bottega louie

bottega louie
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

#25 on my 101 in 1001 list (50/143)
when it came time to go out for the m's birthday, i picked bottega louie because--he wanted something casual, we hadn't been before and they have two of his favorites, pasta and pizza. this place is so casual that they don't take reservations, but luckily, we didn't have too much of a wait, about 10-15 mins on a saturday evening. even though it's casual, it still feels upscale, so you feel like you're getting a nice meal without worrying about what piece of silverware to use.

we started by sharing the basic arugula salad with red onions in a lemon vinaigrette with shaved pecorino that was spicy from the fresh arugula and prepared well--light on the dressing. m chose a napoli pizza, which i thought was ok, not great. he enjoyed it. toppings include mushrooms, red onions, and olives with a tomato sauce. i liked that they put two of my favorites together--mushrooms and kalamata olives.

our waitress recommended the tagliatelle bolognese. i love bolognese, so couldn't argue with it. it was tasty, but not as good as i had imagined due to the expectations set by the waitress. i liked the delicateness of the pasta. we also shared a couple sides, including the lightly battered portabello fries and some arancini arrabiata, which are these fried rice balls. the portabello fries consist of portabello mushroom slices deep fried. the crispy breading added some texture, and it was yummy with the pesto aioli. i enjoyed the smokiness and crunch from the bits of bacon in the arancini. they have quite a selection of sides, so if you didn't want to fill up on an entree, you could get a few sides. another plus is the amount of wine you get, when you order by the glass. you get a half glass typical of most places, then extra in a small carafe to refill the glass. etiquette is often such that you only get a partial glass even though you are supposedly ordering a glass. it was nice that wasn't the case here.

for dessert, i had an eclair from their pastry shop. it was ok as far as eclairs go, but the peanut butter terrine the m picked was excellent. the combination of slightly salty peanut butter with rich chocolate was so good.

overall, i think the meal was enjoyable, and found the ingredients to be fresh and high quality, but the ambiance lends itself to being more of a fun place to go as a group where you don't have to worry about being loud. they have plenty of large tables, and the place gets pretty loud due to the carpetless flooring and high ceilings no matter how quiet people are. we weren't too bothered by the noise, but it's definitely not the place to go if you're looking for a romantic evening. service was fast and friendly. they have a great selection of deli and dessert items for quick take out, too.

my only complaint was the cost. though i thought the food was tasty, i don't think it was special enough to warrant how much they charge. it seems that you could get similar offerings cheaper elsewhere.

mulberry st. pizzeria

mulberry st. pizzeria
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

#25 on my 101 in 1001 list (18/143)
i love thin crust pizza, but wasn't wowed by the pizza here. as far as flavor, it's ok. others recommended the white spinach as their specialty, but that turned out to be my least favorite. the sauce had gelled into a solid mass that wasn't exactly cheesy, more of a tofu texture, and lacking in any flavor.

the most interesting pizza was the combo half lasagna, half eggplant we ordered. the slices of breaded eggplant stayed crunchy and was good with the tomato sauce, while on the lasagna half, the acidity of the tomato sauce broke up the heaviness of the ricotta.

we also had a half cheese, half cheese with sausage, meatball and mushrooms, which were good. the meat added a lot of flavor to the tasty cheese pizza. they put the right amount of cheese so it wasn't too goopy, and the crust was nice and crunchy.

i wouldn't drive far for their pizza, but if i lived in the neighborhood or happened to be in the neighborhood craving pizza, i would recommend it for that. it's a very traditional pizzeria, typical of what you would find in new york. however, i wouldn't say it was among the best here or in new york. i find it interesting that it maintains it's casual dining and traditional (and authentic) new york pizza by the slice persona in spite of being in beverly hills.

petrillo's pizza

petrillo's pizza
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

Petrillo's, a mom & pop pizzeria that also serves italian favorites, makes good old fashioned pizza. Their tomato sauce is sweet and salty, and they load their medium thick pizzas full of hearty ingredients. Though I prefer thin crust pizza, i thought this pizza was tasty, and like the proportion of the ingredients to the crust.

I went with a group, and we tried several of their pizzas, including the petrillo specialty, which is a supreme pizza with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, onions and green bell peppers. They don't skimp on the toppings, especially the meat, on this one, which was the group favorite. The sausage was quite tasty with bits of fennel seeds that added a lot of flavor.

We also had a half pepperoni & black olives, half canadian bacon and pineapple, which they loaded up with toppings. Both were hearty and good combinations of flavors. The bianca, which has no tomato sauce, but is topped with mozzarella and romano cheese, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil, was the least favorite of the pizzas. It wasn't bad, but it was a little bland. The fresh basil was a nice touch, but with no tomato sauce or meat, it was on the cheese-y side. I think if they added pesto, it would be perfect.

In addition to the pizzas, we tried the antipasta salad, which consisted of italian cold meats, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, roasted peppers, black olives and pepperoncini over lettuce. The salad was a good balance, and quite large--enough to feed at least four people. We were tempted by another table's order of spaghetti and meatballs, which comes with several huge meatballs. The pasta was ok. I thought the sauce was good, and overall, the dish was typical of a mom and pop place.

I haven't tried any of the other dishes although the owner recommended the lasagna, but I felt that of the things we had, the pizza really was the star.