They've been killing it with Photoshopping me into ridiculous pizza content lately. I love it, my friends are all creative types, artists, music producers, performers, all local to San Diego and Southern California. Not only have they been Photoshopping me into pizza things, but they've been gifting me all these AWESOME pizza things as well! Can't help but feel the love.
So there you have it. My friends are insurmountably awesome.
Please check out all the Art and Music pages I listed in the accompanying captions to the photos! You might just hear something that tickles your earbuds or see something that jiggles your pupils.
There is nothing better than innovation. Sometimes innovation can be a very simple difference, and that difference always has the potential to be a game-changer. This was one of those times.
Today, a colleague tagged me in a comment on a post from Taste of Chicago Wagon's Facebook Page (Like Them!), and they just so happened to be the visiting food truck today at my place of work, Sequenom Laboratories (Like us!). Naturally, I was giddy with excitement, as the concept of Pizza Fries was new to me, and something that was brought to my attention fairly recently.
There was no question as to what I was going to order. So I walked right up to the guy at the order window and asked for the Pizza Fries. He initially told me that they are unable to make them due to their oven being down and explained to me the amount of demand they've had for this particular dish since they've begun offering it in May. I told him, jokingly, how upset I was (I wasn't actually joking) and he apologized profusely. "Good thing you are coming back next week," I said to him.
Then the man at the helm of the kitchen (Chef Rigo Vallejo) said something to the man at the window about being able to try an alternate method of making them - and after a brief exchange between them - Jason Leon, the owner of the truck, offered them to me to try on the house. My eyes lit up and I asked myself, "is this real life?" Yes it most certainly was. He advised that this is an experimental version since their oven was not operational.
Here is the finished product:
Pizza Fries in all their glory.
It turned out pretty damn great, even for not being done in the oven. The sauce was dense with flavor and not watery in the slightest. The spice from the red chili pepper flakes was perfect, and the herby flavor from the oregano was prevalent but not overbearing. All in all, would pizza fry again. Good thing they are coming back next week. If you enjoy Chicago Style eats or just want to indulge in some Pizza Fry goodness, I suggest giving them a shot. I would never steer you wrong.
I first learned about breakfast pizza upon moving back to San Diego, after spending almost two years living in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was around May 2013, I had just started working for Sequenom Laboratories, and my bankers hours schedule allowed me to grab a bite to eat before work. In the interest of being healthy, I usually visited establishments such as Whole Foods. Little did I know I would find pizza, let alone BREAKFAST pizza at Whole Foods. The interest of being healthy was vehemently overtaken by my undying love of pizza.
Egg & Asparagus Pizza at Whole Foods La Jolla/Torrey Pines
What is breakfast pizza? It's pizza, with breakfast like ingredients, including but not limited to: eggs, bacon, ham, breakfast sausage, varying cheeses, veggies found in omelettes and scrambles not typically on pizza such as avocado, etc. Of course not all at the same time, but on different occasions, the pies had been topped with those ingredients. Some were your standard, egg, bacon, and cheese, others were more experimental.
The Egg & Asparagus Pizza has so far, in my opinion, been the "Holy Grail" of breakfast pizzas. A sunny side up egg, over medium, with roasted garlic, and asparagus. I will re-create this pizza at home one day, I'm still reeling from it. A balanced flavor profile of herby, cheesy, veggie goodness that was consistent throughout the whole gargantuan slice.
Definitely will pie again. If you've not had breakfast pizza yet, I recommend you try it one day. In San Diego County, Whole Foods does it, and so does The Haven in Kensington. I'm sure there are more, but these are the two that I know of off the top of my head.
Note: Not all Whole Foods do the same pizzas. The one in my blog post is at the La Jolla/Torrey Pines location, off of Nobel Drive.
And yes, I know what you're thinking, "Any pizza can be a breakfast pizza if you try hard enough."
You're wrong. That's just pizza for breakfast, not breakfast pizza. I'm an aficionado, not a slob.
In the neighborhood of Clairemont, in my beautiful hometown of San Diego, CA, Aladdin Cafe brings delicious, mediterranean inspired recipes to the world of pizza.
The crust they use is more or less akin to the consistency of a naan, chewy, almost fluffy but not crispy. Which was different yet worked with the flavors of the ingredients. I was happy to learn of this place's existence, being my middle-eastern, pizza-obsessed self, via my (amazing) friend Laura, who demanded I try this but not without her. Of course I obliged, and tonight we enjoyed pizza alongside our mutual friend (and her awesome roommate/best friend forever, transcending space and time) Julie, at their lovely home in University Heights.
This pie was named "Jafar's Pizza" and the toppings, per Aladdin Cafe's website, included:
"Delicious Marinated Pieces of Lamb, Herbed Onions, Three color Peppers, fresh Tomatoes with our Tahini Sauce ."
I want to say that the lamb was finished with a dusting of sumac, but I could be wrong. Either way, it was everything I could ask for in a middle-eastern/mediterranean themed pizza, and you should definitely go there, if you value my expert opinion. We didn't hesitate with the Sriracha and I happened to bring a couple of 22s of Ballast Point's Tongue Buckler, an Imperial Red Ale. Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed and will be going there in the future to try their other pizzas, and of course their more traditional dishes.
Please find the time to visit this place, and definitely try Jafar's Pizza. Yeah, the dude may have been a jerk to Aladdin in the movie, he is certainly making up for it indefinitely with this pizza.
I am probably that one friend of yours. A little rough around the edges. Doesn't give you the attention you deserve and talks about themselves constantly. Then you have these people, these saints, these magnificent bastards who dedicate themselves to the one true constant in life.
Hello friends, travelers, people of the Internet and beyond.
My name is Payam (Pie-yum), and I am the PizzAficionado. The goal of this blog is to spread my breadth of pizza knowledge upon the masses. I will occasionally review establishments serving pizza and pizza related dishes in San Diego County, where I reside, and while traveling to far and unknown lands. There will be pictures, poetry, videos and other content. I will try and keep things interesting instead of drab and hopefully even entertain some of you!
In my travels I have visited and enjoyed pizza in cities across the United States, including legendary pizza proprietors such as Chicago and New York City. I've also enjoyed pizza Internationally, though not in Italy (yet) but in places such as Iran, where pizza is very different, and parts of Western Europe and Mexico.
I've been inspired to create this blog due to the abundance of pizza and pizza related content brought to me by countless friends over the past two months. I have always had a deep appreciation for pizza, ever since I was a child living in Sacramento. My TMNT action figures sometimes came with tiny pizzas. Some even SHOT pizzas. I'd like to think this was the seed that was planted, 20something years ago, that has now blossomed into the beautiful loving relationship I have with pizza today.
So stay tuned, folks. The best is yet to come, and it will be in the form of pizza.
