Tag: pizza

San Diego County, Mary, Little Italy, Downtown

napizza (pizza al taglio) / little italy – san diego, ca

There was a time, around college or so, that I didn’t eat pizza. I got sick of it. The smell of pepperoni made me feel ill and I just wouldn’t touch the stuff. That’s what the college years imparted on me: a lack of love for the grandest of college food staples. I did eventually rekindle my love of pizza slowly but surely and now I’m uber picky about what kind of pizza will cross my lips. If you try to take me for a $5 pizza at Little Caesar’s or some other unknown place, I will secretly kill you with eye daggers and curse you forever. Jake and I have had our fair share of pizza around town with a few places in constant rotation and I think it’s safe to say that Napizza will be the latest restaurant to pass the test to get into our precious pizza rotation.

I was invited to come and check out Napizza in Little Italy. I’ve been wary of going places Downtown so sometimes its hard to get me to go down into this area, but I’m sure glad we made it down.

You can order whole of half pizzas at Napizza, but I think the fun comes in seeing the styles of pizza slices all laid out before you. There’s something about actually seeing a slice with all of it’s topping rather than just reading the description of said pizza.

Jake, T and I oohed and ahhed over the slices for a bit before actually making some concrete decisions on what to eat. Luckily we were there before the rush since we kind of stared at the slices for awhile before each picking different slices to try.

After we placed our order, we got some drinks and grabbed a table while we waited for the slices to be prepared for us.

I noticed that near the drink dispenser, they had this jug of cucumber lemon water for their guests. Thoughtful!

There were also these rolls of customized masking tape. I wasn’t sure what you’d use these for though… maybe taping up your leftover box of pizza?

Before we get into the pizza slices, let’s talk a bit about their crust.

The crust at Napizza is unlike any other pizza crust I’ve had. I could (and did) easily eat the crust alone. It’s crispy and crunchy on the top and the bottom but the inside of this puffed up looking crust is light and fluffy. They let their dough rise for an incredible 72 hours with a small amount of yeast to create a dough that stands up to their longer cooking time (30 minutes). The flours, olive oil and other ingredients are shipped in from Italy – all to help create this pizza dough!

[daily special slice // margherita// bapo – red potato, crispy bacon, sprinkled with fresh mozzarella and classic zucchini velvet]

All of the slices are squares, making these slices pretty easy to share. We’ve got one slice of the daily special, one of the Margherita and one of the Bapo – one of their most popular slices with red potato slices, bacon and a “zucchini velvet” – sort of like a zucchini sauce laced on top.

Of these three the Bapo was the winner here among the three of us. The combination of all the toppings and flavors paired with that crunchy, fluffy crust was very delicious.

The margherita slice was also really excellent – very simple, but so good – the crust really just makes and outstanding difference in all of these slices. Continue reading “napizza (pizza al taglio) / little italy – san diego, ca”

Encinitas, San Diego County, Mary

gluten free dining at 2Good2B bakery cafe / encinitas – san diego, ca

Let me just say right off the bat… I was skeptical. A gluten free restaurant with baked goods and regular food? Could this possibly be any good? As someone who doesn’t shun gluten at all and doesn’t have food allergies, I wasn’t sure how this whole experience would go down. But since I got invited to come in and check it out, I was willing to take the risk. And I have to say… I was pleasantly surprised.

[inside the cafe]

2Good2Be is a cute little cafe inside of one of the strip malls in Encinitas, CA. It’s a fast casual restaurant with lots of beverage options (coffees, teas), baked goods (cupcakes, brownies, cakes) as well as regular food – all gluten-free, corn free, corn syrup free and soy free.

[case of gluten free cupcakes]

The cupcakes that greet you when you walk in also very tempting looking – all pretty and decorated!

Jake and I ordered a few things from the menu to get an overall feel for their food and then, of course, saved room for cupcakes at the end.

[bottled sodas]

My initial beverage choice was rejected by Jake and he went up and got us some bottled sodas. I told him to surprise me and he got me this Cock ‘n Bull ginger beer which wasn’t too bad. I don’t normally drink full sugar sodas anymore but this one was decent with a good ginger flavor. Surprising to me, I actually liked the Cheerwine a little bit more. I thought it would be full on in-your-face-tastes-like-cough-syrup flavored cherry.. but it actually kind of reminded me of Dr. Pepper.

[cheese pizza]

We started off by sharing a cheese pizza. I really liked the HUGE dollops of ricotta on top. Ricotta makes me really happy, so this put a smile on my face.

This also had tomato sauce, mozzarella and just a touch of basil. I would have enjoyed a wee more bit of basil, but it was fine. The crust was a gluten free crust that was quite thin (like NY style thin) and quite a bit chewy. The outer edges of the pizza were kind of burnt which I did not like since it made the other edge too hard to eat. But overall the crust wasn’t bad – you could tell this wasn’t a normal crust, but it didn’t deter too much from the pizza (except for the burnt edges). Overall good flavor and good distribution of cheese.

[macaroni and cheese]

Our other shared item was the macaroni and cheese, something we’ve really taken a liking to order whenever we see it on a menu. Continue reading “gluten free dining at 2Good2B bakery cafe / encinitas – san diego, ca”

Products, Mary, Recipes

white bean and sweet chili coconut shrimp pizza

I’m a bit proud of this one, my second post for the WorldFoods challenge. And I got this idea from thinking about beans.

Beans are not usually something I ever think about. I tend to shun beans, not really enjoying their flavor or consistency. But I did have a bean dish this summer that I really enjoyed at Isola Pizza Bar – it was made with cannellini beans and had a great punch of garlic and rosemary and served as a dip. I started thinking… what if I put that dip on a pizza?

And then what if I added shrimp to it?

This led me to make this White Bean and Sweet Chili Coconut Shrimp Pizza.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

This is about all you need – and some onion, which I forgot to include in the photo. Silly.

The first thing you need to do is crank your oven to 500 degrees. Put your pizza pan in there, too. Trust me.

The next thing to do is prep the shrimp – clean and devein those suckers and then use this Sweet Chili Coconut sauce to marinate the shrimp.

Then just set it aside while you prep the rest of your food! You should also take out your pizza dough to let it rest and come up to room temperature while you are making the bean sauce.

These creamy looking beans need a drain after the lid is popped off, but save that “bean juice”! We’re going to need it again while making the bean sauce.

Chop up about half an onion and five cloves of garlic. It seems like a lot of garlic but I think it gives the bean sauce a great, simple flavor.

Cook the onions in olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, until fragrant.

Add your beans and a few tablespoons of the reserved bean liquid. Add another dash of salt and pepper and cook until heated through.

Put the whole thing into your blender with the rest of the reserved bean liquid and a few good tablespoons of olive oil.

Whirl this mixture around until perfectly smooth. Be sure to taste it and season to your liking! It might need a little more salt & pepper love, if your tongue tells you so.

Smooth, creamy, bean stuff!

Time to prep the pizza dough!

Sprinkle a little bit of flour on the dough and then you need to stretch and roll it out.

I like to let gravity do all of the work for me. I start to twist the dough around in the air to stretch it out. I don’t do that tossing thing – I’m afraid of dropping the whole thing on the floor. I work quickly enough to get the dough out to a good size – though not quite round… but that’s okay!

Once the dough is a good size and the oven’s ready, pull the pizza pan out of the oven and carefully place the dough on top. Once it’s on there it will not move until cooked through, so be mindful!

The heat from the pan will sear the bottom of the crust and start cooking it right away, helping you to create a nice, crispy bottom.

After the dough goes down, I always put olive oil, salt and pepper on the bottom. I’m a firm believer in seasoning every layer!

The dough is ready for that beautiful white bean sauce to be spooned on top of the crust.

Plop your shrimp across your misshaped pizza and then pop it back into your hot oven. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Yummy pizza goodness is now at your fingertips! Even if it’s not a traditional round shape. That just makes it more “rustic”.

For a little “oomph”, add prosciutto and chopped cilantro to your pizza after it comes out of the oven. Totally optional, but also another little layer of flavor for your slices.

College, Rolando, Cheap Eats, San Diego County, Mary

milo’s pizza & subs / college area – san diego, ca

I went to Milo’s Pizza on a whim. I was at Jake’s waiting for him to come home from work and wanted to have some pizza ready for him. I went and got a couple of pizzas and some garlic bread. It was the garlic bread that hooked me – nice, thick sourdough with lots of crunch!

Jake and I finally came back recently so Jake could try out a pipping hot pie and have started to come here a bit more regularly.

[milo’s pizza mottos]

“Yes, our slice pies are cooked in a brick oven.” (Score)

“No. We do not use sausage that looks like dog food!” (Double score)

[16″ inch x-large pizza with ricotta and meatball – $11.99 + $1.50 per topping]

We ordered whole pies at first before discovering the slice specials. This one above has meatball and ricotta. The whole pie has a thin, sort of soft crust with a good amount of sauce. I liked how their sauce tasted – not too tangy and not overly sweet. Everything tasted fresh!

[sourdough garlic bread – 4 slices for $2.49 (i had already eaten a slice…)]

I love how thickly cut the slices of garlic bread are – nice, hearty slices of sourdough. Not too heavy with the garlic (not enough in my opinion) so it will sit well with most folks. Little sprinkle of herbs in there, too, but it’s just a hint.

Next up… the slice specials – cheap and delicious!

Continue reading “milo’s pizza & subs / college area – san diego, ca”