Received this email today:
It’s a bit cryptic but I think they’re saying the El Segundo location is closed. Strange. I picked up a pizza there Saturday and it was busy as ever with no indication they were closing in three days. Lease issues maybe. Excited about the new Santa Monica location though. Sounds like a ghost kitchen perhaps.
linkedin has a posting for a kitchen manager for a ghost kitchen in Santa Monica for Grimaldi’s. Wonder where the kitchen is located…
OK here’s the problem though:
My understand was the El Segundo location had somehow had a grandfathered-in coal fired oven for the pizzas, which was why they went to that kinda odd-duck spot in the first place.
IMO Grimaldis has been the best NY pizza in LA (and my favorite in LA overall) since it opened
How will the new location affect the pizza, assuming my understanding is not mistaken? Seems like it won’t be nearly the same?
I’m worried, sad and hungry now. It’s a complex set of emotions!
Yeah. Me too. Although I am not surprised. A bulk of their business was work lunches (I took my staff there several times) and that area is not back to the office. It’s not a small place so, wherever local business they got was probably not enough to keep the coal ovens burning…:
Agreed! My favorite pizza in LA, though my last few pies almost warranted a “downhill alert.”
My understanding about the coal oven is the same as yours. But, I’m not sure I taste the coal difference.
Guess we will find out.
Yes, they are closed. I work in the building where Grimaldi’s is located and have worked here for a number of years. After receiving the e-mail mentioned in this post, I went down to see what was happening. On Wend. morning there was a crew taking away equipment/furniture and one of the kitchen crew with a card full of cut up vegetable toppings was headed for trash can. Everyone I spoke to mentioned that there last night of service was Tuesday. I believe the ovens were custom built and I wonder what will happen to them in the future as I could always smell the aroma when arriving for work in the morning. One thing to note is that they never opened up their interior dinning area post quarantine although business seem to be steady as businesses reopen. Luckily, I had dinner recently but will miss their Pizza.
Paging @Nemroz
Darn, really enjoyed the pizza here.
Also @ebethsdad
