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.

Tomato Pie Pizza Joint

Tomato Pie Pizza Joint
2457 Hyperion Ave
Los Angeles
323-661-6474

I was in the Silverlake area for a wine tasting and thought about going back to Garage Pizza, but instead I decided to have a couple slices at Tomato Pie, since a friend raved about the pizza at Tomato Pie. . The location is really in the back part of the building. The front part is a beauty salon. Tomato Pie is mainly a take out place but there are some picnic tables outside.

I really didn't want a whole pie so I got a slice of cheese, $2.25, and a meat lover's slice, $3.00. The young lady said for 50 cents more I could get a soda, so for $5.75, two slices of pizza and a soda; not a bad deal.

The cheese slice wasn't good because there wasn't enough cheese on the slice. The crust, which was reheated, was crispy yet chewy on the inside. The cheese slice maybe good if they put more cheese on the slice and it was right out of the oven.

The meat lovers has pepperoni, American bacon, sausage, and ham. I only got maybe a piece or two of ham. But there were plenty of pepperoni, sausage and bacon. I was pretty impressed with this slice, not salty at all, flavorful, good quality toppings, though they could have put more ham on there, nice crust.

Service was very good. The young lady who took my order was nice, helpful, and friendly, even if she is a Mets fan. She did tell me they are going to expand into that beauty salon, soon.

For pizza in the Silverlake area, I still prefer Garage Pizza but I wouldn't have any issues going back to Tomato Pie, though I wouldn't have another slice of cheese pizza.

Territory BBQ-Closed

Territory BBQ
534 N. Hoover St
LA
323-662-4100

Strike three for BBQ this weekend. Glencrest BBQ, Bondi BBQ, and now Territory BBQ have all struck out. Three BBQ places that I have never been to and will never go again!!

Territory got a huge write up in the LA Times. The person who reviewed Territory doesn't know anything about BBQ.

Territory does smoke their meats but they have no idea how to smoke their meats. I got a rib dinner, $15, with double mac and cheese. The ribs are baby backs, terrible choice, and were dry and was just overpowered with smoke flavor. I do like smoke flavor but the smoke flavor should not overpower the meat. They need to close the vents on their smoker because too much smoke is getting to the meat.

The mac and cheese was terrible. The macaroni was undecooked and not even hot. The cheese was like Velveeta. I mean I can do that at home, I don't go to a restaurant to get things I can make at home.

The best thing about Territory BBQ is that they offer free frozen pops!!!! I took two, one green and one blue pop!!!

Service is OK.

There is no reason for me to got Territory BBQ again. Overpriced, terrible BBQ. Why even bother?

Home-Closed

Home Restaurant
2500 Riverside Dr
Los Angeles
323-665-0211

Home, What an interesting name for a restaurant. Located just down the hill from the DUMP, Dodger Stadium, Home has a huge menu, a full bar and serves breakfast the whole day.

I ordered the All American breakfast, $7.95, two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and two eggs, I asked for over medium. The bacon was very good. Lots of smokey flavor, not too much fat, the right mixture of crispy and chewy. The pancakes were light, fluffy and good size. I asked for over medium and I got over easy eggs. I hate over easy eggs because I hate runny yolk. over medium means the yolk is almost fulled cooked. It sure as hell isn't runny.

Service for our group of about 20 people was good. We didn't lack for anything and we got our food quickly.

I would go back to Home, but I would either not order eggs over medium or ask for eggs over hard, maybe that way they will cook the yolk. But I found the food to good and fresh and worth the price.

Garage Pizza

Garage Pizza
4339 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles
323-668-1190

Dear Village Pizzeria,

I'm sorry to say I'm having an affair with another pizza place. Garage Pizza was brough to my attention by one of the few people on Yelp, who is worth a damn. Now I have found another pizza place that comes close to you, Village Pizzeria, for thin crust, NY style pizza. Village Pizza you are still the first place I think about when I want NY style pizza.

I got a cheese and pepperoni slice, $6.50. The cheese was awesome. A very nice crust, lots of sauce, and nice gooey cheese. The sauce wasn't tangy or overpowering, a mild subtle sauce that was very good.

The pepperoni was just as good as the cheese. They could have put more pepperoni but those that were on the pizza had a nice flavor and spiciness to them.

Service is good. Two guys from Detroit, own Garage Pizza. How do I know? They have a Red Wings fan parking sign and a Tigers pennant on the wall.

I would go back here anytime. I still think Village Pizzeria is the best. But Garage Pizza comes close.

Malo-Closed

Malo
4326 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles
323-664-1011

I came here because a group of people were meeting for $1 taco night, plus I wanted to check out the Silverlake area of LA. Well I go to the bar and they have all these nice specials. $4 well drinks, shots of tequila etc. So I get a vodka and cranberry and ordered the potato taco and the braised chicken taco. They were listed as $2 on the happy hour menu at the bar. The tacos arrive quickly and I try the potato, which has no salsa on the top in the picture. The taco is filled with a smooth, creamy potato mix and works ok with the crunch of the hard shell taco. The chicken was full of flavor, nice seasonings, and tender. I was most impressed.

I wasn't impressed when I got my bill and they added a $1 for cranberry. How stupid. I guess the way it works is that the bar area has $2 happy hour tacos. The dining and patio area have the $1 special.

Well the group had the patio reserved and I walk out there. I'm still hungry and ordered carne asada, with onions and cilantro, and carnitas tacos for $1.50 each. The carne asada was full of tender carne asada and was just full of flavor. Lots and lots of seasoning in there. A great taco and a steal at $1.50. But the carnitas was terrible. So bland, no flavor, nothing. Not worth it.

Then I got another carne asada taco and another chicken taco. Both were as good as the first ones I got.

Service on the patio was pretty good. For a group of about 40 people are orders came out fast, though it did take awhile to get our orders taken. One server for 40 people isn't ideal. Plus one bill for the entire 40 people is stupid. They should issue checks for every 4-6 people. That would make things a lot easier.

Service in the bar was pretty good. But I left my credit card to run a tab. When I went to the bartender and told her I would pay cash, she actually took my cash without telling me the total. I asked "Do you know the total?" She replied No, but I just don't want to walk back and forth to get the check. Nice service. Too lazy to walk about five feet? Maybe it's time for a new job. What if I had a $10 bill in my hand and the total came to $15? She would have to come back. Now she was nice and all. But if bartenders and servers are too lazy to walk, then they should get another job.

I would go back to Malo but as the night wore on, there was a huge line waiting to get into the dining room. So expect a wait if you come on Monday $1 taco nights.

Pioneer Chicken-LA Sunset Blvd.-Closed

Pioneer Chicken
4376 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles:
323-663-2441

When I was a kid there used to be a Pioneer Chicken right down the street from school. I can remember getting some chicken or fries after school. There used to be a lot of Pioneer Chicken locations. But by 1990 I thought all Pioneer Chicken stores had closed. Many of the locations became Church Fried Chicken. (YUCK) But after some research on the internet I have found four Pioneer Chicken locations that are still open. There is a fifth listed but the phone number listed seems to be a computer ISP number.

So today, Sun. Oct 16 I decided to do a Pioneer Chicken run. I went to the four locations that I called to make sure they were opened today. The other three locations I am going to are, Echo Park, and Soto St, and Bell Gardens.

I ordered a breast piece at each location to compare. I was surprised to find that two of the locations are within three miles of each other on Sunset Blvd in LA. The other two locations Sota St in LA and the Bell location are only about eight miles apart.

The first one was the Sunset Blvd location, cross street is Fountain. I was surprised to see that famous Pioneer Chicken wagon logo. So I made sure I took a picture.

The breast piece was $1.70. The outside was crunch as I remembered. But the chicken wasn't hot or even warm. The inside was very dry and seemed as though it had been under a heat lamp for a long time.

They had a large menu including ribs, rotisserie chicken, fish and sandwiches.

Since the Echo Park location is about three miles away, I wouldn't come back to the Sunset location due to the low quality of the chicken.