Pizza Pleasure at Pitfire Pizza

I just love alliteration. My blog name is certainly a good example of that, so of course, I couldn't resist stringing 4 "P" words for this blog title. All fun aside, I really did enjoy my pizza lunch at Pitfire as I have at other times including a Pizza and Wine Pairing and a Pizza Making Party that I did a few years back at their downtown Los Angeles location.

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I've also visited their North Hollywood location, but this time around, it was all about their restaurant in Culver City, which by the way, is a beautiful space  with a lovely red pizza oven and even some fun wall art.

I also enjoy an open kitchen which gives you a chance to see the chefs hard at work, like the one below who was doing his pizza thing.

As for the food, well, I started my meal first with a refreshing and fruity red wine sangria.

Then the first of two pizzas that my friend and I ordered arrived. That first pie was called the White Pie with creamy ricotta, mozzarella, red onion, Parmesan, torn basil and Mama Lil’s pickled peppers.  As soon as it hit the table, I did have one issue with it.

Namely, Pitfire didn't really do a good distribution of the ingredients. All you have to do is look at the picture below to see that the peppers and the basil were pretty much on one side of the pizza. If I wanted a slice of cheese pizza, I would have ordered it. All that aside, when I did bite into a slice that had all the ingredients on it, I definitely appreciated the slight vinegary tang of the peppers along with the peppery-sweet notes of the basil.

Our second pizza was playfully named Greens, Egg and Ham Pizza with braised rapini, a farm egg and Zoe’s natural prosciutto. I'm a sucker for yolky egg on a pizza.  Heck, I'm a sucker for yolky eggs on almost all foods from enchiladas to hamburgers to hot dogs. 

That yolk rounded the bitterness of the rapini and the saltiness of the prosciutto for a pizza so that the strong flavors of those two ingredients didn't overpower each other too much. All the flavors balanced out well and made for a delicious pie.  By the way, I wanted to briefly mention the crust.  It has a crispy-chewiness to it. The first bite through the exterior part of the crust has a small crunch, but the inside of the crust has a slight chewy texture to it. I prefer more of a thin cracker-crispy crust, but that didn't stop me from enjoying both pizzas.

Following the two pizzas came dessert in the form of the Pitfire Smothered Cookie which was a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  You really can't go wrong with a soft warm cookie smothered with all that goodness, so it was a nice way to end the meal.

Overall, I've never been disappointed with Pitfire's pizza offerings and what I like is that no matter which location I've been to, there's a really nice consistency with the food,. Basically, that  means a good meal at Pitfire is always the norm and not the exception. If you get a chance, drop in one of their locations, which also includes Downtown Los Angeles, West LA and North Hollywood. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Pitfire Pizza
12924 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(213) 258-5956


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Pizza Making Party at Pitfire Pizza

Last October, a fun time was had by all at a pizza making party at Pitfire Pizza Company in downtown Los Angeles. The event started with us arriving to tasty breadsticks. While we were munching on those, owner David Sandfield, gave us some history about pizza as well as his restaurant. For example, he told us how the name for the Margherita Pizza came to be.

Apparently, in 1889 chef Don Raffaele Esposito honored Queen Margarita with a special pizza topped with the colors of the Italian flag-tomato (red), basil (green) and mozzarella (white) and hence the name "Margarita" was formed. It is the 'base' pizza of any pizza shop worldwide.

David also gave us some background on Pitfire Pizza. He and his partner, Paul Hibler, run a company called Deluxe Motion Picture Catering, a catering company that caters to tv and movie sets. With their pizza, which they normally barbecue on grills, being one of their popular selling items, they finally decided to open up pizza restaurant in North Hollywood. Soon after, they opened a downtown LA location and just recently a location in Westwood.

Their pizza dough is handmade daily from a proprietary recipe. In fact, they trust just one baker to make their dough, and he has perfected the craft over the past eight years. Every batch is handmade and fired in a 750 degree ceramic oven. Their philosophy is to also use fresh local ingredients sourced from farmer's markets.

Soon after his talk, we went behind the line and David gave us more specific information about what his pizza dough is made up and it's not just flour and water. There's a definitely a lot more to it than that. Then we were given a demonstration of how to first shape the dough on a floured board into a "pancake" and stretch it out using our fingertips. Then it's to the air as we were taught to take the now flatter pizza dough and using our finger tips turn it like a wheel, at the same time, stretching it out even more to make it thinner. It's not as easy as it looks and unfortunately, I was all thumbs.

Afterwards, we were able to sauce our pizzas and add whatever toppings were calling to us. Of everyone in the group, I was the only one who wanted a white pizza. Instead of red sauce, my pizza dough had olive oil spread on it before I added the rest of the ingredients. A couple of us even got to put our pizzas in their 750 degree oven.

As part of the event, we also got to tour their downstairs kitchen/commissary. This downstairs kitchen is where all the dough and sauces are made for all three Pitfire Pizza locations. Chefs are there everyday at 5:30 am to start work. Those appliances were huge. We saw everything from their large sauce cooking pot to this one machine that once you put a handful of dough in it, it will shape it into perfectly sized balls of dough.

Eventually, we all sat down to a meal that included our pizza masterpieces, salad, dessert. What was cool was that no had the same exact pizza. Everyone really used different ingredients. There was even some pizza trading going on, which allowed some to do a nice sampling of what other ingredients people used for their pizza. Overall, it was a delicious way to spend a few hours.

To see all the pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157602924411895/

Pitfire Pizza Company
108 West 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-808-1200
www.pitfirepizza.com

Pizza and Wine Pairings at Pitfire Pizza Company

Being always on the look out for fun food and wine combinations, I set up a pizza and wine pairing event with Pitfire Pizza Company and my dining group came along to share the experience.

Pitfire Pizza Company prides itself in using fresh local ingredients for most of the items on their menu and that definitely showed in the 6 different pizzas we sampled that night. Of the six, two stood out.

First, there's the asparagus and egg pizza. Yes, you are reading correctly. Asparagus and egg pizza. Along with the asparagus and an oven-poached egg, ingredients also include Tuscan proscuitto, roasted garlic, fontina cheese and lemon zest. Dare I say that with the ham and the egg, it's almost like a breakfast pizza, for surely, I could eat this pizza morning, noon or night. With all its many textures and flavors, from the crunch of the asparagus to the subtle tartness of the lemon zest, each bite felt like a wonderful surprise party.

But my absolute favorite pizza of the night was called Deidre's Bianca, inspired by Pitfire Pizza's Marketing Director, Deidre. Ingredients for this pizza included a mix of dandelion greens, black Russian kale, arugula with herbed ricotta, mozzarella and roasted garlic. What I loved about this pizza was the flavor profiles of the greens, which leaned towards being peppery, a little bitter and overall, packed punches of strong flavor. The herbs in the cheese served as a great enhancement to the greens while some of the sweetness of the roasted garlic ensured that everything was in balance.

Here I have been raving about the pizza, but have yet to even mention the pizza and wine pairings, which were a welcome change from the regular standby of pizza and beer. However, I found something amusing about the whole business of eating pizza with my hands while twirling a wine glass in between bites. It was definitely an "Inner Child" meets "Grown Up Sophisticate (or at least the Sophisticate of my own mind)" kind of thing.

Since I'm more of a foodie than a wine enthusiast, I can't necessarily speak well about the wine we had for the evening. I can say that some pairings worked better than others. For example, I really enjoyed the Rock Rabbit Sauvignon Blanc 2005 with the Heirloom Tomato Pizza. It was a wine that was a bit citrusy and mellow and balanced well with the sweet acidity of the tomatoes and the stronger flavor of the basil. On the other end of the spectrum, the Boutari Moschofilero, a Greek wine, bombed when paired with Deidre's Bianca pizza. It makes sense to pair the Bianca with a stronger red wine given that the greens on that pizza have a kick to them, but that wine was too over powering.

For many, pizza and beer may still be the way to go, but I think that pizza and wine also have their own merits and it's fun to experiment. With the variety of wines out there, you're certain to find a perfect marriage of pizza and wine and you'll probably have a lot of fun in the process, too.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594302638099/

Pitfire Pizza Company
108 West 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-808-1200
www.pitfirepizza.com