Zelo Gourmet Crust Pizza

Zelo Gourmet Crust Pizza
328 E Foothill Blvd
Arcadia
626-358-8298

I first heard of Zelo while looking for deep dish Chicago style pizza. But, then I soon learned that Zelo isn't deep dish Chicago pizza, but more like a thick/pan pizza. So I was a bit cool to the idea of trying Zelo. I mean, if I want a thick/pan pizza, I'll just go for a deep dish Chicago pizza at Tony's Little Italy or Masa of Echo Park. But, finally I went with a group of friends and boy, what a treat.

Zelo is known for the cornmeal crust. The cornmeal adds a sweetness to the crust and makes a very solid crust. Zelo is a fairly small restaurant on a very busy street. But, they are very popular and do a lot of take out business.

I read that stupid review site, yelp, and this is a reason why I hate yelpers; they are stupid idiots!!! A stupid idiot named Charlene C. included this in her review of Zelo:

"CONS:
=======
1) Noisy while sitting outside on the patio (a lot of cars whizzing by)
2) Sprinklers went off at the building next door around noon & my friend and I got wet
3) Street Parking Only (We parked across the street, but scary to cross due to lots of cars going over the speed limit at this time of day, no stop light, only a faded cross walk)"

Ok, really, is she that STUPID? I'll reply to each of her "cons."

1) Foothill is a major east/west street in the area. If it was so noisy, why are you so stupid to sit outside?

2) Again, HELLO STUPID. Why did you sit outside? It's not Zelo's fault if you sat outside and the sprinklers from another store came on.

3) HELLO STUPID!! Why didn't you park on the same side of the street as Zelo? Or why didn't cross at the light at 5th Ave and Foothill? There is a light and crosswalk there!!!

Yelp is such a stupid review site. I can't stand stupid yelpers, and stupid yelpers describes about 99.9% of yelpers.

Corn pizza, $3.75. fresh corn, balsamic marinated roasted red onions, mozzarella
smoked mozzarella, topped with fresh chives!

WOW, just wow. As I mentioned before the cornmeal crust is just awesome, adding a sweetness to the pizza. This corn pizza is awesome. The corn is very fresh and cooked perfectly. But, the best part of this is the balsamic marinated roasted red onions, they look like bacon, but they just add a wonderful, bold sweet flavor to the pizza. The most interesting thing; there is no sauce on this pizza!! Just the goodness of the cornmeal crust and toppings!! I would order this again, anytime!

You can order pizza by the slice, $3.75, or the same three slices, half a pizza-$11 or the same six slices, whole pizza-$21.

Half sausage and half pepperoni,$21.

Sausage-homemade sausage, tomato sauce marinated green peppers . sauteed onions . mozzarella

The sausage is the more traditional type pizza. This did have sauce, a light sauce that was seasoned just right. The sausage was very fresh and tasty, they use a good quality sausage. The pizza has a very strong fennel flavor, since they use fennel seed oil to cook the pizza.

Pepperoni-pepperoni, mozzarela, fontina, mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes. A pepperoni pizza with no sauce, but fresh tomatoes? Yep, that's the pepperoni served at Zelo and I have to say it was very good. The toppings were fresh and the pepperoni was flavorful. I think I didn't miss the sauce because the crust was charred inn places and it just brought out more sweetness.

Service, we sat outside, and while a bit noisy, we understood, it was going to be!! Unlike some stupid yelper!!

I would go back to Zelo, just for the corn pizza, but all three pizzas I had were great!! I can't wait to go back!!

Tacos Ensenada

Tacos Ensenada
2171 Huntington Dr
Duarte
626-359-4959

Tacos Ensenada has been on my list of places to try, since I saw LA Magazine's Top 10 Mexican Restaurants. Interesting to see that a Mexican restaurant I review, La Casita Mexicana, was also in the Top 10.

My favorite place for fish tacos is Tacos Baja in East LA, so I'm trying to find other fish tacos as good, if not better than Tacos Baja. How did LA Magazine miss Tacos Baja, as one of the Top 10 Best Mexican restaurants in LA?

Anyways, Tacos Ensenada is a very small restaurant with a few tables inside and one table outside. It's most to go and I heard they get very crowded.

Let's start with the shrimp taco, $1.99. WOW, was this good. The shrimp was very fresh, the batter was light, crunchy, and flavorful. There was a ton of shrimp in this taco. The toppings; tomato, onions, that white sauce was very fresh and added a wonderful flavor. What I liked the most is the contrast between the coolness of the white sauce, and the spiciness of the salsa. Just an awesome taco. This is among the best shrimp tacos I have ever had.

What wasn't the best was the fish taco, $1.59. The toppings were exactly the same as the shrimp taco and they were great. But, the fish, which is basa fish, was rubbery and the batter was soggy!! No crunch, no freshness, nothing. Maybe the fish had been sitting under heat lamps for too long. Maybe the oil wasn't hot even, when they fried the fish. Whatever the reason, this fish taco wasn't good. I kept thinking; I could have gotten a better fish taco at a chain!!

Service is ok. They were super friendly or welcoming, just going through the motions.

I may give Tacos Ensenada another chance, but even if they fish was fried correctly, I can't see it beating my old stand by, Tacos Baja.

Update Nov. 8, 2011

I went back to Tacos Ensenada and the samething happened, great shrimp taco but a mediocre fish taco. I posted much better pictures, but nothing has changed from my original review. Though I will add, every Tuesday the fish tacos are 99 cents! Still not as good as Tacos Baja.

Lamonica's New York Pizza

Lamonica's New York Pizza
1066 Gayley Ave
Los Angeles
310-208-8671

In all the reviews I have done, I was surprised to learn that I had never done a review of a restaurant in Westwood. I think the reason is, because I hate UCLA, and especially hate being around UCLA fans and students. So, I haven't done a review for a restaurant in Westwood.

I happened to find Lamonica's by accident. I was looking up another pizza place and Lamonica's showed up. I read further and saw their dough in made in Brooklyn, NY. So, I wanted to see if it's really the water that makes New York pizza, so good.

Every day after 9pm and all day Sunday, Lamonica's offers their large 17in. pizza for $9 and $1.50 for each additional topping. So, I figured why not give them a try.

Since Lamonica's is in Westwood, it caters to the UCLA student population. The restaurant really needs to be cleaned, because the entire time I was there, nobody cleaned off the tables. The tables needed to be cleaned about two weeks ago.

Anyways, I got the large pepperoni, Sunday Special, $11.42. The pizza arrived quickly, and the first thing I noticed was the lack of pepperoni. Maybe if I paid full price, there would be more toppings, but it averaged about two pieces of pepperoni per slice, which isn't a good ratio.

Anyways, I took a bit and the first thing I noticed the crispiness of the crust. It was must more dense and firm, than any other New York pizza place that I have tried in LA. It was very chewy and held up to the toppings and cheese very well. I liked the crust very much.

What I didn't like was the sauce, cheese and pepperoni. The sauce was just too bland and blah. The cheese was sprinkled, not piled on there and the pepperoni was just regular store bought pepperoni. Not impressed.

Service is OK. They have a large number of people working behind the counter, but they are so disorganized. You don't know who is the cashier, order taker, or the cook. They all blend in and nobody says "Hi, can I help you." It's like one person puts the pizza in a box or tray, another person cuts the pizza, another person gives the pizza to the customers, and still another person takes the order. Very inefficient and disorganized.

While waiting for a couple friends to arrive, I saw them screw up this lady's order, they didn't make the second pizza she ordered, and I could hear her saying "This is the second time in two weeks, this has happened." Come on now. While they got my order correct, it took too long to take my order and there was only one other person in line ahead of me. They need to have less workers and more training for the workers.

I wouldn't go back to Lamonica's New York Pizza again. While I did enjoy the crust, nothing else about the pizza is outstanding.

South-Closed

South
3001 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica
310-828-9988

Personally, I hate the westside of Los Angeles-which includes areas/cities like West LA, Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Westchester, Marina Del Ray, because the people there are such pretentious assholes. They are all douchebags with Ed Hardy clothes. Ok, the women may look nice, but they are filled with silicon and botox. Who the hell wants to be around that?

Anyways, I heard about South- really it's a sports bar, that served up some good soul food. I was a bit hesitant to try soul food in Santa Monica, but figured why not? If worse came to worse, I can laugh at all the douchebag, pretentious, asshole people of the westside!!

I went to South, on a Sunday. So, it was packed with football fans. They had every game on and fans of every team were all over the bar. Honestly, there weren't that many douchebags at South. Maybe, they only show up at night.

While I was looking around for a seat, and I saw a gameday menu. I had looked at their online menu and knew what I wanted; fried chicken. But, I didn't see fried chicken on the gameday menu. So I asked the bouncer, if they served their full menu, he said yes.

A few minutes later, I found a seat, and when the server took my order, I wanted to make sure they served the full menu. She said "It depends on what you want." Huh? I said fried chicken, she said they could do that. Whatever, as long as I got the fried chicken, mac and cheese, and hush puppies, $16, it was fine.

A few minutes later, I got four small pieces of fried chicken, a huge helping of hush puppies and mac and cheese. I tried the white meat first. This was a small portion of the breast meat and it had a strong paprika taste, a pretty good crunchy, and it was pretty moist. Not the greatest fried chicken ever, but solid. The interesting part was none of the other pieces had the strong paprika taste. All other pieces; wing, leg, and thigh, were your regular fried chicken seasoning; salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder. The wing and leg were ok, nothing special. But, the thigh was so moist and juicy. The $16 price tag is a bit high for four small pieces and I don't care that I got two sides, that were good sized portions.

The hush puppies were among the best I've ever had. Seasoned perfectly, cooked perfectly-a light golden brown, and just wonderful.

The mac and cheese was fairly bland and they could have used more cheese, but the macaroni was well cooked.

Service. Ok, I know it was crowded on Sundays during football season, but there was only one server for the entire back section!! Not good staffing by the manager. The server was nice, but the first time around taking orders, she missed me completely. It took her awhile to come back, since she had the entire back section. Then she finally took my order, but she never gave me my drink order. I had to ask the busboy for my ice tea. The tables didn't have any silverware and the busboy/runner, who brought me my food, didn't bring any silverware. Bad training by management. My food did arrive quickly, in fact a very quickly considering the number of people at South.

I'm cutting the server some slack, because she was working hard but she is just overwhelmed!! They need to add, at least, 2 more servers in that back area.

I may come back for the food, because I saw a waffle fried chicken sliders that looked very good.

Dal Rae Restaurant

Dal Rae Restaurant
9023 Washington Blvd
Pico Rivera
562-949-2444

The Dal Rae has been on my list of restaurants to try for about five years. I love the idea of an old school steakhouse. I made plans to go to Dal Rae before, but they fell through. So during DineLA week, was going to Dal Rae, if I had to eat dinner alone!! Luckily, two good friends were able to join me.

DineLA is a promotional offer, where a three course dinner, is offered at $26, $34, or $44. The Dal Rae is always on the DineLA list. DineLA is usually offered twice a year, so check them out. There are some great deals.

Dal Rae's DineLA dinner offer, was your choice from three different appetizers, entrees, and desserts, all for $34!! A steal of a price.

FRIED CALAMARI-lightly battered and fried to a golden brown, this is how calamari should be fried. The calamari itself was very fresh, not chewy or tough at all. It comes with a very spicy marinara sauce and a lemon butter sauce, that was outstanding- a great dipping sauce for the calamari.

The calamari is regularly priced at $11.95. I'm guessing during DineLA, we got a half sized portion, which was the perfect size.

PETITE PEPPER FILET MIGNON- This goes for $32.50 on the regular menu and comes with green beans and a side, I got rice pilaf. So at $34 with two other course, it's a steal. I asked for and got the steak cooked medium. The steak was about 6oz and was so tender and flavorful. As the name says, it's a pepper steak, so there is lots of pepper, which I like. The pepper is combined with green onions, and I believe some garlic. The flavors all blended together perfectly. A great great steak.

GOLD BRICK SUNDAE IN A LACE COOKIE- the cookie had an almond taste to it and was light and crunchy. The ice cream might have been Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream, it was very rich and creamy. A chocolate candy-like topping added to the richness of this great dessert.

Service was good, if a bit slow. The lady was very nice and friendly. But, it took awhile for her to comeback and take our drink orders and after getting drinks, it was a long wait before she took our orders. It was fairly busy, but nothing overwhelming. Not sure the reason for the long waits.

I would gladly go back to the Dal Rae again!! The ironic thing is, I noticed during DineLA the Dal Rae also serves lunch. So, I called and they told me, there was some flooding and they would be closed until Wednesday Oct 12th. Hopefully, the damage wasn't too severe and the Dal Rae quickly reopens. I want to go back, SOON!!

Cook's Tortas

Cook's Tortas
1944 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
323-278-3536

I heard that Cook's Torta had a wide variety of torta and not the usual meats you get at most Mexican restaurants. I have heard Cook's Torta described as a Mexican fusion, but whatever. I just wanted to see if the tortas were good.

Cook's Torta has no sign on the front or west facing part of the store. I was coming south on Atlantic and missed it, because the only sign is on the south side of the building, and not visible when driving south on Atlantic. Anyways, a quick legal u-turn and I was there. From the looks of this building, this was an old Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I looked at there wall menu, the north side wall, has their entire torta menu. All tortas are $7.79 and includes one side. I got the shrimp Po'Boy-spice battered shrimp, avocado-red onion remoulade, and lettuce.

WOW, was this great. The torta was bursting with shrimp, always a good sign when they pile on the meat. The bread was a soft chewy, almost ciabatta like bread, that was slighty and perfectly toasted, and stood up very well to all the remoulade and shrimp. The avocado-red onion remoulade was mixed well with mayo and added a subtle taste to the torta. But the best part was the shrimp. It was so fresh, it may have been in the Pacific Ocean that morning. It was well seasoned with some chili power and cumin. It was lightly battered and fried to perfectly.

Service by the cashier was OK. She just went through the motions. She wasn't the most friendly or welcoming person. Service by the girl who brought my food, was good. She was nice and friendly. They call out the number, as they are walking to the table. When they called my number, I was looking around for my receipt, which had dropped to the floor. I kind of raised my hand, she came over and gave me my order. I told her I can't find the receipt, but she said don't worry about. I did find it as she was leaving.

I would go back just for this shrimp po' boy, but I do want to try a couple of their other tortas.

Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza-Closed

Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza
2764 Rowena Ave
Los Angeles
323-664-3333

Silverlake has some damn good pizza places, including Tomato Pie and Garage Pizza. I heard some great things about Nicky D's Wood-Fired Pizza and decided to give them a try.

Nicky D's is basically a house that has been converted into a restaurant. There is a very small parking lot and then you climb a few stairs to get to the restaurant. You actually walk into the dining area at the top of the stairs. The place to order is in the middle of the building. The kitchen is the back part of the building and the wood fire oven is right there!

I ordered a medium, half cheese and half sausage, $14.63. The first thing I noticed about the pizza was the thin crust, maybe not exactly like New York thin crust, but good. When I took a bite, the texture was perfect, a bite chewy but firm. I really liked the crust. The cheese was piled on and good gooey cheese. The sausage was large slices of good quality meat, without many fillers. This was a very good pizza and I loved the crust.

Service was very good. I was greeted once I walked into the ordering area. That doesn't happen too often, which is a sad commentary about the restaurant business. The guy who took my order was helpful, answering my questions about how big the medium pizza were and asking if I wanted a beer while waiting for pizza. While I didn't get a beer, I liked his low pressure, subtle sales pitch. I sat down at a table, while waiting for the pizza. A young girl came up and asked "You didn't get anything to drink." and then handed me an individual sized pizza. I told her I didn't order this. She asked what did I order and got my pizza. She was also very nice and helpful. Nicky D's can teach many other restaurants about good customer service.

I would go back to Nicky D's anytime. Is it better than Tomato Pie or Garage Pizza? Put it this way, I wouldn't complain if I was forced to go to any of three. You people in Silverlake are lucky, you got some very good pizza places in your area.