‘Italian’
Long before there was a Disney movie called Pinocchio, there was a classic Italian story featuring that classic wooden toy. Pinocchio’s (no relation) in Burbank is much more about those Italian roots than it is about the Disney story. And although that Disney classic has stood the test of time, there is one thing it certainly cannot do – feed you. That’s where Pinocchio’s comes in.
On our way out of town via the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, we were in need of a convenient place for a bite to eat. Across the street from the airport, we found the Daily Grill, an mid-level restaurant chain for American food that can found throughout California and a little beyond. As we needed to catch a flight, there was little time to dilly dally and I quickly scanned the menu and found their Penne Pasta with Chicken.
With a night of partying in Santa Monica looming and a dire need of dinner, we turned to a place on Santa Monica’s Main Street called World Cafe. I really didn’t know what to expect from the place except that I had a feeling it would involve food from around the world. When we took our seats and then took a gander into the menu, it became apparent that World Cafe was not at all a cafe of the world.
I had expected to see food from all over the world, like Sri Lankan curry, Icelandic swan, The Falklands penguin and Uzbekistani rock. Instead, I found myself gazing into menu full of Italian food. Okay, I guess there were a few random appetizers. Real worldly. This obviously wasn’t the place to get any new and exciting food, but at least I would make the best of it.
One night a friend decided to meet me for dinner in North Hollywood. Typically I get myself out of that place as fast as I can after work, but on this night I was actually a bit excited to try out a place called Little Toni’s. Little Toni’s is a pizza place that isn’t open for lunch, so I figured this would be one of my rare opportunities to try them out. We walked inside and found the place wasn’t just some pizza joint, but an all-out Italian place that was probably pretty good for families. Nonetheless, we were ready to try their pizza.
In my continuing quest to find the greatest buffet in Las Vegas (and eventually the world!), I may have found one to stand toe to toe with Rio’s Carnival World Buffet. Situated in Planet Hollywood, the Spice Market Buffet doesn’t fit into the Hollywood theme, at least in name. It also doesn’t bear any resemblance to a Spice Market. Nonetheless, it does use spices and the walls are adorned with food-related movie posters like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (two very similar movies). The lunch buffet cost 25 bucks, but as soon as I looked around, I knew it was going to be well worth the price.
A long long time ago, the girlfriend and I went on a binge of buying up restaurant gift certificates. They would have specials like $20 for $10 and other such things that seemed like no-brainers. Fast forward to six months later and loads of these gift certificates are sitting around collecting dust. We could take it no more and decided to use one at a restaurant called Food Fair by Diego. It is in the strange area that is sort of West Hollywood or Beverly Hills or Melrose or something like that, so even though the name sounded like it would be a pretentious joint (how many typical restaurants put the chef’s name in the restaurant name, it actually turned out to be in a one of those corner strips and was kind of a hole in the wall.
Pizzeria Mozza (not Matzah) is one of those restaurants in LA that just kind of nags at you until you realize you just kind of have to go. For starters, the head chef is some guy from the Food Network or Top Chef or something like that. Then, because of that, you have to get a reservation at least 30 days in advance, so you really have to want to go this place and know your schedule for the next 30 days. Just such a time came up recently when the parents were in town (and I knew more than 30 days ahead), so off to Pizzeria Mozza we went to see what it was all about.
For a quick lunch idea to please a few people, the girlfriend and I decided to pick up food from Corner Bakery. Although the place is pretty well-known for its sandwiches, I was in no mood for such food. Instead, I found that they had a little selection of pasta dishes that looked like a good lunch to me. Of these, the Pesto Cavatappi looked best to me.
Shakey’s Pizza and I have a long history, dating all the way back to when I lived in Japan. I discovered Shakey’s in Kyoto and found it to have the best pizza in Japan, at least at that time. They had a modestly priced buffet and although they still served crazy Japanese-style pizza with mayonnaise and corn, they also had good old fashioned pepperoni and cheese. Plus they had delicious fried potatoes and Melon Fanta. Needless to say, every trip to Kyoto came with a stop at Shakey’s. Little did I know at the time that Shakey’s was not just some Japanese anomaly, but had begun in the US. At one point it was a pretty big deal in the US, but now there are more of them in Asia than in the US. Yet, it wasn’t until I moved to LA that I realized I could enjoy the Shakey’s goodness without a plane trip to Asia. Although I knew of Shakey’s in LA for awhile, I finally got the chance to check it out myself and see if it could live up to my memories.
Working late one night, I decided I needed some pizza to keep me going. Fortunately, there is plenty of pizza to be found around my office in North Hollywood. One place, called Pizza Man (sadly not a superhero who fights off villains with pepperoni and tomato paste), always has a sign to advertise their $5 large pizza, so I looked them up and gave them a call. A man with an indistinguishable, but quite pleasant European accent answered the phone. It turned out that the special was only for plain cheese, but they had a two-topping carry out special for $6.99. This price was comparable to Papa John’s and other fast food pizzas, so I felt good about the price.