Tag: pizza

Mary, Cooking with Jake, Products

“calzone” pita bread and mini naan pizzas with bonsavor flatbreads

Flatbreads, naan, pita breads, tortillas and more arrived at my doorstep in a big old box not too long ago. One look at it made me think, “Oh god, will I be able to use all of this before it goes bad? What am I going to make?!” I took a bunch of it over to Jake’s so his family could partake in the goodness from BonSavor. And then… something strange happened. The stars, the moon, the planets and the sun all aligned and Jake volunteered to cook and to make something with the flatbreads!

Oh my stars.

[BonSavor Pita Bread]

Jake has cooked instead of me maybe a handful times in our whole five year relationship. Once he made sloppy joe with ground pork and well… let’s just say that I still rib him about it from time to time.

Funny thing is that he was the first one of us to cook for the other. He made me a chicken dinner and I remember being impressed that he wanted to cook for me in the first place. I had never had a boy cook for me before!

The other funny thing? The first thing I ever made for him was some awful pasta salad and I absolutely hated it. Was embarrassed by it. Was convinced he only ate it to make me feel better. I had never made the recipe before and the flavors came out all weird.

To this day he still insists that it was good. Bless him.

[BonSavor Naan]

Imagine my surprise then when Jake not only wanted to cook but he didn’t want my help at all.

He was getting all serious on me. It was so cute!

He got the idea to use the pita bread as like an open faced “calzone”. He wanted to do something else with the naan, but at the last minute decided to use them to make mini pizzas since he couldn’t think of anything else. No problem with me!

[mini meatball pizzas on naan flatbread]

Jake made his own from scratch sauce and made little meatballs. He did a few variations – one with just cheese and meatballs (ricotta and mozzarella), one with both cheeses, sauce and meatballs, and one without ricotta.

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San Diego County, Mary, Little Italy, Downtown

isola pizza bar / little italy – san diego, ca

Isola Pizza Bar is a new joint that’s joined the little community of Little Italy. Chef Massimo Tenino is the owner, the restaurant named after his grandmother. His heart and soul has been put into this place as he told us about how he build and designed the place from the ground up.

[hanging lights]

These kick ass lights hanging above us was one of the first things I noticed when we entered and sat down in the restaurant. Chef Tenino told us that they were asparagus canning jars that he turned into lights for the restaurant. It felt so much more personal to know he had a hand in all aspects of the restaurant – it really is his baby.

[wood fire oven]

The restaurant also only featuring one cooking device – the wood fire oven. Everything is cooked in that oven, from appetizers and pizzas, and it serves as the heart and cornerstone of the restaurant.

Jake and I were also very impressed with our service and with our waiter, Alex. Alex was so on top of everything and very good at recommending dishes to us. He really sold us a lot of the dishes and was so passionate about the restaurant and it’s food – it was so refreshing to see! Attention to detail and service really makes your visit feel so much more welcoming and enjoyable.

Here’s a smiling Jake starting to enjoy one of our appetizers.

[focaccia with spicy olive oil]

This is the dish you get started off with – some simple focaccia bread with a flavored olive oil. The olive oil is flavored and seeped with chilies – they constantly are making new bottles and storing them away week after week to ensure they have a batch for their patrons. This olive oil had been working it’s magic for about 8 weeks. The spiciness of it kind of snuck up and hit me. I didn’t taste it at first, but after a few moments the rush of heat and flavor came through – surprising but very tasty.

[prosciutto wrapped tuscan melon]

Jake is in love with Tuscan Cantelope. He spotted this on the menu and just had to order it. The prosciutto was thin and draped over the melon instead of wrapped. Taking one bite gives you the sweetness from the perfectly ripe melon with the slight saltiness from the prosciutto. A perfect bite!

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Travel, Las Vegas, Mary

max brenner – las vegas, nv

I went on vacation last week! For the whole week! Man, it was awesome. Getting back to work and reality is kind of a bummer this week. But I get to relive it a little bit with my food recap posts. Score. For our Vegas trip we had four of us tagging along – myself, Jake, Chris and Laura.

I had read a few other blogger’s posts about visiting Max Brenner in Las Vegas – a restaurant that also has a chocolate shop within it and a separate “Chocolate Menu”. I couldn’t resist.

[Really Cheesy-Really Crunchy Mac & Cheese – 5 cheese blend with tomatoes and smoked applewood bacon – $15.25]

I got to pick a couple of dishes because my friends are cool like that and trust my judgement. I got consensus though. We shared all of our dishes so it was like we all shared a mini buffet together – but this way the food was fresh and a bit more interesting that the items you’d get at the buffet.

One of the dishes we started off with was this Mac & Cheese dish – it is true to its name in that it was pretty crunchy. It’s not really a very saucy or creamy mac and cheese but still quite good on it’s own. The top got very crisp and crunchy, lending a nice texture to the dish. I prefer a little creamier mac and cheese, but I still loved the crunch on this one and the blend of cheeses was quite nice.

[Asian Chicken and Soba Noodle Salad – veggies, wontons and sesame peanut dressing – $14.50]

I also picked a salad to lighten up the meal since mac & cheese can be heavy at times. This Asian Chicken and Soba Noodle Salad really hit the spot and surprised all of us at how good it was. It was a nice, light, refreshing salad that had a lot of textures and flavors going on – the mint gave it a good flavor, the soba noodles were delicious and the crunch from the veggies, peanuts and wonton noodles really made this salad come together. We cleaned up that dish pretty quickly and it ended up being one of our favorite items.

[Molly’s White Corn Croquettes – white corn & manchego cheese ball in panko bread crumbs – individual portion – $6.95]

I was intrigued by the description of these white corn croquettes and decided on getting the smaller sized portion. It turned out to be perfect since it came with four little croquettes – one for each of us! These croquettes are lightly fried with a creamy, cheesy inside. The white corn adds a bit of sweetness to the bite while the cheese oozes out. It’s a flavorful, crunchy little bite!

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Recipes, Products, Mary

homemade mashed potato pizza with cholula

Over the weekend I told Jake I was finally getting around to writing my post on URBN with their crazy mashed potato pizza. He casually suggested that I should try and remake that mashed potato pizza. He also hinted that he thought I could do a little better.

He is definitely a keeper.

One of the things I remember from our outing at URBN is that our waitress wisely suggested the addition of the Cholula sauce as a topping on the pizza. She was so right – it had given the pizza the extra “oomph” it needed and I ended up devouring a few slices. Not long after I was contacted by a rep asking if I’d like to sample their line of Cholula sauces. It all came together over the weekend when I received the samples and tried my hand at creating my own version of the mashed potato pizza.

[There’s more than one kind! From left to right: Original, Chili Garlic, Chiptole and Chili Lime]

A) Before being contacted, I had no idea there was more than one flavor and B) I had never had Cholula before we went to URBN.

I always thought Cholula would be “too hot” or “too spicy” for me, but actually it’s not that bad. It doesn’t have the kind of heat that lingers and then beats you up – it’s a gentler heat, more of a spice and kick of flavor than anything else.

Jake and I both tried each sauce with a spoonful of mashed potatoes to see what flavor we liked best. I balked a few times at the amount of sauce he poured on. He’d give me a look that said, “You’re kind of a wimp.” But he’d eat half of it so there was less sauce and then I was amiable to eating it again. Of the four, I like Original and Chili Garlic the best. The Chili Garlic has a good punch of garlic flavor mingling in with the original spice, making it one of my favorites. The Chipotle was a little too spicy and bold for me while the Chili Lime was just okay. Not being a huge fan of lime to begin with, I might have been a little biased against it.

[unbaked mashed potato pizza, ready for the oven]

Onto the pizza making! I bought my pizza dough from Trader Joe’s. I am determined to do my own dough soon, but it was not this day.

It’s best to let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes before handling (I do it while the oven is coming up to temperature). Spread a bunch of flour over a cutting board and just let it rest out of the package. It’ll be easier to work with once it gets rid of a bit of the chill.

I slowly flatten the dough once it’s been rested and then use my hands to gently spin it in the air. I don’t toss it around or anything, I just use my knuckles and keep moving it in a circle until it stretches out nicely. I find that doing it in the air is the easiest way, letting gravity do most of the work.

[mmm, pizza]
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San Diego County, Mary, North Park

mashed potato pizza & meatballs at urbn coal fired pizza / north park – san diego, ca

Awhile ago I saw that CC of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High went to URBN in North Park and had some Mashed Potato Pizza.

I remember being terribly intrigued by it – pizza… with mashed potatoes on it? Sounds totally crazy and weird, but I just had to try it.

Fast forward to a few months later and Jake and I finally made our way around to URBN.

URBN is a much larger space than I first thought. We sat in one of the booths on a Saturday afternoon. Both of the garage doors were open creating a nice cross breeze. It almost felt like we were sitting outdoors.

I kinda dug that our waitress brought us our own little carafe of water and little glasses. I like things like that.

After we placed our order, we also got this little condiment tray of extra spices. From left to right, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes and shredded Parmesan cheese.

[Housemade Meatballs – $9]

Jake and I shared this order of Housemade Meatballs. I usually like to get meatballs on my pizza, so I felt I had to make up for it another way by getting meatballs on the side. It comes served in a little cast iron pan with marinara sauce, a big dollop of sweet ricotta, Parmesan on top and a baguette on the side.

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North Park, San Diego County, Mary

anniversary dinner at alexanders / north park – san diego, ca

Hoo boy, I am behind in posts! My laptop issue isn’t quite solved just yet, but hopefully in a few more days I’ll be back to work using my own laptop instead of someone else’s (aka, my dad’s laptop). Using another laptop is not quite the same as using your own. Things are different and everything’s in a weird place and you don’t have your usual programs. Arrgghhh, frustrating.

Anyway, let’s talk about something fun! As in my 5 year anniversary dinner last month with Jake!

I had grabbed a coupon for a swanky little spot in North Park called “Alexander’s on 30th” to celebrate our special occasion. The place is definitely full of swank with their all-white decor inside on the restaurant. It creates a cozy, comfortable and romantic feel to the restaurant.

[Swanky interior in the daylight]

We got some bread in a basket to start with for our lovely anniversary meal.

[Crusty bread]

Jake let me pick out an appetizer to start with. He wasn’t much into it, but told me to “order whatever I wanted”. I was tempted to order something I would usually like (aka, something with just cheese, like their roasted garlic and brie) but instead opted for one of their crostini’s.

[Goat cheese bacon and honey crostini]

I don’t remember the exact name of this one – I don’t see it on their menu anymore – but it was a crostini with goat cheese, crispy bacon, herbs and a drizzle of honey. The bacon was super crispy (just the way I like it) and the creamy goat cheese gave it an intense flavor constrast. It was very light on the honey – I would have actually preferred just a tad more honey to balance out the richness of the goat cheese. While I did enjoy this, I found I couldn’t it too much of it since the flavors here were so intense.

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