Barone's

Welcome to Barone's, the first restaurant serving pizza in Southern California.  At least thats what their website says.  It was established in 1945 so I guess it's believable.  It is a classic old Italian restaurant inside, seems like a cool place to have a good dinner.  They are known for their pizza it seems, so I tried it out. 

I ordered a medium cheese pizza, which was 12 dollars.  When I asked how big it was they could only tell me 12 slices.  My response is the same as it always is, you can cut it into as many slices as you want.  Then I asked again.  It wasn't until I picked up the pizza that I saw the issue.  It is a rectangle shaped pizza.  It does indeed have a size and that size is 9'' x 12''.   

This pizza as you can see is extremely different than any other pizza I've had, probably most pizza you will get anywhere.  For one its a rectangle thin crust.  The crust was very thin and crunchy.  Not so much crispy as crunchy and chewy.  It was so dense and crisp that it actually got stuck in my teeth, like I was eating peanuts.  There was no doughy center.  Towards the middle the crust was a little less chewy but still retained the dense, thin and chewy traits.  It seems to have been cooked in a shallow pan similar to a chicago style deep dish.  The edges were more crunchy and hard then the center as a result.  

The sauce was a heavier tomato sauce similar in style to a pasta/marinara sauce with a lot of flavor and spices.  The cheese was put on generously as was the sauce.  There was a deep orange liquid on top that I at first thought was more sauce but actually was the oil that seeped through the cheese.  It was a very greasy pie. 

I really enjoyed the flavor of this pizza.  It is not by any means your traditional flavor of pizza.  It is really different, as I said.  The sauce, rich with spices is an explosion of flavor and the cheese and oil mix well with the whole pie.  The crust is something completely different as well, which I did not prefer.  Some people might and probably do swear by it.  The dense and chewy crust just seemed more annoying than enjoyable to me. It stands out in the world of pizza and it is unique enough that you would order it at a sit down dinner.  

Barone's 

13726 Oxnard St. Valley Glen 91401

818-782-6004

Hours: 11am-12am on Sat. or till 9pm Sun. or 10pm Mon-Fri

Price: $

Overall: