Angeli Caffe will be closing on January 8th, 2012

Angeli Caffe has been one of my favorite LA restaurants for about the last 10 years.
I adore Evan Klieman and I've taken my family and friends to her restaurant on many special occasions. Every December Evan hosts a 'Feast of the 7 fishes' at Angeli Caffe and I've been to a couple of those special meals. Throughout the year, she has various themed dinners, served family style with a menu of items not on her regular menu, those meals are usually spectacular. At one of those meals, I was happy to be seated at a table with Evan Klieman's mother. She tells amazing and interesting stories about many LA chefs.
When my daughter, Angela moved to Hollywood, Angeli became our easy 'go to' restaurant for Vicari family meals. Evan Klieman introduced the Slow Food Movement to LA.
I will miss this restaurant very much but I am certain that Evan will continue to be a leader in the LA foodie scene.


http://www.angelicaffe.com/caffe-information/

Time for Pizza

At home in LA, I rarely eat pizza because, I'm busy, I'm too tired, or it's too far to drive. When I get to NYC, I love to go on a pizza crawl. I have an abundance of NY pizza pictures in my iphoto album. Danny and I spent last week in the Big Apple. I don't know why they just don't call NYC "The Big Slice". We found this little, warm and cozy pizza bar in the Bowery. Posto Pizza is a really thin crust that has a great flavor. We enjoyed the artichoke pizza. The crust was nicely charred. The sauce and toppings were perfectly done and well balanced.

POSTO Thin Crust Pizza 212-716-1200

www.postothincrust.com/

POSTO 310 Second Avenue, @18th St. NY, NY 10003. Phone: 212-716-1200 / Fax: 212-716-1222. Delivery hours: Everyday until 10 PM

Dear Santa, really??

$340.00 Coveted: Laguiole pizza server from Matali Crasset

Now that all you home cooks are busily trying to replicate Pizzeria Mozza’s pies from just-published “The Mozza Cookbook,” you’re wishing you had a pizza server, am I right?

For those who just don’t want to pick up a slice of pizza and heave it onto a plate, enter this sleek pizza server made in Laguiole, the town of knives in the Aveyron region in southern France, which also is home to Michelin three-star Michel Bras’ phenomenal restaurant Bras. He does not serve pizza, or at least didn’t last time I was there.

But if he did, I’m sure he would use something like this. After all, it’s made in his hometown and looks sturdy enough to hold a slice no matter how crazy you get with the toppings. It was originally designed by the French firm Matali Crasset for Paris pastry chef Pierre Hermé as a cake server. I admit I was a little shocked when I took in the price, but if you amortize it over, say, several hundred pizzas and cakes, you might be able to make the case for the purchase.

Matali Crasset Pie/Pizza Server, $340 from Unicahome.com. Available in orange, green, pink or black.

LACMA Stark Bar Pizza

Stark Bar is located on the patio at the LA County Museum of Art. The bar offers a Mediterranean inspired, small plate menu. Bridget, Emma and I enjoyed this fior di latte (milk's flower) pizza today. There was a drizzle of chili oil on top of the cheese that made the pizza a bit too spicy for young Emma. The pizza was tasty but not crusty enough for me. I had a glass of perfectly chilled, Cote de Provence Rose. The museum and patio bar are a perfect paring for a Sunday afternoon in LA.

The beginning of my love for all things pizza

I was recently reminded about the origins of my pizza obsession by a beloved girlfriend from my high school days. Thank you, Priscilla.
We both adored 'Sir Pizza'. This pizza was our first taste of many pizzas to come. http://www.sirpizzaky.com/ Here is the link to my first, favorite pizza. It is located in Lexington, Ky., three doors away from my first retail job at Pix Sample Shoes. I remember their slices of pizza being crusty, salty, and having the perfect amount of shredded, melted mozzarella on the top.
I'd love to return to Sir Pizza to see if today's taste of this pizza is as wonderful as the memory captured by my youthful taste buds.

New York City's oldest pizza oven

This is NYC's oldest pizza oven. Lombardi Pizza is located on Spring St in Little Italy.
http://www.firstpizza.com/newyork.html
The one time I visited Lombardi, I found the pizza a bit soggy. There was too much cheese on top of my pizza. They do use fresh mozzarella, which I adore.
But the moisture from the cheese made the crust wilt too much for my taste.

One of my favorite NYC pizzas is John's

John's Pizza on Bleeker Street is one of my favorite NYC pizzas because I love brick oven pizza. John's Pizza has one of the oldest pizza ovens in NYC.
The balance of sauce to cheese is perfect with just a sprinkle of italian spices on the top. In this picture I am eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. They slice their pepperoni thinly so that the bite is nice and tender.

Pizza Antica

This delicious pizza is served at Pizza Antica at the Santa Monica Place. We were first there in October 2010. We liked it so much that we have been back on two other occasions.

Home Made Pizza

This is my home made pizza. I used OO flour that I carried home from Bolonga, Italy.
I also used sun dried tomatoes packed in oil by a good friend, Carina Round.