No pizza unless you count a tlayuda at Guelagueza. Genwa, Ham Hung, Angelini, Marvin, Terra @ Eataly, Chicas @ All Season Brewery, Girl & the Goat, Pearl River Deli, Pajoli, Pao Jao, Bari, Lolo, Zankou, Tabula Rasa.
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Re: 20 years ago, I was thinking the exact thing before you wrote it.
I moved to la in 1997 and I remember the plethora of pizza laments on Chowhound, and how jgold loved that place in echo park (but only if you got it with sausage and? Can’t remember… For the pizza was actually pretty awful. I got it once with mushrooms, which came grey and limp fresh from the tin, and realized how terrible the actual pizza was then).
When I found Vito’s (when it was on Vermont) it felt like the greatest discovery. Then he disappeared and reopened on la cienega, was it? I’ve not lived in la since 2015 so am a bit out of the loop. Did anyone ever find out why Vito disappeared? One of those Chowhound mysteries that has lingered in my mind (along with the sudden disappearance of exilekiss, though I know that’s been debated here recently). I asked Vito one time and he was really vague about it.
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Vito did reappear on La Cienega nr SM Blvd…since then he expanded to SM Blvd nr 26st in SM…I think he made a deal re: use of his name, sauce, recipe…
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Casa Bianca
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Yup, that’s the one.
What was the pie he liked? I thought it was sausage with something else. Don’t remember & not sure where my Counter Intelligence book is anymore.
How’s that pizza place next to Bludso’s?
Eggplant is what I recall.
that’s what I recall as well because, yes, they use mushrooms from a can
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In the 30-year-old review I linked to, he said roasted garlic with the sausage, and also recommended the fried eggplant pizza.
whatever they put on it, once at Casa Bianca was once too often…ugh
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That’s the one. Sausage and eggplant.
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Post some pics? Steaks, burgers, chicken fried steak?
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see, we apparently have different tastes… As someone who grew up in suburban Chicago, Casa Bianca is a near perfect version of every family run red checkered tablecloth pizza-and-pasta Italian place we’d frequent in my youth. In particular, it’s as close as I’ve come to recreating the Saturday night with the grandparents haunt of my youth, Esposito’s on Waukegan in Morton Grove, IL (no longer there). All Bianca lacks is a jukebox with “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” in it and a videogame room with Donky Kong Jr. and Mr. Do.
As the numerous reviews stated, they’ve never heard the term ‘al dente’, the pizza is midwest thin and somewhat of a salt bomb (and square cut!) and even living in Glendale for 5 years I never got there as much as I’d have liked. The whole place feels like a big ol’ hug to me.
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lectroid, I completely understand your sentimental attachment…enjoy every moment and every bite!
Oh, wait, I did have pizza. Not like me to go a week without any.
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nice…im not a fan of the “attitude” and since there are so many great pizza options in LA…(I can’t believe I just said that)I don’t have to support them!
nice…im not a fan of the “attitude” and since there are so many great pizza options in LA…(I can’t believe I just said that)I don’t have to support them!
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No attitude on my visit, but it was the middle of the afternoon and slow.
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