Pizza – Page 8 – mmm-yoso

Its on Convoy and not pho…Rosa’s Pizza…but, don’t get the pizza

January 23, 2007 Cathy Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Kirk is not blogging, Cathy is.

Hi. You’ve seen this place, and so have I. There was a coupon, The Mister was leaving work, I was hungry, blah, blah, blah. If you go to Nijiya then walk to Sakura…well they are in adjoining malls, and this place is right between them…behind the Mexican place that is in the Nijiya/Curry House parking lot and also next to the Wings and Things in the Sakura/Original Pancake House parking lot…directly facing Convoy.

Since we have been to Italy, The Mister and I are always looking for the “correct” flavors and smells that remind us of those fun times we had (well, I had a fun time, The Mister was attached to the USS. John F. Kennedy and technically working while we were there, but at least there was only one airfare to be paid)… so far, as close as we can get is the Filippi’s on India Street, with the grocery store in front…still.

So, the menu here at Rosa’s is a sort of everything Italian deli place: pizza, hot and cold sandwiches, pasta…oh and buffalo wings.

So, this being the first time, The Mister ordered a one topping pizza and chose mushrooms ($9.99 regular price). Pretty much cheese pie is what we usually get. Its hard to mess up…but boy, if I had only bought myself a Lottery ticket that night… odds are I would not have hit a jackpot, not even one number! It looks like a good pizza, right?

Lots of cheese, a hand tossed crust with the edges tightly rolled, fresh sliced mushrooms…and no salt, no herbs, no olive oil flavor, no flavor at all…the sauce was more or less salt free tomato sauce. The cheese was real- it was stringy, but no flavor. The mushrooms were fresh, not canned. The crust was not too thin and not thick, not chewy and…no flavor. It was odd. I ended up putting anchovies, garlic salt and Parmesan on the plate, just to rub chunks of the pizza in to get some kind of flavor. When I had a leftover slice reheated in the toaster oven the next morning…still nothing. Rosas_002 ..and the crust was way crispy and cracker-like.

But, the saving grace was the buffalo wings The Mister had the sense to also buy. One dozen for $6. HOT wing sauce….and a good size portion of a blue cheese/ranch dressing dip. Meaty wings, not too fried or crispy and coated with a lot of the hot sauce. I could have eaten a few dozen of these. The best wings I have ever had were from Foggy’s Notion, across from Kobey’s Swap Meet, but Foggy’s is long gone. The ones here were darn good.

To be fair, I have to go back and try the sandwiches, you can get two 16 inch sandwiches for $12.75, but I really don’t want the pizza again.

Rosa’s Pizza 3860 Convoy Street, #100 San Diego 92111 (858) 278-1223

Tommy’s Italian Ristorante

November 30, 2006 Cathy Italian Restaurants, Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Its just Cathy blogging today.

Hi. There is this place in El Cajon, on 2nd at Persimmon. Its been there for 30 years now, always owned by an Italian family.

The style of cooking here is Sicilian, which is to say, there are Greek, Arabic as well as Italian influences to the food…kind of like Puerto Rico is a US Territory and you would not say that Puerto Rican food is “American food”, Sicilian food is not totally Italian…Sicily is an island off the tip of the “boot”, therefore south of Naples and pretty much rivals Naples with flavors…using sardines and local seafood in a lot of the dishes as well as fresh (buffalo) mozzarella. Caponata (eggplant salad) is also a regional specialty.

Since we had eaten all we could for our Thanksgiving Day, the Mister and I decided some good, basic Italian was in order…nothing fancy.

We got the large antipasti salad …(Oh, and a side of anchovies for me). The salad was a nice antipasti, with mostly iceberg lettuce, lots of olives(The Mister *hates* olives, so all for me), a good Genoa salami and mortadella and a very nice provolone, topped with oil, vinegar and dried oregano. This was the large size ($9.95) and we had plenty to take home for tomorrow. If you get this salad as a “to go”, it comes in a small pizza box and there is even more lettuce.

The large cheese pizza arrived (we had a coupon for $3 off a large pizza..we did take home half of this and it made for a great breakfast and snack the next day).
I know, it kind of looks like its not done; the cheese isn’t burnt or bubbly…
but , as you can see from this cross section, its kind of all cheese and not much sauce, which is how I usually ask for it at some places where the sauce is too strong in flavor…here, the sauce is mostly chopped (canned, with a great flavor) tomatoes, oregano and olive oil..what The Mister and I consider “proper” pizza sauce (we spent some time in Italy many years ago).

There is a small Deli inside with a pretty good selection of Italian meats and cheeses, as well as other items imported from Italy. It doesn’t have the smell of a more authentic deli, Like Filippi’s in Little Italy…probably because there aren’t any dried salted fish here. The deli is a good source if you are in East County and don’t want to drive downtown. There are three different imported Panettones available for Christmas on sale now: Original, one with milk chocolate baked into the dough (the dough is part white and sort of striped with chocolate”sticks”) and one made with Limoncello cream…(lemon liqueur)…

Stop by if you are in the neighborhood; you’ll leave satisfied and happy.

Here are some pages from the rather large menu.

Tommy’s Italian Ristorante and Deli 1190 Second Avenue, El Cajon (619) 440-2676

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2006 mmm-yoso Pizza

Yes, and it's a happy one in the mmm-yoso household, let me tell you that much. I came home to this:

A really nice V-Day & B-Day gift. Needless to say, I'm thrilled, and even though the Missus has to work tonight, at least this'll keep me busy for a while. Isn't She great!

Where's the food you may ask? Well, I needed something fast and easy, and though we don't eat much pizza, we decided to grab one from the neighborhood pizza joint. In this case it's called Mountain Mike's:

Even though the pizzas are a bit on the pricey side, Mountain Mike's does a decent job, and I think is probably better then many of the other chains. One thing I did notice on this visit; "Mike's" had been cleaned up, with new signage, and the interior had been spruced up. I chatted briefly with one of the Young Men, who I know has been working there for a while. Turns out this location has new Owners, and they've made some improvements on the premises. To show you how often we eat here; the change occurred six months ago. Like I said we don't eat pizza at home much.

As with most chains "Mike's" always has some coupon deal going on. Today was buy 1 medium, get 1 medium, single topping free. As it turns out, the Missus enjoys the pepperoni.

She's also a "cold pizza eater", and Mike's pizzas are pretty good cold.

As for me I always get the "Everest", AKA deluxe pizza, at $16.95, kinda expensive for a medium pie, but a real bargain as we get a pizza free.

One of the reasons that I enjoy this pie, is that the toppings include Linguisa(Portuguese-style sausage), not the Portuguese Sausage I grew up with, tastes more like Chorizo, but still it's fairly close. The crust of the pie is decent, and if not undercooked, a bit crusty, though maybe a bit too "bready". The sauce is slightly tangy, and it;s not overloaded with cheese. It's just a nice neighborhood pizza! And I'm a bit distracted today anyway.

As the commercial goes; "Don't bother me, I'm busy…" I'll try not to get pizza stains on the plasma screen. Oh-oh, some assembly required, this might take a while……..

Happy Valentine's Day, best wishes to You and Your Loved Ones!!!

Mountain Mike's Pizza
3089 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

And to the Missus – I am not worthy, I am not worthy…but you know that already, or as you say all-readieeee!

Bronx Pizza

June 17, 2005 mmm-yoso Pizza

Speaking of Pizza…. I had a scheduled lunch "trip" canceled because of illness. Because of all of the discussions about pizza going on elsewhere; OnoKineGrindz to be exact, guess what I wanted??? Pizza, of course.

Now if you live or work anywhere around the Hillcrest area, or San Diego for that matter, the only pizza is "Bronx". Alot has been written about Bronx Pizza, so I won't delve into too much detail. Bronx makes New York style pizza (duh!), that would be thin crust, and uses bottled water, and whole milk mozzarella. The recipe is supposedly 30 years old – all I know is that it's one really good pizza. Delici-yoso!

Bronx can be quite a scene, at lunch time the line can stretch out down the street, and there's almost no parking to be had, except for three metered spaces out front. Park in the next door lot at your own risk.

The best deal is two slices and a soda for $6.00, the slices are almost better than a whole pie. Heated in a brick oven you get a nice crispy, yet slightly chewy crust. The guy up front takes your order "Wadda ya want", you order he slides the slices into the oven, and you go and sit. Now this guy is something else; he knows what everybody orders. He'll be calling out "pepperoni, mushroom and pepperoni" or "whitestone" (BTW, that's ricotta, ask him if it's feta, and see what the reaction will be), try and grab someone else's slices and you'll be in for a fight! The place is decorated in what I call late 20th Century punch-drunk; it's small, dark, with photo's of boxers and boxing posters on the wall. Seems that Matt the owner used to be a boxer.

Today I had slices of Mushroom-pepperoni and Sausage – Meatball – Pepperoni. Both piping hot, with perfect sauce, great cheese. After the bite I did the "New York Fold" taught to me by a guy from Jersey; good to the last bite!

To get a good idea of the great sense of humor the Guys from Bronx have, all you need to do is read the FAQ on the Bronx Pizza Website.

Bronx Pizza
111 Washington St.
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 291-3341
Sun-Thurs 11:00am to 10:00pm
Fri-Sat 11:00am to 12:00am