Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana

Usually when I venture into Monterey Park, it's all about the dim sum; however, on the last day of the recent Labor Day holiday weekend, I found myself experiencing a wonderful tasting menu set up by a friend at the newly opened Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana.

Before I talk about the food itself, let me tell you briefly about what makes this pizza joint different from some of the other pie places in town. In the restaurant name, you'll see the words "Pizzeria Napolitana." What that means is that the type of pizza served at Bollini's is Neapolitan pizza, which has specific guidelines a pizza maker must follow before they can claim that their pizzas are truly Neapolitan.

For example, the specification clearly states that a pizza must have a 0.1" thick base, (a little more than a credit card), must use fresh mozzarella, must be thrown by hand, must use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and must be cooked in an 800F (or higher) wood-fired oven for no more than 90 seconds. These guidelines are governed by The Verace Pizza Napoletana Association in Italy. Look below for some links you may find interesting.

American Chapter of VPNA
http://www.verapizzanapoletana.org/vpn/vpn_frames-index.htm

Original Italian VPNA
http://www.pizzanapoletana.org/

Detailed English Translation of Specifications
http://www.fornobravo.com/vera_pizza_napoletana/VPN_spec.html

Now that we've got some learning out of the way, let's get on the topic of the food itself. First off, our tasting menu was pretty extensive. It included an appetizer, 3 salads, 2 pizzas, 3 pastas, an entre and a dessert and that didn't include the additional 3 pizzas our table ordered. Safe to say, we had to be rolled out the door, but wow, it was worth it.

We started off with fire roasted mushrooms stuffed with crab and Parmesan, which I enjoyed. It was a great starter for the extravaganza to follow. Of the three salads that came our way, my favorite was the Arugula Salad. The bite of the arugula was a wonderful backdrop to the sweet corn, the smoked bacon, goat cheese and the other ingredients that made up this salad.

Being a thin crust pizza lover, all the pizzas rocked my world in that respect. As you bit into the pizza, you'd notice a slight chewiness, but then you'd get to the cracker thin crispness of the crust which I liked a lot. When it came to the pizzas I liked the best, they were all absolutely delicious, but I was really drawn to the Lu-Lu, the Nonna and the Sardinia.

Usually when you think of pineapple on pizza, Canadian bacon is normally the accompaniment, but the ingredients for the Lu-Lu are comprised of a red sauce, cheese, bacon, pineapple, garlic, and basil. The bacon on the Lu-Lu was crispy pieces of appled smoked bacon as opposed to the more ham-like Canadian bacon. I also really enjoyed the addition of the garlic and basil leaves which added a wonderfully different flavor dimension to this classic pineapple pizza.

If you're a sausage and cheese lover, than you should definitely check out the Nonna. With mozzarella, fontina and Parmesan as part of the ingredients, this pizza is a cheese lover's delight and when you taste the sweet fennel sausage, which is Chef Bollini's recipe, this pizza is simply a must try.

From land to ocean, the last pizza I wanted to mention was the Sardinia. Yummy! If you think seafood on pizza is the way to go, you'll enjoy biting into this one with ingredients that include olive oil, calamari, anchovy, capers, onions, olives, tomatoes, mozzarella and black pepper. The flavors were bold and I just loved the savory saltiness that the anchovies and capers added to this pizza.

When it came to pasta dishes, what I liked about all of them was that the actual pasta itself was cooked al dente, more on the firm side. There's nothing more unappealing than mushy overcooked pasta. Of the three we tried, my favorite was the Pasta Del Postino, which was farfalle pasta with chicken, wild mushrooms, asparagus, shallots, peas, herbs, garlic and a gorgonzola cream sauce. I was already getting quite full, but I still finished my helping and even went for seconds.

As for the last 2 dishes, both are not currently on the menu but were made specifically for our group. One dish was a Branzino with peperonata and chard. The fish was cooked perfectly. It was light, moist and delicate. Our dessert, also off the menu, was a pastry crust with cinnamon and sugar stuffed with apples topped with ice cream. This dessert was actually cooked in their 800-degree wood-fire oven, which gave this dessert a wonderful carmelization.

Overall, this was an amazing meal and the pizzas were truly heavenly. This tiny restaurant may not look very fancy, but wow, the food is definitely fine dining all the way.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157601865192751/

Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana
2315 S Garfield Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(323) 722-7600

http://www.bollinispizzeria.com/

All'Angelo - CLOSED

While I like Italian cuisine, I don’t generally go out of my way to choose it for a restaurant outing, but when I do, the food has to be really outstanding for me to want to return. There’s been a couple that I liked and would go back if I was in the mood, but so far, there’s only been one that has made me a repeat customer for over 3 years. With my recent dinner at All’Angelo, my short list of favorite Italian restaurants definitely increased by one and rightly so.

Our evening started with our group ordering a record 8 appetizers. Suffice to say that everything was described so deliciously on the menu that the orders couldn't stop coming out of our mouths once our waiter showed up, pen in hand. Of all the appetizers that graced our table, I sampled three of them and Mama Mia, they were absolutely wonderful.

First, there was the Octopus Carpaccio with Tomatoes in Pizzaiola. The presentation alone was very eye-catching with a beautiful geometric pattern of thinly sliced octopus lying delicately across the plate. After taking a bite, I was happily surprised at how tender and moist the meat was. My previous experience with octopus was eating it as part of a Korean casserole and at that time, I found it to be a tasty, but very chewy experience.

Second, I delighted over the creaminess of the Timbale of Cauliflower with Mascarpone Sauce and I really enjoyed the Grilled Radicchio, which was both slightly bitter, but also had a hint of sweetness from the caramelization that occurred from the grilling.

A highlight of the evening was the salumi plate filled with delicious meats freshly cut from their vintage slicing machine displayed proudly next to the bar. By the way, we had to order this off the menu and at $25, it was worth it.

For my entrée, I had the Crusted Venison Loin, Wild Mushroom Ragout & Gnocchetti and it was wonderful. The venison was cooked perfectly. It was tender, moist and didn't have a strong gamey taste to it and was complemented by the lovely "woodsy" flavor of the wild mushroom sauce.

I also had a bite of the Calmaro Stuffed with Shrimp & Eggplant in Tomato Stew. Once you get over the shock of being presented with "stuffed torpedoes", it was quite tasty and thankfully, the squid was prepared just right without any chewiness to the meat in evidence.

There's always room for dessert and my meal ended with the Caramelized Meyer Lemon & Polenta Pudding with Lemon Sabayon. I've done my share of dessert eating over the years, but this sweet offering is decidedly one of my favorites so far. Its nutty, tart-sweet flavors combined with a textured-creamy consistency really made my taste buds sing and while I never like to order the same thing twice when I re-visit a restaurant, I may have to make an exception in this case.

Overall, the food was absolutely wonderful as was our service, which was both prompt and friendly. Like I said earlier, All'Angelo certainly won me over and is one Italian restaurant that I will be visiting on a more regular basis, or at least, as much as my pocket book will allow.

All'Angelo
7166 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 933-9540