Triple Beam Pizza

Triple Beam Pizza
5918 N Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90042
323-545-3534

Triple Beam Pizza is part of the Nancy Silverton restaurant empire.  Silverton started Mozza. It's on the ever changing Figueroa in Highland Park. Triple Beam is a east of Folliero Pizza & Italian Food and south of Maximiliano and Town Pizza, the other contenders for good pizza in Highland Park.

Triple Beam is part of a wine store and a yet to be opened restaurant.  It's very casual, all take out.  The more interesting thing is that pizza is sold by the ounce!  A typical slice of New York pizza is about 4 oz.  You also have the option of getting your pizza Roman style-just straight from the counter or American-the pizza is heated up.

Vegan pizza $7-no cheese, mushrooms,

This was a great pizza, even without any type of cheese.  The mushrooms are piled high and gives a good earthy flavor.  They use good quality mushrooms.  The crush was great, good texture, not soggy or too crispy.  The sauce was flavorful, but not overpowering.

The vegan pizza was worth the $7 price, I'm guessing it's right around the 6 oz with all the mushrooms on top. 

Wild Nettles-fontina cheese, wild nettles. $1.30 per oz.  The crust for this was a bit burnt, but I like the cheese and flavor.  The nettles had a nice flavor and texture.  Maybe a bit like kale, but hard to really describe. 

Service was good.  I got there after they closed, but the door was still open.  The manager gave me the slice of wild nettles on the house.  When I asked if there was any meat on the nettles, he asked if I was vegan or vegetarian, and said he had a vegan slice in the oven.  He sold me the vegan slice.

I would go back to try some other pizzas.  Triple Beam Pizza is a good addition to the pizza scene in Los Angeles!

Flappy Jack’s Pancake House

Flappy Jack’s Pancake House
640 W Rt 66
Glendora, CA 91740
626-852-9444

I wanted to try Flappy Jack’s Pancake House since a San Diego carpetbagger, Broken Yolk, following in the footsteps of another San Diego carpetbagger who came to the LA area- Spanos SUCKS and his football team,  has come into Glendora sometime in late 2017 to early 2018.  Broken Yolk is following the Starbucks pattern of business- research an area with a successful coffee shop, and then open a location nearby!

Flappy Jack's is about 100 yards east of Petrillo's Pizza.  On weekends you will see tons of people waiting outside.  It's a huge place with seating on both sides of the building.  But, surprisingly there is no counter seating.  The walls have murals of landmarks along Route 66.

 

Veggie Omelette-$12.49- Four eggs with fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and broccoli along with your choice of cheese, I got cheddar.  This is a huge omelette, but it was too well done on top.  Either the cooks left the omelette in the salamander or the grill too long.  But, it was pretty good.  The veggies were plentiful and fresh.  The broccoli was cut into small pieces not huge pieces.

Service is good.  They were busy but I didn't feel rushed.  I got my food quickly.

I would give Flappy Jack's another chance, but they didn't make an overwhelming first impression.  If the omelette was cooked right, I would have had a much more favorable impression.

The Vegan Hooligans-Moved

The Vegan Hooligans
4862 Eagle Rock Blvd N
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-257-2229

The Vegan Hooligans is a pop-up restaurant that serves vegan fare at Abby's Diner on Friday-Sunday, usually from 6pm to 9pm. I found out about Vegan Hooligans on social media. Abby's Diner just a little south of Mediterranean Triangle, it's a small diner with about four booths and two counters.

The setup is different.  You sit down, then after you order you pay!  I have never had that happen before.  The only time I heard it happen was in the 1990's when Denny's forced black customers, including black FBI or secret service agents, to pay in advance.  They did that for every customer.  They should put it on their social media.

The Carnivore-$10- Bolillo with tofu meat, sauteed green and red peppers, cheese, chili, and spicy mustard.  Almost a good sandwich.  Why almost, because the bolillo needed to be toasted about 3-4 more minutes.  Instead I got a sandwich where the bread just fell apart!  If I wanted a dish that I needed a knife and fork, I would have ordered it. But, I ordered a sandwich. 

Anyways, the meat was good.  A bit chewy, but good flavor and texture.  The grilled veggies were fresh and cooked right.  The vegan cheese didn't melt all the way.  This sandwich had bold flavors and even non vegans would like this sandwich!

Hooligan fries-$8. Crinkle cut fries with house made chili, cheese and chives.  This was a good  example of chili-cheese fries.  The chili, same tofu meat, was good.  But, the beans could have been cooked for a bit longer.  Lots of gooey cheese sauce. The fries were perfectly done.  They have fries for $3 on the menu.  They should add with cheese sauce for $4, for those who don't want the chili.

Service is good but annoying.  First of all, it's a damn diner, not a concert.  The music was just blasting.  Turn the damn volume down.  The servers are friendly, but they are practically watching over you like a hawk.  As I mentioned earlier, the practice of paying after you sit down and order is strange.  The server then asked if I needed change.  Which is a pet peeve of mine.  If a server says I'll be back with your change, I will say 'keep it' if I forget to say so when she comes to pick up the money. And if I forget to say so, and a server has to make the long, uphill walk back to my table, well the server can get another job, since this job is too hard for the server.  But, I hate it when servers ask if I need change. It just shows how lazy they are!  Just get the damn change!

I wouldn't go back to Vegan Hooligans.  They missed the mark on both dishes, basically Cooking 101 stuff.  Plus their payment policy is dumb!

Plan Check Kitchen & Bar-Closed

Plan Check Kitchen & Bar
1111 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-403-1616

So Discover LA listed 5 great veggie burgers in LA in 2017.  I tried two of them on the list-The Park and Burger Lords.  But, I've was really looking for to going to Plan Check and try their Double Up Veggie Burger, which seems to have jumped from a frequent blackboard special, to being on the regular menu.

Plan Check is located just west of the 110 freeway on Wilshire.  I figured parking would be bad, so I took the train and walked from 7th and Metro station to Plan Check.  It's a dark gloomy restaurant at night.  Very dim lights in the bar and seating areas.

Double Up Veggie Burger, $14. Veggie patties with portobello mushrooms, watercress, kale, garlic, cashews, yucca root, and breadcrumbs. Americanized dashi and Swiss cheeses, Crunchy battered onion strings, butter lettuce, and tomato mayo.  The patties were a disappointment.  I thought they would be nice and big from the picture from Discover LA.  But, they are small and the burger is small.  Decent flavor to the patties, but this was a pretty dry burger.  They need to add more tomato mayo.  The onion strings added nothing but bad flavor to this burger. This is not a vegan burger with the cheese and bread.  This was an overpriced, underwhelming burger!

Service from the bartender was good.  He was nice and friendly.  But, the general attitude of the other servers and hosts were snotty, pretentious, douchebags!

If you like gastropubs with pretentious douchebags, Plan Check is perfect for you.  I have no desire to return.

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli
1726 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-255-8224

After going to Eagle Rock Green Dragon I noticed Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli was across Colorado.  Since I've been to so many restaurants on Colorado-; Cindy's, Eagle Rock Public House, CaCao Mexicatessen, Meea's, Larkin's, Brownstone Pizza, both of them are now closed, Oinkster, Colombo's, Casa Bianca, Blue Hen- which recently closed- I figured why not add another one!! So, I decided to give them at try!

Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli is really an Italian market that has a bakery and deli section.  There are no tables to sit at and eat your sandwich.  You could go across the street and eat at Tommy's.  Or do what I did- eat at the tables at Meea's!  

Large cheese sandwich-$6.75 with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, mayo, lettuce and tomato.

This could have been a very good sandwich.  It was about maybe 8 inches long.  The cheeses were good quality cheese.  The veggies were fresh.  But, what I didn't like about this sandwich was the bread.  An Italian roll that had a very hard crust.  The inside was soft and had good texture, but the hard outside just turned my off on this sandwich.

Service was friendly, but slow.  There were three people working behind the counter.  While one lady ordered a ton of stuff, the other two maybe had a handful of items.  But the workers were going in slow motion!  I mean 5 minutes to slice a pound of salami?  The girl who helped me made my sandwich pretty quickly, but they just took forever to help the people in front of me.

While the bakery part of Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli looks very good, I wasn't too impressed with the deli part.  They need to improve the bread on their sandwiches.

Innovation Brew Works

Innovation Brew Works
3650 W Temple Ave
Pomona, CA 91768
909-979-6197


Innovation Brew Works is located on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.  But, unlike the other two times I went to eat at Cal Poly Pomona, Los Olivos Dining Commons and Cafe Vista, which is now closed; this is advertised to the public. The other two are opened to the public, but not really advertised to the public.

It's really a brewery with some salads, sandwiches, and pizza.  The pizza is much like Pizza Rev, Pieology, or Blaze,you can put as many toppings as you want. So, on National Pizza Day I stop in at Innovation Brew Works!  Innovation Brew Works shares the parking lot with Cal Poly Pomona's Extension classes and some other university related offices.  There is a parking lot right out front, but there are different signs for sections of spaces.  One section is from Innovation Works.  Others are for employees of the school.  The section for Innovation Work maybe 6 spaces and you have to have a parking pass from Innovation Works.  The front 3-5 spaces have a one hour time limit.  They really should make parking for Innovation Works bigger.  Nothing worse than getting a parking ticket while eating. 

All pizzas are $8.75.  I got the vegetarian-spinach, mushrooms, red onions, and tomatoes.  It comes with zucchini and artichoke hearts, but I don't touch those two vegetables.  I should have put jalapenos on the pizza, since it would be the same price. Anyways, the pizza was very good!  Better than the other three national chains!  The sauce was great!  Not overpowering, but well seasoned and plenty of flavor.  The veggies were all fresh.  The crust was perfect!  Thin crust, a very good texture, not too crispy or burnt.

Service is good.  The people are friendly and the guy, gave me a parking pass for free and I didn't see anybody checking for parking in the 45 minutes that I was there!

I would go back to Innovation Brew Works again, EXCEPT for the parking situation!  On weekends I would have no problems going.  But during the week I would have second thoughts!

Baja California Fish Tacos-Fullerton- Closed

Baja California Fish Tacos
2931 Nutwood Ave
Fullerton, CA 92831
714-983-7785

When I went to the Baja California Fish Tacos location in Lawndale, I noticed they had a location in Fullerton!  So, I went to the Fullerton location to try their grill shrimp taco. 

Baja California Fish Tacos is located in what used to be a Maru Sushi.  They opened in late 2016.  The building seems to be shaped like the original Pizza Hut restaurants.  The walls are painted in bright colors, blues, orange, and green.  There is a counter and tables on your left.  It's a big airy place, much bigger than their Lawndale location.

Grilled Shrimp Taco-$2.99

I really liked the grilled shrimp tacos!  Plump, well cooked and seasoned shrimp with cabbage, red onions, and tomatoes.  The tortilla is the same as Lawndale.  I love the freshness of this taco.  Well worth the price.

Service was good.  The young lady who helped me was nice and friendly.  As with Lawndale, you're greeted as you walk up.

I would go back to Baja California Fish Tacos! 

Baja California Fish Tacos-Lawndale

Baja California Fish Tacos
4749 Artesia Blvd
Lawndale, CA 90260
310-793-9073

I found out about Baja California Fish Tacos from this LA Eater wrote a story about the 25 Essential South Bay Restaurants to try.  I love fish and shrimp tacos and wanted to give them a try!  So, I head out there and parking is terrible.  Their small lot was filled, and the place was packed!  Were people coming here to eat before going to their Super Bowl parties?  After ordering I found out I wasted a trip to Lawndale.When I picked up a take out menu, I noticed they had a location in Fullerton, which is much closer to me.  But, I decided to go there to try the grilled shimp tacos.

My standard for fish tacos is Tacos Baja, who now has two locations in Whittier, within two miles of each other on Whittier Blvd!

Fried Baja Taco-$3.99- fried fish, which is swai, and fried shrimp combined!  This was very good! A large piece of swai that was fried perfectly. The shrimp was plump and I believe there were 3 or 4 pieces.   Fresh cabbage, red onions, and tomatoes.

Fried Shrimp Taco-$2.75-  (on the left) The shrimp were fried perfectly and as with the other tacos, the veggies were fresh.  A very good dish!

Fried Fish Taco-$2.35- (on the right) The piece of swai, was a bit soggy.  Otherwise, it was good. But, not great.  Certainly not worth the long drive.  Good thing the Baja and shrimp tacos were good.

Service was good.  The young lady cashier greeted everybody as they walked up to the register.  While it was crowded, the line moved quickly and I got my food quickly.

I can forgive one bad fish taco.  But, good thing I tried the fish and Baja tacos.  If I'm in the area I would go back to Baja California Fish Tacos.  But, I can just go to their Fullerton location when the craving for fish tacos hits me!