresh tomatoes, red onion and cilantro. $8.99

http://www.pattyspizza.com/orders/ Check it out. Black Angus has enjoyed a reputation as a family style steak house. Yet, I haven’t visited a steak house in the last decade, or maybe the last 2 decades. I have some very happy memories of Black Angus Restaurant visits with my small children and their grandparents in the early 1990′s. Pizza forward to 2012, I cook better, I eat healthier, and I share more….I love the crispy pepperoni coins on the Bulls Eye pepperoni pizza. They grilled the crust very well. I’m not a huge fan of BBQ chix pizza because usually the sauce steams instead of grilling the crust. But the Bulls Eye Bar did a great job of avoiding this common problem. I wish a long and happy pairing of Black Angus Bulls Eye Bar and Patty’s Pizza.

Chix pizza on left, pepperoni on right.

March 13, 2012 0 comments Read More

La Vecchia Revisited by this cub reporter


Hi Anne,
Glad you enjoyed the restaurant. I read your post and wanted to mention that we do make our own dough in house daily.

Hope to see you soon,

Anthony Mollica
La Vecchia Cucina

I was happy to be corrected on my post. I have a huge amount of learning to do on my path to foodie editor. After I write and post about a restaurant that I’ve visited, I like to send my link to the management of the restaurant. This particular time I received an email back from the manager of La Vecchia restaurant to correct my statement about their pizza dough (see above) I’m so embarrassed, that I forgot to ask the 5ws that I learned in highschool. ha ha. who, what, when, where, why.The pizza crust at La Vecchia was so perfectly prepared and cooked that I presumed that it wasn’t made “in house”. I gave it a better review than I thought it deserved. So, now that the management has let me know, it isn’t made ‘in house’, I must change my mind. I stand by my thoughts, that this is one of the best happy hours that I have ever visited in the LA area. This posting is about pizza, not happy hours . So,.. I like it less, knowing that they make their own dough, daily. The taste was flat. The crust needed a crusty rim with lots of air holes. Their crust needs a more wheaty taste and they should add more salt to their batter. Signing off as your Cub Pizza Reporter. I live and I learn.

March 13, 2012 0 comments Read More

La Vecchia, Santa Monica CA

http://www.lavecchia.com/
La Vecchia has one of LA’s best happy hours. They offer smaller, but not small, plates of their best selling dishes at reduced prices along with happy hour prices on their wines. I ordered my favorite margarita pizza. The crust wasn’t made ‘in house’ but it was nicely charred the way I like my pizza. Their pizza was topped with a sweet tomato sauce, fresh basil leaves and stringy mozzarella. The crowd at the bar was lively on a weekday night. The room was noisy but not overly loud. My girlfriend, Debbie, ordered the pizza rustica. It was not to her liking and the management noticed and took it off our bill. Nice touch, La Vecchia.

March 7, 2012 0 comments Read More

Mohawk Bend, Echo Park, CA

It is a good thing when my busy family can eat together on a weeknight. I wanted a location that all of us could get to quickly. Nick comes from Downtown LA, Danny and I drove from No.Hollywood and Angela is in Hollywood. Angela suggested Mohawk Bend, http://mohawk.la/about/ in Echo Park. They have a large and varied menu that we liked because of our different diets. I ordered the ‘Holy Trinity Pizza’ (aka margarita). The sauce was so good it could have been made by me. The crust had a great chew, I would have liked it to be crisper. I had 2 pieces leftover that I warmed up in my toaster oven tw0 days later. They had the right amount of chew and crispiness. Across the table from me, Jerod enjoyed the ‘Able Farmin’ vegan pizza. They have a large menu of non pizza items and a huge (72 taps) beer menu.

February 25, 2012 0 comments Read More

UK Woman, Has Only Eaten Pizza For 31 Years

Thirty-three-year-old Claire Simmons, of Notting Hill in London, is in a monogamous relationship with a dangerous partner: pizza.

For the last 31 years of her life, she has eaten nothing but plain cheese pizza for every single meal. And now, her doctors say that Simmons’ monotonous diet could kill her.

Simmons says she exercises and drinks plenty of water. The problem is that her limited diet — the result of a mental illness known as Selective Eating Disorder — doesn’t provide all the minerals and vitamins she needs for solid health.

thank you Huffington Post

February 21, 2012 0 comments Read More

Udi’s Pizza Cafe


I was in Denver last Tuesday and I visited Udi’s Pizza Cafe in old town Arvada Co.
http://udisfood.com/cafes/Udi-s-Pizza-Caf-Bar-in-Olde-Town-Arvada
Udi’s is a Denver based business with many specialties, a local artisan bakery, a catering company, 5 Denver cafes, and 2 national baking companies. I had a tasty mango and avocado salad. I shared my sister’s very yummy gluten free margarita pizza. The gluten free crust could be called crispy flat bread pizza.


My dad ordered Udi’s ‘lunch special’ pepperoni pizza with a chopped salad, all of which, he enjoyed.
Our server. Michael, was polite, knowledgeable, and fun.
February 6th was my mother’s 80th birthday and she enjoyed the brie and apple sandwich.

I insisted that we order the ‘Butterscotch Pudding with Salted Caramel’ for dessert. This is a dessert that is very close to my foodie soul. I love it and I’ve made it and the ‘bar’ is very high. It was delicious but I do have a few notes. 1) Call it “Butterscotch Pudding with Caramel topped with whipped cream and a strawberry garnish”. 2) Change your recipe to “Butterscotch Pudding” with a topping of caramel and fleur de sel. The whipped cream and strawberry are not necessary and you can’t taste the salt in your caramel.
I liked this restaurant, the location, the menu, and the staff. I’ll be back in June.

February 7, 2012 0 comments Read More

Vitello’s Italian Restaurant

This evening, Danny and I visited a lifelong favorite, Vitello’s Restaurant. We have been eating at Vitello’s for 25 years or more.
The restaurant has had it’s ups and downs. Yes, it is the scene of the 2001 murder of Robert Blake’s wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. Vitello’s is now a lively Studio City Jazz club and restaurant. We have always enjoyed their pizza but it seems that tonight it was better than ever. They have begun to advertise that they cook their pizzas in a wood burning oven. We ordered the House Pizza and a Chopped Salad with 2 generously poured glasses of red wine. The pizza crust was nicely charred and filled with precious blisters. It had a wheaty flavor and nice chew to it. The slice was topped with mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil. The sauce was a big let down, sadly, it was flavorless. The salad was good as well but this is my story about pizza not salad.
Vitello’s is a special place to enjoy live jazz on a weekly basis. Check out their schedule for a fun date night. They are at the end of a remodel and I would wait until the very end before I visit them again. The construction smells aren’t compatible with the yummy odor of Italian cuisine. http://www.vitellosrestaurant.com/
January 31, 2012 0 comments Read More

800 Degree Pizzaria

http://www.800degreespizza.com/
This evening, Danny and I visited 800 Degrees Pizzaria in Westwood Village. LA’s newest pizza hot spot brought to us by ‘Umami Burger’ partners. Pizzas are created ‘a la Subway’ construction.
You start the line with the dough maker, then move along and choose your sauce and cheese, next move is the topping station. Your pizza is placed in their 800 degree fire oven while you make a choice of salads, sides, and beverages.
Next, you pay and in under 4 minutes from dough maker to cashier, your pizza is ready. The prices are a deal. We had one 12″ margarita with mushrooms and caramelized onions and a chopped salad, we shared a bottle of Pellegrino. Our total was $18. The crust had a nice flavor but the pizza needed to be left in the 800 degree oven another minute or two. The middle of the pie was soggy and needed a little blistering. Looking around at the other tables, this was the norm. The ingredients were fresh and locally sourced. I love that. Danny and I agreed that, while we enjoyed our visit, we wouldn’t drive to Westwood for this pizza again. Our favorite Westwood pizza remains Lamonica’s http://www.lamonicasnypizza.com/Home.html

January 8, 2012 0 comments Read More

Dinner Sat 1/7/2012 Join us??

http://www.800degreespizza.com/
I’ll be at 800 degrees for dinner on Saturday 1/7 at about 6 pm.
Please join us. xxxx

January 7, 2012 0 comments Read More

Angeli Caffe will be closing on January 8th, 2012

Our Caffe Angeli Caffe has been one of my favorite LA restaurants for about the last 10 years. I adore Evan Klieman and I’ve taken my family and friends to her restaurant on many special occasions. Every December Evan hosts a ‘Feast of the 7 fishes’ at Angeli Caffe and I’ve been to a couple of those special meals. Throughout the year, she has various themed dinners, served family style with a menu of items not on her regular menu, those meals are usually spectacular. At one of those meals, I was happy to be seated at a table with Evan Klieman’s mother. She tells amazing and interesting stories about many LA chefs. When my daughter, Angela moved to Hollywood, Angeli became our easy ‘go to’ restaurant for Vicari family meals. Evan Klieman introduced the Slow Food Movement to LA. I will miss this restaurant very much but I am certain that Evan will continue to be a leader in the LA foodie scene.

http://www.angelicaffe.com/caffe-information/

December 29, 2011 0 comments Read More