Arthur's Profile
800 Degree Pizza Falls Flat
The OP wrote: "I had the mushroom and truffle oil pizza. I could not taste any truffle oil."
Per the menu linked below, it appears the pizza you ordered was their Tartufo specialty pie for $11.65. The ingredients listed on the menu for that pie are truffle cheese, roasted mushrooms, caramelized garlic, and arugula (no tomato). There is no truffle oil in that description, so it should not have been a surprise that you could not taste any.
http://www.800degreespizza.com/menu.pdf
800 Degree Pizza Falls Flat
+1. I've eaten at 800 Degrees about 10 times so far, and I've found that every criticism I've heard about the place seems to come from people who appear to have had completely unrealistic expectations. Granted, it may not be to everyone's subjective taste, but what restaurant is?
Langers Deli #19 for breakfast ?
And it's for dine-in service only, which will make the wait even longer.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
REALITY CHECK: It's Costco, not Barnes & Noble.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
Cathy, before they exclusively took AMEX they exclusively took Discover. I got a Discover card years ago for that very reason.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
The 90-day return policy only applies to televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, touch screen tablets, MP3 players and cellular phones. That is a lot of stuff but it's far from all of the electronics merchandise sold by Costco, and every other item in the store has no time limit for returns.
kosher for passover wine
Glatt Mart on Pico has an unusually large kosher for Passover wine selection, offering up dozens of options at various price levels.
Also, I've noticed that some supermarkets and even Costco have started to carry Yarden and Galil wines, both of which I consider a step up from the more commonly found Herzog stuff.
Lastly, you might want to check if your local Trader Joe's has any Terranal kosher wines left in stock. They have gotten positive reviews and are hard to beat at only $4 bucks a bottle, especially if you are serving four cups to every person at a seder.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
Porthos, I'm fine with agreeing to disagree, but please don't falsely misrepresent my position. Nowhere have I ever suggested Pizza Hut or Papa John's. That's just flagrant BS, as my prior post makes perfectly clear (if you even bothered to read it). Just because you want to take an extreme position does not mean that I am arguing for the polar opposite one.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
Porthos, all due respect but you keep missing what I see as the point here. ipsedixit's friend seemed eager to experience why Americans are so nuts about pizza. Yet you keep insisting that the best way to enlighten her would have been to escort her to a restaurant that does not resemble and is in no way representative - that is in fact out of reach - of what the overwhelming majority of Americans are familiar with. Restaurants like Pizzeria Mozza may take the form to a glorious whole new level, but most Americans probably wouldn't even recognize it as pizza.
Pizza is not an elitist or challenging food in this country. It is incredibly rare for anyone, including non-natives who've never tasted it before, to need a "pristine piece" of pizza before "the light goes off." Then again, this wasn't the miserably false choice you offer between Pizzeria Mozza and Pizza Hut. It is not uncommon for neighborhood joints to make far better than adequate, often wonderfully delicious pizza that IMO would have better represented and provided a broader understanding of this quintessentially American phenomenon.
Ultimately, the proof is in the results: ipsedixit took his friend to an upscale pizzeria, and that approach failed.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
That's just empirically untrue. Most of us got started on average pizza in neighborhood joints. Who among us was thereby forced into a life of pizza celibacy?
ipsedixit obviously can address this better than I, but my point was rooted in his statement that Virgin failed to "understand America's fascination with pizza." You don't gain the best cultural understanding of that which is ubiquitous and commonplace by being introduced to that which is atypical, more formal and extraordinary. If I wanted to represent a standard enjoyable sushi experience to a newbie, I wouldn't take them to Urasawa.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
No, probably should have done a more everyday pizza joint. Generally speaking, pizza in this country is casual comfort food served by the slice on a sheet of wax paper for the common man or woman. I cannot see how a novice popping his pizza cherry at a relatively fancy gourmet restaurant could possibly begin to "understand America's fascination with pizza."
I'm not in any way knocking Settebello or Pizzeria Mozza. I'm just saying they don't represent the typical U.S. pizza experience.
Passover Dessert
Does the cake need to be kosher for Passover? You'd better check that out with your hosts. If they are religiously observant, they might not allow anything that is not kosher for Passover to even pass through their front door during this holiday.
Offhand, I can't think of anything that qualifies as a traditional Passover dessert. Certainly, there are no traditional Passover cakes. If you need a dessert that is certifiably kosher for Passover, I recommend checking out the kosher markets on Pico, e.g., Glatt Mart, and also posting this inquiry on the Kosher board. If it doesn't need to be kosher for Passover, I suppose anything with a Passover imprimatur from any good bakery ought to do. For example, here's what Clementine is offering (scroll down the linked page for desserts): http://clementineonline.com/docs/menu_passover
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
Agreed. Like Dommy, I have tried both the "fresh" and frozen macarons, and I found the frozen ones superior and they even taste fresher.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
I've been eating those muffins for years and have never experienced any sort of bitter/weird/offending aftertaste.
800° Degrees Pizza is now officially open for business - YAY!
UPDATE: I take it back again. I was at 800° Degrees again last night, and the pizza was at least 14 inches in diameter (as was the plate, which was unquestionably bigger than what I measured at home).
Chile-spiced pineapple whereabouts?
Trader Joe's has stopped carrying its dried chile-spiced pineapple chunks (and I'm not a fan of their chile-spiced mango alternative, which is still available). Anybody know where I can get something comparable locally? Westside only, please. I'm not willing to drive far for this.
Who here really prefers the Double Filet-O-Fish over the regular Filet-O-Fish?
Alternatively, they might have opted for a double-decker FOF version of the Big Mac, extra layer of bread and all. They could have called it "The Fish Mac," which I suspect would have aroused a lot more interest than the likely DOA product they came up with here.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
So essentially you're suggesting the possibility that our subject is an Italian or someone of Italian background who knows absolutely nothing about pizza. If so, the OP's query is getting more and more bizarre.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
I think there is a more fundamental question that I don't think anyone here has asked yet: Has this "virgin" ever had Italian food of any kind? Does he/she like pasta with red sauce and cheese, or do they prefer other types of preparations? Does he/she lean toward pastas loaded with meat, vegetables, or a simpler marinara? Could make a huge difference in matching him/her up with the ideal first-pizza experience.
Where to take a "Pizza Virgin" to pop their cherry?
+1 for Vito's, the best "standard" NY-style pizzeria in LA, and an ideal starting point for a pizza virgin.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
I liked these, too. They have an unmistakably genuine falafel flavor. My only complaint is with the offensively wasteful packaging: Why on Earth was it necessary for them to place the chips inside a plastic bag that's inside a paper bag?
800 degrees crust
The pizza at 800 Degrees takes just one minute to bake, so "a couple of more minutes in the oven" would have resulted in you being served a pile of ashes.
800 degrees crust
Apparently 800 Degrees has had its fill of hearing misguided criticisms of the crust's crispness and authenticity. I returned there tonight and immediately saw the newly posted sign that is prominently on display in the attached photo, which states:
"NO, it's not crispy. We make pizza the way it was invented in Naples, Italy in the DOP-protected Vera Pizza Napoletana style, which has a soft, chewy crust.
"If you'd prefer it crispy, please ask."
800° Degrees Pizza is now officially open for business - YAY!
Exactly right, Porthos.
Apparently 800 Degrees has had its fill of hearing misguided criticisms of the crust's crispness and authenticity as well. I returned there tonight and immediately saw the newly posted sign that is prominently on display in the attached photo, which states:
"NO, it's not crispy. We make pizza the way it was invented in Naples, Italy in the DOP-protected Vera Pizza Napoletana style, which has a soft, chewy crust.
"If you'd prefer it crispy, please ask."
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
The bag I got was nothing short of disgustingly way-over-the-top salty. ctj, I don't usually buy bagged popcorn but purchased this in no small part because of your glowing review here. I was unhappily surprised, to say the least, especially after you gave a thumbs down to the far less oppressively salt-flecked chocolate-covered caramels.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
Just finished a bag of the Movie Theater Popcorn. Good texture, tastes surprisingly fresh for bagged popcorn, but WAY, WAY, WAY too off-the-charts salty. So it's a nay - won't buy again.
Best Philly (style) Cheese Steak in LA?
Jack, my point was merely to rebut the posted notion that it is "Blasphemy!!" by cognoscenti "purist" standards to put peppers on a cheesesteak. That position simply holds no water. Yes, of course the foundational base is always just cheese and steak, but how many people order it that plain? Suggesting it's somehow wrong or inauthentic to put peppers on a cheesesteak is IMO like saying it's inappropriate to put pepperoni on a pizza.
Best Philly (style) Cheese Steak in LA?
FWIW, attached is the background picture currently used on the menu page of the Pat's website. As you can see, the restaurant selected a cheesesteak with peppers and provolone - no mushrooms - to most prominently represent and market its arguably definitive menu offerings.
http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/menu.html
Best Philly (style) Cheese Steak in LA?
I've never spent time in Philly, so I've never had a hometown cheesesteak there. However, about 25 years ago the world-famous Pat's had an outpost in NYC and I used to eat there regularly until it went under. As I recall, chopped peppers were considered a standard part of their cheesesteak sandwiches. (For the record, so was provolone.)
Every decent cheesesteak place in LA has offered peppers as well, including the dearly departed Markie D's - and I never once heard anyone question MD's authenticity. Also from my experience, mushrooms may or may not be available as a cheesesteak addition at many places, but they certainly are not standard.
800° Degrees Pizza is now officially open for business - YAY!
I've eaten there three times now. The degree of baking has varied minimally each time, but not once has the crust been anything close to "gummy." Frankly, I can't even see how that would be possible.
