Lucky Devils

This is a pretty cool place with great beer, and good reasonably priced food. Mainly a BBQ place I guess but they have lots of different things including pizza. This is not a pizza place. I shouldn't even waste my time talking about it, but I went there and of course couldn't resist the pizza and now I feel I have to share it with the masses.

If a pizza is called Margherita, that really does it for me. For some reason when you call it that instead of a cheese pizza it makes you believe that the pizza will be better, more legitimate. Smart marketing. On top of that Luck Devils says their pizza is grilled. So I can't say no to a grilled Margherita pizza. They also boasted that it was big and made a claim that I might have trouble finishing it. They of course did not know who they were dealing with. The pizza was oblong in shape. It came out on a wooden board and I'd say it was about 5 in x 15 in or so, maybe bigger. I had no trouble finishing it and let it be known I had a bowl of soup and a few beers before hand.

( Sorry for the terrible pics)

The pizza was indeed grilled, based on most obviously, the charred lines on the bottom. It tasted grilled too. The crust was light, crispy and thin and had good flavor to it. It also had a firm chewiness to it. I'd say the crust was the highlight, though not perfect, it was a little dry. The cheese and sauce were put on in good amounts and in good proportion to each other. Not oily at all, everything tasted fresh. The cheese didn't blow me away but was satisfying. The sauce was what let me down mostly. It was fresh, but a little too much plain tomato flavor. It wasn't spiced really that much, and it's not like the tomatoes were San Marzano ones either. The other weird thing was I thought they said there would be basil, as there should have been but instead there were green specs of some other plant, that was definitely not basil. As crazy as it seems I think it was parsley. Either way you couldn't taste it.

I liked the size, it was just enough to eat and the price was about 10 or 11 dollars I think. I liked that it wasn't too wide and the pizza was cut in strips so you could actually fold each strip in half and eat it like you would a NY slice. Other than that, a decent pizza from a place that doesn't "do" pizza, but certainly not the best in LA.

Lucky Devils

6613 Hollywood Blvd. 90028

323-465-7177

Price: $$

Overall:

NY & C Pizzeria and Bar

Finally some good pizza in Santa Monica. This place is open late, sells slices, and has a good grouping of beers on tap. Not to mention a few good slice and beer/soda deals. They only have one size, 20 inch large pizza. This is a couple inches larger than your traditional large. So we got half cheese, half sausage and green peppers. It was $ 22 with tax. We did not get any Chicago style pizza, seeing as I dont know anything about that style. So this is a NY review only

It is a small cozy place with one side decorated in NY pictures and the table w/ NY times articles, the other side has Chicago items in similar fashion.

Just by looking at it, you know it is going to be good.

A thin crust, that was cooked nice and crispy with a little chewiness to it, also it had great flavor. The cheese and sauce were put on in good amounts. The sauce had a light, fresh, sweet taste to it with just the right amount of spices. It of course wasn't perfect. The main problem I had was that the size of the pizza created a soggy and floppy texture to the crust on half of every slice. What also added to this problem was the amount of grease that oozed from the sauce and cheese. I like a little grease, so this wasn't too bad to me. Though it didn't help with the sloppy center of the pizza. That being said, the crust was tough enough to hold together. It did not fall apart, it just drooped a little.

Overall it was a pretty classic pizza, very NY style. It wasn't the best but it had good flavor and was satisfying and filling and I had a good time eating it. Which is all I can ask for.

VIDEO REVIEW

NY & C Pizzeria

1120 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica 90401

310-393-9099

Price: $$

Overall:

Tomato Pie

I recently returned to Tomato Pie Pizza Joint, on Melrose. One of their 2 locations.

I heard their grandma Pie was the best, so I felt I needed to be in the loop.

So if you wish read my update for Tomato Pie.

Thanks