Olio Pizzeria Los Angeles Could be the Best Pizza in Los Angeles
Olio is a word that has a number of meanings: mixture, spanish stew, some other things. But in the case of Bradford Kent’s “Olio“, it just means Delicious, with a capital “D.”
This newly opened, mid-city Los Angeles pie shop, the brainchild of Kent, a vet of all segments of the food industry, from research, to new product development, to selling pies in the L.A. Farmer’s Market.
I was toted over there by Larry the Lawyer, my L.A. eating buddy for nearly 30 years. We regularly hit the new spots when I am in town, and he’s been to Olio several times in their first month, and wanted to share it with me.
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Marco’s Pizza Corning California
Corning, California, is one of my regular stops on I-5 in California, it’s about 2 hours north of Sacto, and the reason I always stop there is to buy olives.
The Olive Pit has a zillion varieties, and I always buy a few giant jugs of them to tide me over until the next time I zip through there.
The store is open long hours, but once I arrived in town ten seconds too late, and was so determined to get some olives, I spent the night in a motel there, to wait for them to open.
Having stopped there on my southbound leg this trip, I didn’t need to stop there going home, but coincidentally, it was time to stop for the night, and Corning was as good a place as any to get a cheap motel. I found it, and it was packed full of coyotes and illegals, coming and going all night in vans, but perusing the restaurant literature in the room (which was astonishingly clean), I saw a flyer for Marco’s Pizza, and figured I would get a pie to go, enjoy it in the room, have something to write about.
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Roger Dean Stadium Pizza Jupiter, FL
I was happy to recently be invited to Roger Dean stadium to watch some minor league baseball. My friends child was having a birthday party there, and he was kind enough to get a suite for us to enjoy the game. One of the food items they bought was Pizza. After tasting it, it made me think that perhaps I was better off not even noticing it was sitting there.
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Tomasso’s Pizza Boca Raton – Sicilian Pizza Review
I have been a big fan of Tomasso’s Pizza in Boca Raton since I moved down here. It is one of the few places you can go order a slice, and actually take it from the counter to your table without the assistance of a server…..imagine the risk. So I am sure I am going to get an incredible amount of slack for posting this review, especially from the locals that have kept Tomasso’s open for over 20 years. I am sure they will all say I do not know what I am talking about, and that I have lost all credibility when it comes to pizza. My readers deserve to know that the slice I had recently at Tomasso’s wasn’t up to par. It was borderline gross.
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Fusilli’s Italian Restaurant Pizza Coral Springs
Normally places seem to cringe when they find out that they have been reviewed by us. I guess the deceiving name makes them think we are only out to bash places, instead of help them if they are open to it. Fusilli’s pizza in Coral Springs is one of the places confident enough to send me an email asking me to come try the pizza. That says a lot for a place. They are so confident in the quality of their pie, that they would invite the worlds biggest pizza skeptic into their place to try the pizza at some random date in the future. Last night was that random night I decided to show up.
Upon pulling up into the shopping center of this new restaurant I noticed they had a movie theatre and a day care center, both of which could be good business for a reasonably priced pizza place. I parked and started walking towards the loud playful Italian music outside. After walking into the restaurant, I was very impressed with the size of the establishment coupled with the decor. It reminded me of a family Italian place you would find on Long Island.
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Pizzicato Pizza Portland Oregon
I often wonder what a food entrepreneur is thinking when he/she puts the word “Gourmet” in their name? What does it mean to most people, anyway? According to the Wikidictionary, “gourmet” means “fine”, which is pretty far afield from its etymological root. The dictionary goes on to say “Gourmet has become somewhat debased by marketing usage, and is considered by some a pretentious middlebrow term. Such users tend to prefer terms such as artisanal (emphasizing the craft) for fine food.” That latter explanation makes more sense these days, I would guess.
In any case, the local chain “Pizzicato” is fond of the word ‘gourmet’, and in their case, I suspect they believe it refers to both the ‘artisanal’ making and the ingredients used. They tout their crust as one special aspect, buying flour only from the Pendleton Flour Mill in Eastern Oregon. Mrs. BDB was in a mood to order in last night, and usually pizza is not on her ordering radar, any more than burgers are, but I suspect her choice was motivated at least partially because it’s my birthday this week, and she likes to make me especially happy during the anniversary of my entry into humankind. (Mostly because she believes when I was born, pizza hadn’t been invented yet).
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Bakers American Bar & Grille Pizza Monroe, NJ
A new restaurant opened in western Monmouth County, NJ on the site of the old Lobster Shanty. The Lobster Shanty was sorely in the need of a facelift, but the owners went WAY past a normal renovation to come up with Bakers American Bar & Grille. And let me say, this is something that the a Monroe area sorely needed. A casual, inexpensive restaurant with GREAT food that is open LATE. Although I can go on about the food, I want to talk about the pizza. I am a pizza purest and wouldn’t normally get pizza from a regular restaurant, but walking in and seeing this beautiful wood burning oven made my mouth water. Just look at the picture, the oven reaches 900 degrees and spits out pizzas in under 2 minutes. And with hours from 11:30 AM through 1:30 AM, 7 days a week, thats a lot of pizza.
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Pizza Express Flirting With Its Customers
If you walk into a pizza joint and the person behind the counter says “hey.. is that a pepperoni in your pants, are you just happy to see me?” then you might be in Pizza Express. The company is reportedly teaching staff how to flirt with customers in order to relax them.
I’m not really sure about this one. I mean, it might be a good idea, but it’s a little creepy when you think about the fact that this is the same place that sells Bambinoccinos (caffeine-free cappuccino’s for kids). But the company appears to be looking for ways to increase customer retention and improve their atmosphere. So I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here.
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Fresh Harvest Buffet Pizza Hard Rock Casino Tampa
Mrs. Pizza and I were at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa on a recent Florida Road Trip. It was lunchtime so we headed to the Fresh Harvest Buffet, which we always enjoyed in the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino. When I go to a Buffet, I like to take my first look around with no plate, that way I don’t have “Buyer’s Remorse” if I see something better after my plate is piled on and stacked high.
As I passed the pizza station, I thought that the pie looked like a mess and I passed on by. However, I could not resist the siren song of Pizza and for dessert made this plate :).
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Grande Pizza Boca Raton – Second Try
It would seem logical that after my previous experience at Grande Pizza in Boca Raton, that I wouldn’t even chance going back there. Usually if a place turned me off immediately, I seldom consider giving it that second chance. Second chances should only be granted when there was some potential. Grande Pizza didn’t necessarily show me any potential my first try. So, I wish I could explain what caused me to go back, but I have no comprehendible reason. I guess I just felt like trying this place again, and hoping I could find one or two finer points to discuss, in order to help keep them in business.
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Olio is a word that has a number of meanings: mixture, spanish stew, some other things. But in the case of Bradford Kent’s “Olio“, it just means Delicious, with a capital “D.”
