SKATE OR PIE! Shred City at Pizzanista in LA

So my buddy Tim shot me a random text today and told me to check out Pizzanista. He mentioned it was founded by legendary skater Salman Agah. My day immediately got a whole lot better.

Pizzanista serves up a straight forward menu that I wish was the basis of my own pizza place. An easy appetizer list that consists of garlic knots, meatballs and broccoli rabe is accompanied by a few salad choices. Then it’s down to business. A list of utility slices that go between $2.75 and $4.00 covers the essentials for those wanting a quick bite. While it may seem steep, these things look monstrous. Everything from your basic cheese to vegan slices or spicy sopressata with mushroom.

You can also find a generous list of specialty pies including a breakfast pizza and a nice spin on the traditional hawaiian pie. Apple wood-smoked, dry-cured ham and pineapple with grana padano and mozarella. One of the coolest things I noticed while giving the website a glance was their day-old, cold $1 slices. With the portions considered and the reality of next day pizza being awesome, why wouldn’t you run a deal that sweet? A trip to LA is in order. I smell a weekend trip in the works.

rollin’ deep @ Pie

When Pie first opened its doors in the old Si Tapas building a couple years ago we hit it hard.  Pamparius gave that place so many chances that I can’t even count em.  First, the pizza sucked and service sucked.  Then the service got a little better.  Then the pizza got a little better.  Then they started doing $3 PBR and a slice.  Then it got so bad that it wasn’t even worth the money anymore.

Too many chances for that place.  Nothing ever came together here.  You’ll find a great building with a great bar and a cozy design but you won’t find any cohesive ideas.  Is it an artisan pizza place?  An Italian restaurant?  A sports bar?  Hopefully all of these things will change because the pizza sure has.

You’ll be able to order several signature deep-dish pies here in addition to creating your own.  This monster, loaded with bacon, sausage, pepp, mozzarella, ricotta, basil flakes and probably a ton of other shit I couldn’t see, will run you about $14.  It is huge and will definitely fill up three hungry dudes.

At first glance you’ll see the high edges typical of a deep dish pie but the center is not nearly as deep and heavy as a typical Chicago style deep dish.  I think I like this better.  The pizza IS thicker but you won’t get an overwhelming casserole of a pizza here.  Thicker than normal but not fat boy thick.

The flavors here are what you’d expect from such a meaty pie.  Definitely not what you’d want to eat every day but the combination of all these savory meats certainly pleases a meat eater’s palette.  Simple, right?  The addition of ricotta cheese really sets this one off though.  I wonder how much I would have liked it sans ricotta.

The sauce is a more typical marinara that we’ve probably all had before, and the crust was tasty enough at the tall edges to enjoy by itself.  This stuff is pretty messy so you’ll have plenty of loose toppings to pair up with the cornicione, or pizza bones.  My only point of advice would be to keep working with the dough to get it just right.  It could use a little more pockets of “airiness” to make it more edible on its own.

Pie has been undergoing a bit of a change of guard lately and hopefully they get things straightened out.  The menu has changed compliments of their new chef Francis Dalton, above.  Things are starting to make more sense here and a late-night jumbo slice may be in the works for all the hungry souls pouring out of Balliceaux on the weekends.  I hope it works out because this is one of my new favorite pies in the city.

Oh yeah, wash yer fucking glasses!  Yeungling isn’t that great of a beer and certainly doens’t taste any better out of a poorly washed mug.

Blow Toad Peep Show

Grant and I stopped off by Blow Toad last week and happened to walk in on a test run of the POS systems and a friends and family tasting.

While things weren’t all there we were fortunate enough to not be turned away and get a free taste of what might be expected from the new pizza place in Carytown.

24 taps are in place and the bar looks ready for some serious craft beer action. There are still a few handles missing but from the current setup happy hour seems promising.

The menu seems kind of all over the place with some unpredictable items like Banana Split dessert pizza pairing Drum Sticks off the kid’s menu. I haven’t seen too many blue cheese and steak pies lately either.

Unfortunately the kitchen and wait staff appeared to be getting their asses kicked and we didn’t actually get to try a pie off the menu. But we did get our hands on a few slices and some complimentary appetizers. The dude sitting next to us wasn’t too stoked on being told his chicken pizza wasn’t ready and turned down the drum stick and fries he was offered to “hold him over.”

Well, we tried our comped snacks and they were so so. Hopefully these were some lazy placeholder fillers to help run through the motions for the staff.

The pizza sample was also so so. The pepperoni wasnt stellar but had some good flavors present. The coal fired oven needed some dialing in to get the crust a little less chewy, more airy and with some crisp in the skirt. The first two slices struck out but the third slice would have rounded second base on a good day. The crust a bit crispier with some okay char on the bones.

Until we have a more established look at this place we are gonna hold our full opinions. We’re hoping they don’t plan on opening with pie that half assed or we will be saving our money for bar pizza at Belly Timber – sans kid’s menu and banana split zah.

keep your drinks cool, folks

‘O Sole Mio!

Really starting to love this blog…

It’s the BrooklynVegan of the confederate south!

The Boxx, VB Oceanfront

Free shows.  Ocean breeze.  Shitty bar.  $7 pitcher and an XL pie.

The Boxx has it down.

The pizza at the former Chicho’s on Atlantic Ave., now The Boxx, is super cheesy.  Almost too much but when you’ve been drinking dirt cheap beer and headbanging all night, extra cheese is what you want.  Your 7 dollars goes a long, long way here.  A pitcher of shit beer and an extra large, sloppy pizza pie is what you’ll get and I dare anyone to complain.

And you’ll get to see some pretty cool bands for free.  Don’t fuck this up!

This Sunday there is another free show with the same kind of specials as last time. So check out Bridge Under Fire, Invaluable, Herostratus @ 8pm.

Tonight!

Pamparius’s own Constrictor @ The Boxx, 10pm in VB

Free show.

Pizza!

The trash talking of John Hicks will also…be there.

Sierra Nevada Cans Update

So it looks like the Pale Ale getting canned is one of the best things since exdtra cheese! This is my favorite beer to drink and the thought of it in a can just make it so much more awesome. But it gets better. Sierra Nevada will also be doing 16 oz cans of their Torpedo IPA. I’m foaming at the mouth.

Coming soon…Sierra Nevada in a Can

courtesy Dave Witte