Sprouting Broccoli, Cheddar and Calabrian Chili Pie - YUMMY AS HELL. I don’t think I ever had cheddar on a pizza.
Undercarriage shot - this controversial char definitely works for me
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Went this AM for breakfast - doozy of a crowd. As usual - lots of good to great looking folks. I was for sure one of the older and uglier (nasty chihuahua in the outdoor eating area got first place if I was judge).
Lodge’s food has presence. Think theatre - the actors’ presence, voices and movements are large and exaggerated. Often times the props are as well - bigger than normal so the audience can see it and take in its symbolism. Lodge reminds me of the theatre in that almost everything there is like the theatre. Large in format, big and generous in the ingredients. Their sandwiches, toasts, cinnamon rolls, cookies and brownies are sized for big appetites, or more often to be shared.
We ordered vegetarian. Roasted vegetable grilled (panini-pressed) sandwich, hummus and pita, shakshouka w/ egg.
Or - one of the co-workers - has a strong Mediterranean background (Morocco and Israel and…?) so ordering the Med-dishes was elementary.
The hummus and pita was very good. The hummus - topped with pine nuts, an infused olive oil (maybe zaatar) and parsley was pretty good (was hoping for more umami like Hummus B&G) but the pita was really good - substantial and fresh. Pita is a very elementary bread in flavor, as is this one, but the textures were really nice - they cut the pita into quarters give it a quick toast…
The shakshouka comes with a generous portion of bread. The depth of flavor in the shakshouka is pretty amazing - so much so that my carb- and char-fearing wife actually finished the bread on the shakshouka. The rich deep orange egg yolk blended so well with the rest of the dish. Scooping the shakshouka on to some pita and hummus was fantastic as well.
The grilled sandwiches are giant. The bread slices are from their artisan loaves/boules/you know and are thickly cut along the length. This makes the slices about 12-14 inches long. The ingredients are very generous as well. It appears they sauteed the vegetable mix first (I think green garlic, broccoli, potatoes), lay it on the bread with some sort of fresh cheese and panini this - browned to perfection. The Goliath two halves are served with baby potato salad, a little saurkraut and pickled carrots topped with dill. We barely finished half of a half.
We sat at the counter which faces the prep counter by the oven. Watching one of the cooks assemble the ham and cheese sandwiches, I was surprised how large and thick the pieces of bread were and how much thick-sliced ham was packed on to the bread already loaded with mustard seed and cheddar. If you’re hungry - really hungry, the grilled sandwiches are the way to go.
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That is so great you checked out the sandwiches, they sound perfect for the boy’s teenage appetite. Thanks!
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The third grilled sandwich on the menu was albacore. So vegetarian, meatatarian and pescatarian. If your son eats anything the ham & cheese is a slam dunk.
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Thanks @bulavinaka. Did you notice any of the pizzas or bread this morning looking like the extra dark char from before their remodel?
Probably too early for pizza when I went. As for breads, they now have a self-serve set up on a turnstile. The breads are in bags so it’s hard to tell unless you pull the individual bagged breads and look inside. Only taking a quick look, it appears to be about the same. Most on the darker side, some a little lighter.
Honestly though - the bread that came with both the shakshouka and the sandwich had crusts that were on the darker side. The shakshouka was so flavorful and the sandwich was panini-pressed so well that we didn’t notice the crust as an issue. The bread as a whole was very good.
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I spent a long time trying to decide between the pizza I had and the ham and gruyere sandy. Can’t wait to return for that hunk.
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Has anyone else tried to homemade Espresso Soda? Good stuff.
These sandwiches are monstrous. The mustard they use is almost all mustard seed - I personally find that type of mustard maybe too mild - they do put a lot on.
Okay, I love char on my pizza and frequently complain to anyone who will listen about California blonde crusts, but even I have to admit the pizza in that pic’s torched beyond edibility.
The thing is, when you use those super hot ovens, there’s so little room for error. Fingers crossed they get more consistent as the pizzaiolo’s gain experience.
I don’t usually like pizza with that much edge crust either. If the crust is good, though, like at Pizzeria Mozza say, I can roll with it.
I’ve decided that this is my lot in life on the westside. Add “poor,” too. I feel this acutely when I go to the FM in Brentwood or the Palisades and when I can’t bring up how I saw one of the neighbors while at an Italian villa (which, I swear to God, was one of the conversations I heard at the Palisades FM). There was also a Bentley Bentayga outside of Vito’s last night. Perhaps they use whatever grease spills onto the supple leather as conditioner.
At any rate, great report. Now that Lodge has normal business hrs, I feel a sandwich craving coming on… 
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LOL! Such is life. I’ve told my kids that there’s always going to be someone who is better looking, more popular, and richer than they are. And that if those qualities are what are important to them, life will torture their souls until they either realize that these are such a petty values or they have no soul left.
My daughter (the iPhone addict) shocked me yesterday when she said she’s having second thoughts about the whole social media thing - too much drama and pettiness not only with celebs, but more so with her friends. Is there hope? 
Lodge has expanded their hours into relatively late at night - they’re closed Mondays. The parking can be pretty tough though.
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pizzas every day and breakfast time ?
I didn’t ask, but maybe even pizzas AT breakfast time? Lodge used to be a bakery that offered some prepared dishes based on their bread, with limited hours. They’re pretty much now an eatery and a bakery that operates from morning to kinda late evening six days a week - with beer & wine. Their menu is still somewhat small - mostly based on bread or their pizza. But they seem to keep adding a dish here and there over time - good tend.
Do they have beer and wine license ? Or waiting ?
Someone? Anyone?
I asked today and the guy said, “about a week, maybe?”, with a comme ci comme ça hand motion.
So not certain of specifics related to their license and status of their ability to sell beer and wine, but the ABC shows their license as Pending issued Nov. 2016, and that their 220 form is outstanding…that could mean a number of things as the 220 investigative procedure/sign-off covers a lot of information. It may be as simple as just needing a signature from a co-applicant that got missed. A common reason for the delay is to obtain police department clearance, or planning/zoning clearance from the local jurisdiction (Culver City in this case). For that, sometimes it’s a simple administrative clearance, other times it can be more involved (e.g., for zoning conditional use permit or similar). They could possibly operate under a 120-day license issued by the ABC under certain circumstances that allows them to sell beer/wine while a license transfer is being completed. Whether any of this relates directly or indirectly to the response given by “guy” and why the license is pending …dunno.
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Tried the new Lodge Bread Co. the other day. The pizzas were promising, particularly the crust. As I suspected, however, they’re having some consistency issues that keep it at the “good not great” level for me.
My friend ordered a white pie with arugula. His pizza came out almost immediately but was clearly undercooked. I don’t have an undercarriage shot of that one but there was little charring. The dough was raw at points inside.
My flowering broccoli with cheddar pie came out quite a bit later but was baked more evenly and thoroughly. Only half of one piece was slightly raw.
You can see in the undercarriage shot the contrast between the pale, undercooked dough on the left vs. the properly charred crust on the right.
About 3/4 of my crust was cooked perfectly. At its best, the crust is crisp yet pliable like good pizza should be, which bodes well for the future. Like @PorkyBelly, I was a little concerned about the large, puffy cornice. But it turned out to be the perfect vehicle for sopping up the pizza juices left on my plate.
My main complaint was that the flowering broccoli was too crunchy and raw for my taste. I wish they would roast it beforehand because the pizza doesn’t spend enough time in the oven to soften it up.
As I say, there’s promise here even if it’s not quite at the level I would like. I’m going to give them some time to work out the kinks and master that oven before giving them another try.
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From burnt to under cooked 
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