Bonello's New York Pizza-Closed

Bonello's New York Pizza
16006 Crenshaw Blvd
Gardena
310-327-0355

As all readers of The New Diner, should know I love Village Pizzeria. I have searched for other NY style pizza places in LA and have found a few places that come close like
Vito's Pizza and Rocco's Pizza but nothing tops Village Pizzeria.

I heard about Bonello's New York Pizza and I went down to Gardena to see how they measure up to Village Pizzeria. Bonello's is across the street from El Camino College, so they must do a damn good business during lunch time.

I got the combo deal, two slices of pizza, pepperoni and sausage, salad and a soda for $7. A pretty good deal. First thing I noticed was the smaller slices. At Village Pizzeria they are much bigger. Now Bonello's isn't tiny, it is a good size but I wouldn't call these slices huge.

The slices had a great crust. Nice texture, a bit crispy and held onto the cheese and toppings well. But the toppings, other than the cheese, weren't anything that great. The pepperoni was ok, nothing great. The sausage had a bit more flavor but there just wasn't anything there. The sauce was a bit bland. They do put a lot of cheese on the pizza and they cheese is great. Goey, stringy, and melted!!!! A plain cheese pizza is the way to go here.

Service was pretty good. Bonello's is cash only.

I wouldn't make a special trip for Bonello's but if I was in the area, I would go back. But like I said, the cheese pizza is the way to go. I am not impressed with their meat toppings

The Rib Nest

Rib Nest
1766 W El Segundo Blvd
Gardena
310-329-6378

The Rib Nest is just west of the 110 Freeway on El Segundo Blvd. There are a few tables to sit and eat there but it mostly take out orders. I order the half slab of pork ribs with sauce on the side. The ribs are very good. They lack any kind of rub but there is a good smoke flavor and the BBQ sauce is good. It starts out sweet but then the spices hit and makes for a wonderful combination with the ribs. One of the better ribs places I've been to in a long time. And after having skinny St. Louis style ribs the past few times I've had BBQ, it was good to see huge pieces of ribs.

I would go back to Rib Nest if somebody else worked behind the counter. ATTITUDE with all capitol letters!!! She was OK enough taking my order but I only ate two pieces there and wanted to take the rest home. I asked for a wetnap and very rudely she said they don't have any. So I asked her to wet some napkins so I can clean my hands. After a couple minutes to think about she finally went and watered down a couple napkins.

Then I want to put the ribs in a syrafoam container. As the picture shows, the ribs came in a paper basket. I know that won't travel too well. I saw people with the syrafoam containers and asked for her one. She said I can give you a bag. I told her, you gave other people those containers. She saidwe don't put the half racks in those containers and if we did it for me, they would have to do it for everybody. Well duh. She finally relented and gave me the container.

I enjoyed the ribs, one of the better ribs places in LA. But the terrible service and attitude isn't something I want to deal with. If you can put up with the attitude, you will have some of the best BBQ in LA.

Update April 26, 2009



I finally went back to Rib Nest, three years after I first enjoyed their great ribs.

I got the lunch portion ribs with mac and cheese, $8.15. The ribs still had the great smoke flavor, a wonderful bark, and were tender. But this time the ribs had a lot more fat and grizzle!! Not sure why, maybe the Rib Nest is using lower quality ribs? Not sure what the exact reason is, but I didn't enjoy these ribs as I did before, because they just had too much fat.

The mac and cheese was pretty good but I think they could have had more cheese. Tender, well cooked pasta but not much cheese. The small amount of cheese was nicely melted and tasted good, they just need to add more cheese.

Service was much better. A young man was very nice and friendly. There wasn't a fork for the mac and cheese and the guy was nice about giving me a fork. No attitude. He even said sorry for not putting a fork in the bag. Service was much improved.

I still would go back to Rib Nest, they smoke their ribs right. But I wasn't impressed with the amount of fat on the ribs, during this trip.

Jaybee's BBQ

Jaybee's BBQ
15915 S. Avalon Blvd
LA, CA
310-532-1064

I went to Jaybees back in April and again on Fri, Aug. 5th. As always I had the large order of pork ribs with double potatoe salad. I was little disappointed this time. The first time I got five huge pieces of ribs with a wonderful rub and sauce that was a little on the sweeet site. I thought the ribs were great, nice smokey flavor and done just right ro me, which is a little chewy but not falling off the bone tender.

When I went on Friday, I got small pieces of rib with little meat on the bone. They also didn't take the membrane off the back of the ribs. That was weird because they did take the membrane off the first time I went. The ribs had the smokey flavor and they were a little chewy and not falling off the bone.

I'm not sure if I would go back to Jaybee's. The inconsistency of the food isn't something that makes me want to go back again soon. Plus there are tons of other BBQ places that I want to try.

While driving to a friend's house, I saw there there was an M & M Soul Food on Avalon Blvd, across from the Home Depot Center. Since I will be going to the Home Depot Center I may have lunch at the M & M and give a review.

Update Nov 4, 2009.




Well I haven't seen the hottie in a long time, matter of fact since seeing her at Famous Dave's Pitt BBQ in Long Beach. So we decided to have lunch at Jaybee's BBQ. She comes walking up to Jaybee's and I'm in awe, she looked so hot!!

I wanted to some how tie in Top Chef Las Vegas into my review. One of the episodes this season involved the chefs cooking for the Thunderbirds at Nellis Air Force Base. The chefs were using items in the mess hall. They didn't get to go shopping for any of the food made in the episode. So this was a tough competition.

There were two chefs that really impressed me that day. Kevin, who made a pulled pork that the judges loved, mentioned all the male members of his family had served in the military was most impressive. Preeti, who would get cut at the end of this episode, mentioned that Sept 11th was her defining moment in wanting to become a chef. Yes, this is a competition but the real purpose was feeding American soldiers who are or who have come back from war. Almost all the chefs gave it their all. Only one chef, who I will talk about later, was a douchebag.

Jennifer was the chef in charge during this episode and she was clueless!! Sure she took charge in the kitchen. But her menu choices sucked. Hello, clueless Jennifer, it is 100 damn degrees in Vegas, why do you have two hot dishes? Chili and clam chowder? Tell your fellow chefs, it is hot outside and we should stay away from hot food items on the menu like chili and clam chowder. Make something light and refreshing!!!! Even though I think Jennifer is clueless, she doesn't really bother me, OK, OK, during an episode with dingbat Natalie Portman, Jennifer was so nervous serving food and at judge's table. Get a grip woman. Otherwise she is OK.

Now I can't stand a few of the douchebag chefs on the show. Mike I. is a douchebag and a moron. He is plain and simple an arrogant asshole. He made a terrible "Greek" salad for this episode, hey idiot, Greek salad don't have shrimp in it and does have feta cheese. But the worst part was his douchebag attitude and arrogance. He said something to the affect that I wasn't really happy with it anyways. One of the hosts, Padma, said, "Well then you shouldn't have served it." Though he didn't get cut that night, though he should have, and it took awhile, it was a great night when this douchebag was cut. He even lost on a vegetarian episode and his mom was vegan!!! For all his douchebag arrogance, he deserved to get out much sooner. I would never go to a restaurant this douchebag worked at.

Ash is another douchebag. I can't believe how much he kiss one of the Voltaggio brother's ass!!! I mean, he should have just tucked him in and kiss him goodnight. What a douchebag!!! He needs a dose of confidence!!!

Mike and Brian Voltaggio may have the woman dreaming but both are douchebags. I will give them credit because their younger sister is in the Air Force and they wanted to do well because of that. One of the brothers, I can't tell the difference between these two douchebags, lost to Kevin in a vegetarian episode but instead of losing with class he acted like an asshole. He was such a sore loser, I'm surprised he didn't go suck his thumb and cry. Douchebag. One of the brothers was the winner of The Thunderbirds episode because he made some great bacon. Kevin, came in second but was a classy winner. Not a douchebag.

So as a way to work in this Top Chef episode and Kevin making that great BBQ pork dish, I got the pork shoulder sandwich and the brisket sandwich, each was $5.10.

Readers of The New Diner know I love pork ribs. I rarely order sandwiches from BBQ restaurants. Most BBQ places just drown their pulled or chopped pork and brisket with BBQ sauce, making it almost like a sloppy joe. I hate sloppy joe!!! Maybe it was because I had so much mystery meat sloppy joes for lunch as a kid but I can't stand them. Many BBQ sandwiches remind me of sloppy joes, so I rarely order them. Today I got two BBQ sandwiches, pork and brisket and got sauce on the side.

The pork shoulder sandwich was OK. The chopped pork didn't have much smoke flavor and a bit dry, even after I added sauce. The pork was tender but there were pieces that were burnt. I wasn't too impressed with this sandwich.

The brisket sandwich had more smoke flavor. The brisket was tender and fairly juicy but not as juicy as I would like. I added a small amount of BBQ sauce and it did add some moisture to the sandwich.

Service was pretty good. The lady was nice and friendly.

I know Jaybee's has been on the Food Network with that loudmouthed jerk but I'm still not impressed. It is ok but nothing I would go out of my way for. Well unless I could see the hottie again!!