Good Friday Evening

For our evening entertainment (aka eating), we decided to try a new-to-us place and a new-to-the-world place, both in Highland Park. I really do love Highland Park. I grew up in and around the area. I started out in HP but grew up in Cypress Park, where we now live. We are hoping to move into HP (fingers crossed), but that is a story for another post (or three, or four...).

First up:

Folliero's Pizza
5566 Figueroa St
90042
cash only

wow. this is quite possible my new favorite pizza place. omg. How could I have never eaten here before this day? I think the reasons that make a pizza great are a very personal matter. Sure, to some it's the sauce. To others, it may be the perfect ratio between cheese, toppings and dough. To me, it's the crust. I have wasted many calories on ill-conceived creations called "pizza" with hard as rock or oil-laden crusts (do not get me started on the scary cheese filled crusts some places sell). But not tonight. Tonight, I bit into light, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, naan-reminiscent but not really, yummy, yummy pizza crust. It was the first time I had anchovy pizza and it's really not bad. A bit salty for me, but oh, the crust. yum.

Sergio said it was almost like Italian pizza. Not exactly, but close, he said. Now that is high praise. I don't think I've ever heard him describe ANY pizza outside of Italy as similar to what he grew up eating. He was a happy Roman tonight.

For dessert, we stopped by the opening night of:


Good Girl Dinette
110 North Avenue 56
90042
cash only (for now?)

It is just down the street from Folliero and serves Vietnamese diner cuisine. At least that's what they say. It's a cute place with very comfy chairs that I now covet. We swung open the door and let the hostess know we were only there for dessert. The place was only a third full and we scored a prime window seat. There were only three desserts to choose from but when it's quality, who needs quantity? Seriously studied but not too complicated, both were exactly right. I'm a newbie blogger and I realize now that I should have written down the menu names of what we ate. I got a tartlike thing made of cornmeal/cornbready stuff (?) filled with farmer's market fresh strawberries. I know it's not a tart but I can't remember what it was called. He got the coconut bread pudding that our super nice waitress said was amazing. Both had the same perfectly wet but not runny sweet cream on top. (sorry..that sounded kind of naughty.) All I can say is, I want more. They're still selecting a coffee vendor so no coffee yet. But I can imagine it would be perfect eating these lovelies over (decaf) coffee or tea. If I knew the GGD crew like friends, I'd advise them to go with Intelligentsia since they've got a local roasting facility. But Butter Tart serves it too. I wonder if they're like me -- I don't love it when someone else at the table orders the same dish. Anyway, here are pics of what we ate:

By the time we licked up the very delicious, hit-the-spot last bits of our delectable sweets, the place was full. The staff said hello to most of the patrons like they knew them. Some got hugs. It was a joyful crowd, happy to have this place finally. Needless to say, we'll be back to taste the savory side of the menu.