Check Marked Finally at Jean-Georges Beverly Hills

Here's an interesting fact...

I have never been to any of Jean Georges's restaurants. It's not lack of trying as I was a big admirer from afar. Especially the menu items are so Instagram worthy which you swore his food was made for that platform. This is why I'm so happy to finally check mark this place in my list.

Inside of the Restaurant

Several interesting notes when visiting his namesake restaurant in the luxury hotel of Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills. One, the parking is valet only. Steep one for four hours. Self parking at the hotel next door will triple the price in that four hour span, so you might as leave your car with the valet in front of the hotel/restaurant.

Second, the famous chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten actually have another place on the rooftop of the hotel. That menu is more geared towards lounge bite sets. Heard it was popular among the young hip crowd who love the rooftop pool scenes.

Toasted Egg Yolk With Caviar

To our esteemed classic French restaurant with his namesake Jean-Georges Beverly Hills, this menu has several inspirations and touches that revolves around California seasoned ingredients that mixed with traditional French cooking techniques.

Sweet Corn Soup

His most well known dish many have come to expect was his Toasted Egg Yolk with Caviar. This one little starter will always win the Instagram photo contest. Several other things to ponder in this elegant, huge open space of a restaurant was their cocktail drinks. The patio setting gave an intimate setting to classy upscale atmosphere inside the big beautiful open space.

Roasted Black Bass

While you digest the toasted egg yolk caviar while immersing yourself in this relaxing atmosphere, you will also love the different classic cocktails that are presented here. Some are inventive, while most of the drinks are keeping it recognizable for the unconcerned crowd. So you can obviously see that majority of the clientele tends to know what they want before looking at the cocktail menu. That probably got my attention when half of the people I have overheard kept ordering either an Old Fashioned or a Rum/Coke.

Fragrant Spiced Pork Chop

Interesting portion of the menu comes in the entrees where I becoming more attuned to the California sourced ingredients. Especially with their version of roasted Sea Bass and the Grilled Pork Chop. Love the take on the classic French cuisine using local sourced ingredients. Out of all the items menu, I strongly encouraged people to get the roasted sea bass.

Mezcal Lavender Negroni

Raspberry Lychee Bellini

Overall, I love my dining experience here at Jean-Georges. The desserts also impressed me with their creativity. This place works as a special occasion dining venue, but I can see it as a regular casual meetup place (for the locals who lived in that area). It seemed to have regulars here who dined in without reservations.

Peach Pavola with Olive Oil Ice Cream

Myer Lemon Pudding

If there is one thing I get out of my dining experience here is that I should venture out to his other locations and dine at his famed New York's restaurants. This is now become my new bucket list for destination dining. After that night, I really want to try it.

I heard I don't have to worry about parking in that NYC area... as there is no parking available.

Jean-Georges Beverly Hills
9850 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 

The Most Unique Restaurant at Firehouse Hotel

It's difficult to find a place to live in Los Angeles. Shoot!..it's even more difficult to find the right location for a business. It's all about the location when you're talking a restaurant.

That's why it was so fascinating to see when a group of entrepreneurs decided to open up a place in the heart of Art District near the packing district. A firehouse was being remodeled into a boutique hotel with a cute outdoor patio restaurant and a bar in where a fire engine used to park at.

Here's the weird part, a firehouse that was left vacant for nearly 3 decades from being used as an active firehouse got remodeled into a full service 9-rooms boutique hotel on the top level with a restaurant underneath the rooms. I never did reserved a room, but I always want to see what the rooms looks like as many pointed out the rooms are "Instagram worthy", while remains for a staycation for some.

That early evening was a weird event as we were a few doors down from Bestia, but wanted a nightcap and stopped by BonTemps to keep the evening going. Right next door was this firehouse that has their own valet. Curiously, we all wanted to see commotion as we all thought it was an event space that is being used for parties.

Checking out the cool vibes of their patio seating for that intimate setting or their private dining room in the courtyard gave the place this elegant and very chic look. There were plenty of outdoor tables and a few indoor seatings next to the bar as it looked to accommodate about a good sized capacity of about 100 guests for dining.

Beef Carpaccio

With a few things in mind, some of us decided to come back to this restaurant to check out the New American dishes on the menu. We have heard the head chef was very distinguished and was from well known restaurants in New York and worked briefly in the much hyped Nomad Hotel in LA. The most exciting thing about our visit was to check out this reimagined decor of a restaurant from a former firehouse.

Grilled Branzino

One of the more recommended dish we wanted to try based on the praises posted on various online sites was the Grilled Branzino that was highly mentioned. Love the dishes we had ordered, especially the grilled branzino. The interesting part we noticed was that there was a wood fired grill employed in the kitchen as you can get some of the aroma of the dishes. Some of the buttery dishes really stood out when it was off the grill and ready to be served to the diners.

Quite possibly, this boutique hotel can be used a stand in for a high fashion clothing store as the hotel lobby stationed in front of the restaurant and hotel check-in gave it that chic nuance look to the fashion dissonance.

There are a lot of things to like about FireHouse Hotel. It can be a classy night out on the town or a very nice date night atmosphere for suggested place for an unique dining experience.

For me, I still want to visit the hotel for that overnight staycation.

FireHouse Hotel
710 Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Finding The Right Comfort at Alta Adams

Southern Comfort Food has always fascinated me.

Not quite certain was I am thinking of the movie "My Cousin Vinny" in that I must go find grits. Somehow because of this craving after watching that movie, I wanted to see if there are grits to be found. Of course I found a place, but not what I originally had in mind.

Alta, the original place in San Francisco was a popular group of American style casual restaurants that served some of the "creative" dishes of the locales with some inventive craft cocktails. There were a few outposts of those restaurants that mainly capitalized on the seafood in that region (Oakland & SF). 

Blacked Eye Pea Fritters

When they decided to open an Alta restaurant down in southern California, I was somewhat skeptical because of the fact it's more inland and away from the beach area cities. Then a curve ball was thrown in when they decided to have a more soul food based cuisines and hired one of the more accomplished Chef in Keith Corbin (worked in several Michellin's stars restaurants) to hone a more southern food type concept on the menu.

It was interesting that it opened towards the Baldwin Hills area, that is nearby to Culver City. With the swanky looking bar that served crafted cocktails, it fits the mantra of other Alta restaurants that are described. I noticed the restaurant also gather the locals who are looking for that cool night out on the town. With this kind of concept, it does need the support of the fan base who enjoyed this type of comfort food and was happy to see it can find the audience who are willing to travel.

Shrimps & Grits

When I decided to go get the Shrimp & Grits, I instantly was smitten by creamy and rich texture of this grinded cornmeal that turns out to a great dinner. When I was growing up I was thinking this would be perfect for breakfast (thinking of congee).

There is one dish that gets judged no mater what... the Fried Chicken.

Fried Chicken

When I was thinking of southern fried chicken, the Colonel ruined it for me with their extra crispy version. To my joy, the Alta's version is not heavily battered and the chicken skin was fried to taste like it should. The seasonings and spices were the key of essential ingredients of having the flavors of the chicken be enhanced.

Besides the cocktails, the other must ordered items were the Black Eyed Peas Fritters many have raved about. The cornbread was the one that I missed out on, but I was heavily influenced on must getting that Shrimps & Grits, that I totally forgot to order this.

This casual (but in a way classy) is perfect for a night out on the town. Love the chef's take on some of these classic comfort food. With so many options in this part of town for southern food, this was a delightful eye opener for me to come into this part of town (after being told it's revitalized to have more hip options).

After passing by a few dress windows, I saw a red-brownish suit. Classic Uncle Vinny suit

Alta Adams
5359 W Adams Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90016

Get a Pizza Named After You at Roberta's

New York Pizzeria has always been my goal to visit. In New York of course.

The unfortunate part of my life was that I got to DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) region in the east coast, but never made it up north to partake on some of the legendary status the pizza in new york are known for.

Something to tell me that things are about to be changed in Culver City.

There was an interesting shopping & dining enclave called The Platform that opened up not too long ago. This unique plaza that sits in front of a cul-de-sac on both of this dead end street, not far from Downtown Culver City where all of the happening places are at. When the Platform was opened up, there were quite a few upscale eateries and a renown boba joint ushered in this opening.

Bee's Sting

Then a series of events leads to a closing of one of their fine establishment which sits empty for a short time being. In a twist that no one see coming, a popular Brooklyn pizzeria decided to do a few pop-ups (limited dining engagements) in that empty space on a prime location of that said plaza.

That restaurant is the ever popular Roberta's.

Roberta's is often associated by many east coast transplant for their take on the classic pizzas on the Wood Fire oven. There are plenty of pastas and wood fired vegetables that are assembled in the menu, but it's their classic stables of pizza that they are known for.

Crispy Glover

After a few test runs that often garnered adulation, many still think it was short lived as there was no news of a tenant filling in for that desired spot that is in the middle of the action. So it came as a surprised that Roberta's decided to make a permanent stay after the pop-ups for that location.

The spot has a beautiful patio set that looking in a newly modeled the courtyard by the middle of that plaza. In a stunning development, they retain some of the chic decor, where their Brooklyn counterpart was more rustic and homely feel. In a cute plot, they have a make shift take out counter by the side of the building (it has since been discarded).

The most well known pizza was their honey infused with the soppressata toppings that is aptly called the Bee Sting. There was also many pop culture referenced named pizza that seemed to rotate pies  named after some of the most pseudo celebrities you'll heard of. I even got one named after Marty McFly's dad.

For me, I finally get to experience a dough that everyone has been talking about. Some people do not like the char, but this black mark gives character to a pizza. It does make a different coming from wood fire pizza oven versus the deck oven you often see in your local pizzeria. Also for variety of different meat and cheese you get to try on their boards. This would give you an idea on the pizza would be like with those ingredients commingled with the dough.

For me, I definitely would get the Bee's Sting of mozzarella, chili, basil, tomato, and the aforementioned Honey and Soppressata. That pizza still resonates with me as of this day. I think they rotate the ingredients and come up with clever name for the week for the pop cultural referenced pizzas. If there's one that interests me, I might go for it if they have Red Hot Chili Pepper-oni.

I know I know... knowing my luck, they'll jack that from me.

Roberta's
8810 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

Best Discovery on a Return Visit at Pikunico

I am always bad with direction. This is something I can't denied. 

In any other times, my sense of navigation with my eyes and nose would not let me down. Somehow I didn't factored in that certain parts of downtown LA does not have a through street. I blamed that on the lousy google map app on my iPhone.

I was in a rush one night to get to this mini style cafe on one of the "newest" and "happening" plaza in southern California. There seemed to be a grass root campaign in opening up a trendy hub center for dining and shopping center that can generate buzz for the youngsters here. Yup folks, the mall is the blase of the 80s and we're living in the new Millennium.

In what was a overlooked decision on my research, I also didn't know that the hub center also holds a hip market/food stalls gathering where those Millennial would congregate every Sunday. That plaza is fabulous called ROW DTLA, a terminal market back in the old days with wholesale factory warehouses in walking distance close to each other. The Manufactory building is now a converted restaurant row while other parts of the factory warehouses become boutique stores, gentrified coffee houses and remodeled restaurants.

The wholesale farm market is now a weekly Sunday Foodies meet-up as new colorful, unique food are served on these food stalls.

So, what does it have to do with me getting lost? Well....google Map couldn't keep up the new happenings as the fences and walls are build up, while the neighboring warehouses bordered up the road with their mangy iron clad gates that used to connect to my destination.

Oh joy!

When I got there, I was assuming the place I wanted to visit would be closed up because I arrived a good 5 minutes after the reported closing time. To my astonishment, they pretty much welcomed me in on that frenzy Sunday. You can guessed I was in a much better mood to check out on parts of this cafe with picnic benches.

Click Play to see the interior

Pikunico have a modern look of a chic style cafe that serves Japanese Fried Chicken. They have a long communal table that is affectionately known as "The Bench". What I craved the most was their talked about "Golden Chicken Sandwich". When I was in a disparaged mode of trying to get into ROW DTLA, all my thoughts was on that sandwich. It was the only thing that was keeping me from falling apart in getting around the dead end streets.

Golden Chicken Sandwich

The lady that took my order was a cheery fella that was patient and more than happy to serve. She could have played it off as though they were closed. I probably would have been bummed, but I would have understand. To make one of their last order easier, I got the order of Chicken Sandwich and a mix tray of chicken as a takeout to go.

Mix Chicken of Wing, Thigh, and Tenders with Origni Rice

Let me just say that after tasting all of the chicken, I was ecstatic. One, I was pleasantly surprised by the evenly distributed of the breading in the fried chicken. My sandwich itself has one of the most unique turmeric bun that is filled with watercress, jalapeno, and a lemon flavored aioli. The part that conquered me over was their miso jam that was smoldered over the chicken. This sandwich not only won me over, but more importantly it made me go back to try something else.

Part of the weird journey was that I was in a happy mood to go back and try their other side items.

I decided to get their Chicken Egg Drop Soup. To my memory, they didn't included the diced up chicken bits in the Egg Drop Soup. I think that was a good decision to added on because it makes this bowl of soup more heartier.

The big ominous surprise that I will say was the onigiri rice. It's their housemade rice ball that seasoned with ginger and garlic that is wrapped with nori seaweed. That to many looks unspectacular, but in this was the best thing to arrive to my mouth in a while. It doesn't contained spam or meat, yet I was extremely in peace after chomping on those two onigiri rice balls.

The lady that took my order on my ill-fated trip to ROW DTLA? That was the creative chef Kuniko Yagi. Once I found out she was the executive chef at SONA, I knew there was a reason why I wanted to make that trip to this Fried Chicken cafe in the first place.

Truth to be told, I think I was searching up Japanese Fried Chicken and internet kept pointing me to that chain in Sawtelle Blvd in West LA. I was glad to be pointed here instead.

If that fateful trip didn't turned out well, I probably would missed out on the terrific Golden Chicken Sandwich. Worse... I wouldn't have discovered their onigiri rice.

My pro tip, ordered their chicken tray and skipped the fries by getting the onigiri rice. That would be winner winner chicken dinner any time. Pff...I can't believed that phrase was typed.

Pikunico
767 Alameda Street Ste 122
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Worth The Wait in Long Lines at Howlin' Ray's

I'm ready for the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland Park coming soon in a few month.

I heard the Star Wars Galaxy Edge ride will be phenomenal with the state of the art effects and plenty of excitement that will satisfied everyone in the whole family. Just like that... so are about 200,000 people expected to come to the amusement park and wanting to get on that ride. Just like that a reservation system is on hand as you might need to be on a waiting list of over 10 hours just to get in line for that ride.

Fear not folks, I got plenty of practice waiting in line this year. Good ol' Howlin' Ray's provides plenty of training for that long wait.

If you have not have heard of Howlin' Ray's, then you probably didn't have a pulse with LA food scenes or just hidden under the rock the past 3 years. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to catch up once you see the line to buy one of their famous Nashville hot chicken.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnny Ray Zone when he first opened up his brick and mortar front after his sting of sling his chicken at his food truck. Funny part of the story was that he opened up this front in a plaza at Chinatown that was more known for souvenirs and imported Chinese goods. In the front of that Far East Plaza was abundance of Chinese BBQ takeouts and other Cantonese restaurants.

Medium Chicken

Time have changed obviously as there are more hip openings from a coffee shop (MIA), ice cream stand, a bao place from an east coast transplant, hip Taiwanese joint catered to the westerners, and an upscale version of Filipino restaurant all have opened up around the same time as Howlin' Ray's.

After seeing the restaurant gain popularity from local media and social media presence, the place blew up with long lines from young and old seeking this Nashville Hot chicken people have often heard, but never able to experience it unless you travel farther east. Surprised no one ever caught on to that as there are many options of different fried chickens in southern California, but never this variety. Nowadays, you can't turned around without some announcements of a new Nashville style hot chicken being offered up.

Medium (level 3) and Mild (Level 2) Chicken Sandwiches

What makes this place that popular for a long line? I guess it all starts with the chicken. There six different spice levels you can choose. I often settled between Mild (#2 on the hot scale) or Medium (a step up from Mild). You can go on a dare and try their Howlin', which was taste numbing, sweat inducing, and nosebleed crotch of a hot heat.

The smell of this heat can already make your eyes watery. Just by touching it will already leave that smell on your hand for hours. The nosebleed is not exaggeration for some of us as we are never able to muster through the whole breast or leg without feeling sniffle and the cries of mercy. Not sure it's pain or tears of joy, as eating Howlin' level can be both at the same time.

The thing I admired about the chicken and why I was waiting in line every quarterly was the fact the meat was juicy and the crispy skin was not flaking like a weak butter skin. I hated the water down skin you see from a certain well known chain. The meat was important, but the battered fried skin was one of the few things I enjoyed about Howlin' Ray's version of fried chicken.

When I first started coming here, the line was probably less than 20 minutes. Gradually as the words of mouth got out, it expands to 40 somewhat minutes. Then you know it got serious when it is over a hour. Then for some eff'd up reason, it now gets ridiculous at weeknight for 100 minutes. (I had been told the line can be 4 hours on weekend afternoon at times).

Whole Bird - Medium

For those might be getting discouraged, we heard expansion is coming. When there is more places opened up, dividing up the crowd to various different joints work. It is often a line killer. Remembered the first "Salt & Straw" opened up and there was a wait? With more locations, it destroyed that long wait. We are hoping this would be case as well for another Howlin' Ray's joint.

For me, I'm getting the hang of waiting in line and practicing in advance of the new Star Wars ride. Pro tips on waiting in line, get a few friends to wait with you. There is never a dull moment and the excitement can be heightened.

After waiting more than a hour, I still have favorable impression of the fried chicken.

Now as in for that wait for one ride...... let's hope it doesn't take up the whole day for one ride.

Howlin' Ray's
727 N Broadway #128
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Discovering Bougie Chinese BBQ in a RiceBox

Dang! It's been so long and I think I was just awoke from another long slumber.

I think I was trying to figure out how I can find more inspiration of writing more posts without being repetitive. In most cases, it flow fast out like a gush of water for a ride on Raging Waters. Other times it can be dormant like the past 4 months.

Luckily for today, I decided to make some trips down to downtown LA. I think was doing some weird errands and was planning to check out a restaurant nearby (Orsa & Winstons perhaps?). Then on a peak of my eyes, I saw a small take out place with a few tables in an arcade mall. 

Soy Sauce Chicken with Fried Egg

RiceBox is similar to what you find on a Cantonese BBQ place that serves a bevy of different meat proteins that prepares in Cantonese roasted style. Probably the most famous is the Char Siu, where the pork  or any meat is roasted on a long fork over a fire oven. There is also ingredient of sauce embedded on the meat to give that succulent taste and flavor.

While I was looking over the menu, I also happened to stumble upon the soy sauce chicken with bok choy that it was offered. Adding a fried egg on top seemed to be a bit bougie, but without a tea egg or hard boiled, I thought it would be suffice.

OG Char Siu Pork with Fried Egg

While I was there, I might as well get their version of the "OG Char Siu Pork", which I gathered was honey glazed with the aroma of sweet smell from the slow cooked method.

Now of course, what makes me wanting to go to this nondescript place in middle of downtown for Chinese food? The place have a cute little tables set up for dine-in, but with a tight place like this, it probably managed a dozen people for the capacity. I highly support a place like this instead of glorified take out place that doesn't do justice.

For me, I had a good impression on a take on Cantonese BBQ in the middle of an area that seemed bustling with hip taco joints and divey bar actions. This bougie Chinese bento is a welcome sight. In a perfect world, this would be my kind of Chinese take out or delivery places. Love how they prep and present the rice bowl of either the succulent char siu pork or the soy sauce chicken.

Be prepared though to find parking. This place is great for that take out meals if you live around that area, but rough for destination travel meal. Hope they decide to open late for that late night snoosh after the last call.

That to me would be perfect.

RiceBox
541 S Spring St Ste 131
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Mission Impossible Vegan Burgers at Monty's Good Burger

One of the few things I am always excited about in finding new places is that... you never know what hits you until it happens.

Take a case in point with Monty's Good Burger. I was on my way to have a few drinks and bites at Here's Looking At You (Congrats on being named on Eater's Top 38 restaurants of 2018). For a bit odd reason, I saw a long line out the door at 6pm on a Saturday night. Of course, I'm looking at all these young fashionable hipsters wannabes and figuring a Black Friday sales was happening. Then I took a good gander and realized they are lining up where Sumo Dog's old mini counter used to be at. It's all for a place called Monty's Good Burger.

The line wasn't for their hot dogs as they moved to Santa Monica's Gallery Food Hall. What was going on you may asked? Apparently the line is for vegan burger. Go figured right with the appearances of hipsters and young millennials. 

Sorry for the grain as it was taken at midnight

Fast forward in about... 5 and a half hours later? There is still a line for this. In a true sense of being so LA, I decided to google and Yelp Monty's Good Burger up to get an idea what I'm dealing with. Apparently it got raves from several publications that I ceased to trust and a few knowledgeable writers I followed from a distance. All of whom are raving about their the "veggie burger that bleeds".

I just stood in line because of what?... bored on Saturday night? Needing something to soak up the drinks I just had at Here's Looking At You? Worst yet? Just want to figure it out if the hype is real or I'm missing out 5 months too late.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to meet the mascot, Monty, the white Schnoodle that is on the logo. Don't laugh, but there were people actually wanted to take selfies with that celeb doggo and I'm one of the few that gets to pet him and also shooting the breeze with of the handlers who was patrolling and controlling the line.

When it was my turn to order, I noticed a few things that stuck out to me. One was the simplicity of the menu to either a single patty or double patties. The components can be subtracted from the usual lettuce, tomato, vegan cheese, grilled onion, or their special thousand island sauce. If it screams out In-Out-Burgers to you, then you're not alone. A kale salad, Fries, and Tots are the other main items you can ordered besides the two burgers.

Treated with care, would vegan burgers like this makes me wanting to order more? What's the verdict? Here's the funny part? If you put a blind test on me, I couldn't tell the difference between this plant based patty with the meat patties. More to the succinct point, this incarnation can be juicy as well. Way better than the tofu burger you're accustomed to.

If you are into the Mission Impossible Burgers, then the grilled burgers from Monty will suits your need. One thing I crave for is the buns they used. Everything here is locally sourced and they are not cutting corners to bring out the best in what they are serving. Including an eco-friendly bottled water "Just Water" branded by Jaden Smith. Pretty much that speaks volumes to me... in a subtle green friendly way.

Initially, I was bummed out that Sumo Dog moved to the westside, but with a fresh blue coat of paint and a logo of Monty plastered on the wall, it seemed like nothing changed. Without a missing beat, I would gladly get a single or double from Monty's.

A great find all because of yours truly not wanting to pay for valet parking and walk a distance to discover place on the way to dinner!

Monty's Good Burger
516 S. Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90020

Top 10 Pizza Served In Los Angeles

How come I don't do ten places to eat pizza?

Was there not enough places? I think it's super hard for some reasons because of lack of creativity and the ingredients of the dough are always being short changed. Dough is an essence of what makes pizza taste good. The flavors of the pizza and sauce/cheese base is quintessential with the toppings being the extra icing on top of that pie.

Luckily for me since I was back writing a few places for this blog, Italian cuisine have seen a renaissance in this vast diverse region of the country. In the past, people don't associated LA or Orange County as Italian epic center, but a lot has changed as more and more transplant from other cities bring their roots here and other chefs trained in oversea have come back to share their love of a good pizza.

Ten places in Los Angeles for many people to visit for the some of the best pizza you'll experienced.

Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

Many people have shortchanged the idea in that a burnt on the crust is always bad. I think it add flavors to the component and a great look for outer edge. Gjelina is a uber chic hotspot in the burgeoning street of Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice. The restaurant was ridiculous packed for weekend lunch and every day dinner. If there's a specialty, it gotta be their toasts for brunch.

Don't sleep on their pizza though. They have some of the best pizza in town.

Bestia
2121 E 7th Place
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Buratta Pizza - (san marzano tomatoes, castelvetrano olives, oregano, fermented chilies)

Did we really have to go into on why this place is on the list? Very often or not, this place was considered to be the Crème de la Crème of all sit down restaurants in all of southland. Forget about getting a reservation for the weekend as you might need to book a month in advance. There are many reasons for the get up such as the pasta dish of Pici al Sugo di Agnello or the famed roasted bone marrow. The steaks are fine too. Bestia has everything Italian you want.

It's their burrata pizza selections that will get you to the door or out the door. Their pizza is a must and probably will make you order one to take out as well. Go with the san marzano tomatoes, castelvetrano olives, oregano, fermented chilies variety of burrata pizza. You won't regret that.


Jon and Vinny's
412 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Roman Gladiator (Bacon, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, and Ham)

They made a quick epic return from the recent post. It goes without saying they have the best selection of unique toppings and hard to find ingredients on their pizza. Try out the Roman Gladiator pizza above and you won't regret it. For anyone who needs a refresher, please check out the review here to get an idea on what I would order at Jon and Vinny's.


Love and Salt
317 Manhattan Beach Blvd
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Duck Egg Pie

When I decided to restart my little blog again, one of the first destination I hit up based on recommendations of famous restaurant critics in town, Love and Salt was the choice. Give you a quick rundown in that it's on a revitalized main street of Manhattan Beach where busy high class residents are mostly congregated at.

You probably can sneaked them some generic Italian cuisine and called it fine dining. This place however stood out from the rest and it's a godsend. They have many classic dishes to try, but for pizza, you gotta go with Duck Egg Pie. Check my review of Love And Salt for details of other dishes to try.


Cosa Buona
2100 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

White Clam Pizza

One of these days, I will get around to do a decent post on this place. It blows my mind that this place doesn't get the talk for pizza, but for the pastas. To give you a weird rundown, Cosa Buona replaces another pizza joint. Weirdly in that a lot of people do walked up to this place and thinking it's a casual take out like the former place. Alas, they found out it's a much elevated Italian place complete with other pasta dishes that are to die for.

My first option was the pineapple pizza everyone was raving about on Yelp, but wound up having a much better bite with a white clam. Oh, noticed the black marks on the crust end? Yes, you know it's pretty when that happens. My only advice for the next pizza place.. take over a Thai restaurant. Will have no confusion unless it's serving Thai curry pizza.


Tony's Little Italy Pizza
1808 N Placentia Ave B
Placentia, CA 92870

Supreme Deep Dish

There are some options for great deep dish in this region finally. Lucky for some of us, there are transplants from the midwest that are showing us these stuffed pizza in a pan that will galvanized us into craziness with the topping between the crust and cover in cheese like an average pie. Having this creation bestowed upon us, I must admit it will set everyone back in the calories count for the next week for just one meal.

My favorite among all of the recent explosion of deep dish pizza comes in the courtesy of Tony's Little Italy Pizza, located in the far east region of the map. Closer to Riverside than to LA. Worth the trek as their crust was flaky like pie crust with deep sauce and cheese covering up the meaty components like a shepherd's pie. The best Chicago's style deep dish from a true Chicagoan.

Superfine Pizza
1101 San Pedro St Unit F
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Salami Honey Pizza

Recent discoveries let me to this take out window that serves a pizza that LA should call one of its own. It seemed our beloved city has taking a liking to spicy honey flavored pizza. There's one other place I know that would served such a type pizza, but you have to go to Orange county for this venture. Stick with Superfine Pizza .

Two things you want to know. One, to get you excited, this place has the same masterminds behind the hit restaurants Rossoblu and Sotto. So you know they take Italian cuisine very seriously. Especially on how they treat the dough. Second, digital payment only. Meaning you are going to need the plastics. No paper currency accepted. It's worth getting that spicy honey pizza!

Olio Wood Fired Pizzeria
(Inside of Grand Central Market)
317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013

If there is a fast pizza place I would hit up, it would be Olio Wood Fire Pizzeria in the Grand Central market. The basic component of the pizza involves the ready to use dough and cheese ready to fire with the proteins you wanted to add. My favorite to order are the Wild Mushroom & Speck and the Margherita Plus. Those two are easy to order and way faster than your normal delivery places.

Pro tip: Get the Agua Frescas next door to this food stall.


Chicago's Pizza With A Twist
11767 South Street
Artesia, CA 90701

Chicken Tikka Pizza

I don't think I have stopped raving about this chain. Maybe I'll stop when the quality goes down, but it's worth noting in that this popular late night hangout for the local teens has bamboozled many in thinking it's a Chicago style deep dish place (read above for Tony's). I have gone in depth about what's Chicago about this pizza joint. I'm still love the twist in Chicago's Pizza With A Twist.

The big twist was that it has Indian ingredients meshed with the traditional pizza. My verdict still stands as we speak. Check out the Chicken Tikka pizza.

Milana's New York Pizzeria
165 E. 4th Street
Long Beach, CA 90802

One of the hardest to find pizza in town for me was a grandma style pizza. It's Brooklyn style Sicilian that was promoted in downtown Long Beach that got me there. For this grandma style pizza, it's pretty much similar to deep dish without the stuffing. In this variation, as the name suggested it's Sicilian, meaning it's rectangular shaped. With the tomato sauce being promoted, it's lavished covered the cheese (not the other way around you're so accustomed to).

You can only get this unique pizza here at Milana's New York Pizzeria.

Walking Out More Than Expected From Jon And Vinny's

Has anyone ever been to Animal? This is the name of the restaurant that started my journey to the culinary world where I have discovered the finer things in life. I owed a lot to my early experience to the talented duo Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, who are the masterminds for introducing me to Animal.

Weirdly enough, it took me much longer time to visit their namesake restaurant, Jon and Vinny's. Located in the burgeoning hip Fairfax district, Jon and Vinny's restaurant was a dedication to all dishes Italian. This is where I have a hard time contemplating in wanting to make a visit.

Italian restaurants and Fairfax is hard for me to make visits because of parking situation around that part of the town and a few suggested places I can go for Italian nearer to my area (south LA). However, by luck of the stars, I was in the area a few doors down at Sweet Chick and a few cancellation that afforded to me attend.

I was a huge fan of the real life chefs of Jon and Vinny. I was mesmerized by their presentations and hard charge in utilizing everything on their ingredients at the Animal restaurant, which was skewered towards American fare with a touch of few European influence. With this place, they left no doubt in that this will be purely Italian.

First, when you walked in, the huge masonry stone oven is right in front of the bar counter at the left hand side of the entrance. You can tell they will be taking their pizza task very seriously. Oh yeah, even getting a seat at the counter or trying to score a table without reservation will be mission imPASTAble. Yes, I am working on my puns in on this article.

There are 5 restaurants that the duo have involved themselves in that are immensely popular and this place was no exceptions. I chanced on the fact that someone will not showed up. I gladly took a counter seat after a 45 minutes wait when someone didn't showed up for reservation. That person missed out big time in my book.

What did I wanted when I entered Jon and Vinny's? Get this... meatballs!

I'm sure they will tell me that missing out on their famous pizza will be case, but I just wanted to try their handmade marinara braised beef with the heirloom tomato sauce I had been hearing about. At that weird point of my life, I wasn't going to take things for granted. My gosh, these things were just incredible! With the ricotta sprinkled all over and being complimented with the grilled bread, this was the thing I realized I can't lived without.

Supposedly I read somewhere the sauce was made with Bianco DiNapoli peeled tomato, which was from the famed pizza maker Chris Bianco. I would say bravo on this choice.

After dabbling with a few olives and cheese on the menu, I was already satisfied. Within an aroma, something made me with that whiff. I sit so close to stone oven and I can see and smell every pizza being assemble and shove to the take-out boxes. Yes, apparently take outs are the big operation at this tight limited-capacity, popular restaurant. For all those that didn't reserved and can't wait for the table, take outs are the best option.

Roman Gladiator (Bacon, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, and Ham)

Yours truly here decided that giving in to temptations are the benefits to let the readers know whether or not the pizza also lived up to enormous expectation. Without a shadow of doubt, I can't believe that I believed in no carbs diet. This is worth the cheat meal I have been saving up for. Everyone will know that I believe the crust is the important element on any pizza. The charred on the edge of the round crust was phenomenal. For some, it looked burned, but I say the char add more flavor to crust.

The Roman Gladiator pizza with every conceivable meat toppings (Bacon, Italian sausage, pepperoni and ham) was a meatlover's dream. With the crust, this pizza from Jon and Vinny's is now one of my favorite pizza in town along with Spicy Salami Honey pizza.

The return trip to Jon and Vinny's will have to include some pasta dishes next time. If there is anything you must go for Jon and Vinny's is their meatballs. Seriously, that's something cannot be missed.

As in for the guy who decided not to show up for his reservation... a huge thanks from me!

Jon and Vinny
412 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036