Richie Palmer's @ Santa Monica

McDonald's fries and Richie's pizza are pretty damn good within the first 5 minutes. The golden hot potato/crust fuses salt into your palate and sends your brain into gastronomic euphoria. But before you know it, the clock strikes midnight, the food gets cold and *poof* ...cardboard.

I walked into Richie's anticipating stiff competition for Joe's down the street in Santa Monica. Both hail from the tough streets of New York and have had years of dough to practice with. So you'd think it'd reach something close to perfection by now, right?

Richie's BBQ chicken pizza was good and probably would've kept through the next day. The sauce was mildly sweet, covering for the underwhelming flavor of the crust. Mind you, it was an excellent crust; thinly doughy and with a crispy bottom. If only it could stay that way. The artichoke and tomato pizza didn't make it past 3 minutes.

If it's any consolation, the chopped salad was good.

Richie Palmer's Pizzeria
1355 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90404
(310) 255-1111

Holiday Gluttony

I hope the holiday season has kept you as warm as the Tom Kha Gai I inhaled last week at Thailand Plaza. I've been entertaining family from Japan so I blame them entirely for my lack of posts. =P It's my brother's girlfriend's first time to the U.S. so I've been showing her the sights, smells and tastes of LA. ...burp!

The first order of the day was an In 'N Out burger, which she halved with my brother. They've actually made it a point to split everything to avoid turning into the fatty Americans they've been snapping pictures of. It makes a lot of sense considering after that meal we went for xiao long bao in Monterey Park, then tacos at La Flama, then Thai Town, followed by pizza at Vito's. Well, not all in the same day, but you get the picture. As I have nobody to split my food with, I'm hoping to go for a jog today.

Here's some culinary highlights of my month of December:

Was anyone else drooling over that apple and Calvados croustade picture in the LA Times food section a few weeks ago? I tried making it and, well, either their studio lighting was brilliant or I just need to work on my filo dough crafting skills. I had fun setting the brandy on fire and stirring it into the apples but otherwise the pastry itself didn't tickle my taste buds.

You gotta love the rice cakes a la Chinois served at Mei Long Village. Japanese people only really eat mochi grilled or heated in a sweet red bean soup. Of course, these guys are a bit chewy so you need to be careful. Wouldn't want to be added to Japan's choking-on-mochi death rate.

I've been borrowing my friend Teri's fruit sangria recipe for holiday parties. It's an instant hit; like jungle juice at a high school house party. Mix 1/2 bottle of vodka with a bottle of Carlo Rossi Sangria. Add a junk-load of fruits and ice.


Joan's on Third and their beautiful pastries. I can't get enough of this place. Too bad I can never get good parking.

Happy holidays, everyone!
Rainen mo yoroshiku! (See you next year!)

NY Style: Joe's or Vito's Pizza?

I'm taking a break from posting my Japan travels because I've been on a pizza rampage. Hmm, okay hitting up two pizza joints may not qualify as a rampage but I'd say I've definitely been tearing through those cheesy slices like Godzilla. There's been a number of discussions on Chowhound about the best New York-style pizza in LA and I had to investigate. I've had pizza in Italy before and I must admit that I'm more a fan of New York's version. It's thin, crunchy, simple and sweet.

Vito's is located in the nook of a white strip mall on La Cienega Blvd. just south of WeHo. Not quite a 'joint,' it's a small cozy sit-down place that might fit 15 people at most. Given its reputation, they seem to draw a distinctively East Coast crowd. SNL's Cheri Oteri was there the other night. She probably misses the Big Apple flavor. By far, Vito's has more variety in their display case (see below): deluxe veggie, tomato and cheese, spinach with plops of ricotta...Personally, I like plain cheese pizza. It's nice and simple and you can get a better feel for the crust and sauce. It's $2.50 a slice but the price goes up as you step up the gourmet-ness.



Then last night I tried Joe's Pizza which had a long-anticipated opening a block away from Santa Monica beach. It had the more of the pizza joint feel, with scattered barstools against the walls and a glass partition at the front counter preventing you from drooling over the hot pizzas. They cook up thick-square Sicilian slices but aside from that the offerings seem more basic than Vito's. Though if you talk to the guy at the oven, he'll be more than willing to accommodate requests. I got a slice of cheese ($2.50) and made a special order for mushrooms. A big burly dude looked incredulously at my two slices, as if my tiny body couldn't handle it. I showed him~!

So which do I prefer? It's a tough one, but I'd say Vito's. They both have a tasty, sweetened tomato sauce, but the slice at Joe's was crispy-thin to the point of tasting like a wafer. Maybe an off-night? Vito's dough blended better with the sauce. I think the deciding factor for where I'll be eating at more will be which part of town I'm in. Santa Monica or West Hollywood. Either way, I'm glad there's an option for great pizza. I don't know about you, but I started getting tired of hearing about overhyped gourmet pizza restaurants that charge twice the price for something that really shouldn't cost much at all.

Vito's Pizza
846 La Cienega Blvd.
LA, CA 90069
www.vitopizza.com


Joe's Pizza
111 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-9222

Pizzeria Mozza @ Highland & Melrose

Don't you hate it when you're at a restaurant and people keep on staring at you and snapping pictures cause you're so damn Hollywood? You even have paparazzi waiting outside!

Honest to god, I was just trying to take a picture of the fennel sausage pizza covered with panna and sweet red onion, but well my camera slipped and whaddyaknow, two actors landed in the frame.

But really, the pizza at Mozza was so good it distracted me from stargazing for at least 5 minutes. Never mind the place gets so packed that it took a month to get an 8:30 pm reservation. Never mind, it took them a good 20 minutes to finally seat us. Wish I were almost as famous as the people around us. But no matter. Like the wedding crashers we are, we headed straight for the bar. I had a Sangiovese ($14). I was so hungry that one drop set me into happy delirium for the rest of the night.

Once we got to the table we looked around to see what everyone else was ordering. Antipasti dishes seemed popular but we decided to go with Nancy Silverton's trademark chopped salad. The vinegar came on strong at first but once your palate adjusts you really begin to taste all the ingredients that makes this salad special: sweet cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, pepper jack cheese, salami, and dozen other tidbits.

Then came the pizzas, one being the fennel sausage and the other ...


...being a Proscuitto di Parma with arugula, tomato and mozzarella. Basically, it was the same pizza as what we ordered at Il Chianti, but this being the real deal. Low moisture is key for good-tasting proscuitto. It just feels right as your teeth tear at it bit by bit. Each pizza crust was excellent too -- fresh and crispy. Anyone outside the U.S. would take those two qualities for granted. Not me. You gotta enjoy it while it's in front of you.

Aside from the yummy Owen Wilson, my favorite dish of the night was probably the fennel sausage pizza. At first, I didn't know what panna was. All I knew was that there was something so delectably sweet and creamy coating the crust. Well, apparently panna is the fatty, creamy substance that rises to the surface of milk. ...No wonder.

We ended the evening at Al Gelato, one of few dessert shops open til 11:30 pm. I popped my lactaid and ordered the mint chip. I never usually bother with the ice cream but I designated tonight as my special day to splurge on dairy, cause in the next few days I'll be going cold turkey. No milk, ice cream nor cheese for a month. 38 days to be exact. I'll explain more later...

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036