Dough Box Pizza & Bread-Moved

Dough Box Pizza & Bread
2734 N Eastern Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90032
323-346-6811

Back in 2016 I went to Dough Box Pizza & Bread, when they were a take out only business, using a commercial kitchen.  They would open up a brick and motor restaurant a few miles away.  Recently I read on LA Eater, they were going to close by the end of the year. 

I always take these closing notices with a grain of salt.  In late 2017 to early 2018 they wrote that Twoheys would going to close.  Then they wrote they are going to move to South Pasadena.  Yet, here we are in 2019 and they are still at that same location.  The South Pasadena building, the last time I went by, looks at least 2-3 months away from being able to serve the public.

Anyways,  Dough Box Pizza & Bread is really, still a take out place.  There is one small counter with no seats, for people to eat.

On their Instagram page, Dough Box had a large cheese pizza for $20, to celebrate National Cheese Pizza Day!  This pizza is called the Soto on their menu.  I liked the crust, well balanced, flaky, and held up to the toppings.  There was plenty of cheese.  But, the sauce is still too tangy for me tastes.  They need to balance the sauce with some sweetness!

Sicilian slice special $5- mushrooms, garlic, and red onions.

One thing I didn't know, was that Dough Box Pizza & Bread had Sicilian slices!  I decided to give a slice a try.  This was terrible.  The trust was too hard and the sauce was so tangy.  The toppings were fine.

Service was ok.  They told me after I ordered, it would take 1 hour and 10 minutes for the pizza to be ready.

I won't go back to Dough Box.  I only went to see their brick and mortar location.  But, the pizza isn't good. 

Giordanos

Giordanos
3619 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-850-2420

When it comes to Chicago pizza you have Lou Malnati's-my personal favorite, Geno's East, Pizzeria Uno, and Giordanos.  Giordanos, opened a location in Las Vegas about a year ago.  There is a Lou Malnati's in Phoenix.

Giordanos is located near Bally's hotel in an area with other restaurants and bars, this is a huge Giordanos.  They have a patio area in the main level and upstairs is there bar and dining room. 

Medium with mushrooms and spinach, $23.45 plus $2.25 per topping.  The crust is light, buttery, flake and very good!  It's not doughy like many LA area deep dish restaurants.  The cheese was ok, but nothing to make a great cheese pull picture.  But the sauce was lacking, both in terms of quality and amount!  It was just too bland and just seemed like an after thought.

Service at the bar was good.  The bartenders were nice and helpful.  But, the hostess was terrible!  She was rude, unfriendly and not helpful.  They were busy but there were plenty of open seats and very few people in the lobby.  I prefer to sit at a table and not the bar, especially when I am not drinking alcohol.  The bar looked as though it was full, so I said I would wait for a table.  Then I saw a group leave, and took the bar.  The hostess was making it seem as though sitting at a table alone would be the worst thing.  No, honey, the worst thing is a hostess who is rude and unfriendly!

Giordanos was disappointing and would rank last in the Top 4 of Chicago deep dish pizza.

Dough Box Pizza & Bread

Dough Box Pizza & Bread
1539 Fishburn Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90063
323-346-6811

One of the co-owners of Dough Box Pizza & Bread used to own Hollywood Pies.  So, when Dough Box & Bread opened I was excited to give them a try! Dough Box Pizza & Bread went back to the original concept of Hollywood Pies-pick up and deliveries only from a small kitchen.  This location is in an industrial section of East LA, with tow truck yards and recycling centers as their neighbors.

A more in depth story of Dough Box!

They have been open for about five months with some late hours- 5-10pm Tues-Sun.  I went on a Saturday and the area was empty except for the people picking up pizza.

9in deep dish- mushrooms and spinach, $16.35.  Their menu prices says $15 plus $1.50 for each veggie topping.  I didn't get out a ruler to see if this is a 9in pizza, but I assume it is  So, either their online menu prices are wrong or they charged me the wrong amount.

The crust is very firm and holds up well to the toppings and sauce.  The toppings were fresh and plentiful.  But, the sauce is just way to tangy for my tastes.  They need to add some sweetness to the recipe.

Service is good.  I called before opening hours and was able to place my order.  The pizza was ready when I got there and the transaction went smoothly.

I had high hopes for Dough Box Pizza but I was disappointed.  The sauce just ruined it for me.  I'll stay with Masa or go back to Hollywood Pies.

Nancy’s Pizza-Closed

Nancy’s Pizza
410 W Main St Ste 100
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-872-0648

I first heard of Nancy's Pizza when I drove by a new building on Foothill Blvd. in La Verne and saw a sign that said future home of Nancy's Pizza.  A quick search and I found out Nancy's is a Chicago area chain that is expanding to Southern California.  Nancy's claims to have invented the stuffed pizza!  The difference between deep dish pizza and stuffed pizza, is that there is a layer of dough and sauce, on top of the stuffed pizza.

Nancy's Pizza in Alhambra is across from Alondra Hot Wings, is in a mixed use building that has retail space on the ground floor and condos or apartments on the upper levels.  Nancy's is next to Al's Chicago Beef, another chain that serves a Chicago staple- Italian beef sandwiches!

Medium, Original 2in, Nana's Special, baby spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese, $23.98.  There is no  cornmeal on the crust.  But, the crust was buttery and flakely.  There was plenty of cheese, but the toppings were pretty spare.  And it was only mushrooms and spinach, not expensive toppings.  The pizza is pretty good but very pricey, almost $24 for a medium???

Service was pretty good.  I called in my order, because I know stuffed/deep dish pizza take awhile to bake.  I saw Nancy's menu online, but forgot that they called baby spinach, mushrooms, and mozzarella was called Nana's Special.  The young lady who took my phone order didn't know the menu and had to look at the menu to figure out I wanted the Nana's Special.  Not that big of a deal but, something that needs to be worked on.  The pizza was ready when I arrived, so that was good.  I asked for a box and the box can flat, not folded.  Again, not a big deal, but come on, fold the box.

My go to places for deep dish pizza in LA are Masa of Echo Park, Hollywood Pies, and Union Pizza.  Nancy's is pretty good but not worth the price.

Hollywood Pies

Hollywood Pies
6116 1/2 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles
323-337-3212

November 9, 1989 is recognized as the day the Berlin Wall came down!  Today is the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall!  This couldn't have happened without President Reagan, in June of 1987, telling those commie bastards to "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!!! "  About two years later, the Berlin Wall came down and those commie bastards lost the Cold War!! USA!!  USA!! USA!!

Los Angeles has the largest section of the Berlin Wall, outside of Germany, across from LACMA and hosted by the Wende Museum.

What does the Berlin Wall have to do with Hollywood Pies?  Nothing really, expect that the Berlin Wall display is about a mile away from Hollywood Pies.  But, on such a historic occasion, people should remember the fall of the wall!!

When Hollywood Pies first opened up in 2011, they were making their pizzas in a rented kitchen and selling them through the back door, near the Beverly Center.  I went back to Hollywood Pies a few more times times at their Beverly Center location.  Then they moved to another similar setup on Boylston.   A third move saw them in West LA or the Culver City area, and finally they opened a sit down restaurant on Pico, in the Mid City area.  Then sadly, sometime within the past year, their Pico location closed. 

Two weeks ago, a friend told me he had Hollywood Pies for dinner the night before, and loved the pizza.  I thought he was joking or something.  But, sure enough I checked and Hollywood Pies Pico location is open!!  So, I finally go to Hollywood Pies sit down restaurant!

Hollywood Pies is on a very busy street, Pico, and the restaurant is small and easy to miss when driving.  There are four tables (two tables for four and four tables for two ) and a couple more seats outside.  You order at the counter and they bring your pizza to your table.  Call ahead, since a deep dish takes about 35 minutes to bake.  They are currently open from 1-9 pm on Sundays.  Other days they open at 4pm.  They are closed on Mondays.

Small Italian Garden ($16)-Whole milk mozzarella, sweet red peppers, baby bella mushrooms and onions.  I added spinach, which they did not charge me for.  A very nice thing for them to do!  The crust was the same, light, flaky and buttery.  Two toppings, spinach and onions, were loaded up.  But, the mushrooms and red peppers were few and far in between.  I would have preferred more mushrooms, but all the toppings were fresh.

Now, the sauce has changed.  It's more mild, lacking the boldness of their other sauce.  It's almost as though there wasn't any sauce.  Overall still a damn good deep dish pizza, but not something I would go rushing back for.

Service is ok.  The kid who took my order was pretty friendly and helpful when taking my order.  But, when my pizza was done, he just handed me the pizza.  No, thank you or come again.  And it wasn't like it was busy, I was the only customer there.

While I'm glad to know that Hollywood Pies has reopened, and you can actually dine in, I was disappointed that the sauce is different.  I won't rush back but will go back again.

Rance's Chicago Pizza

Rance's Chicago Pizza
1420 Baker St
Costa Mesa
714-708-2143

Rance's Chicago Pizza is across Harbor Blvd. from Moscow Deli and Empanada's Place. I heard about Rance's and wanted to see how they compared to Tony’s Little Italy Pizza, which still has a very good deep dish or stuffed Chicago pizza, but the service there now sucks.

Rance's is located in the very busy Target shopping center towards the southwest part of the center.  Rance's has a row of tables and booths, along with bar area.  They have been open for about three months and the word has gotten out there in the Costa Mesa area, if you want Chicago pizza go to Rance's.

Medium stuffed House Special, $23.69, sausage, green peppers, onions and mushrooms. The crust on this pizza was great! Maybe the best crust of any deep dish pizza I've had in LA.  Very light, flakey, and buttery.  It was almost like eating a biscuit or apple turnover.  Though this was not cornmeal crust, like some people from Chicago prefer. 

The sauce was on the sweet side.  But lots of good quality tomatoes, I'm guessing they are canned, but don't know for sure.

The cheese is thick and piled on and they use a good quality cheese.

The veggie toppings were cut too small and just blended into the cheese an sauce.  They should cut them bigger.

Another thing that should be bigger is the amount of sausage on the pizza.  I'm guessing the pizza is 12in., well the sausage-which is a flat piece of sausage only covered about about 8in. of the pizza! When I cut a slice of pizza from the center it was filled with sausage, but towards the crust, there was only green peppers, mushrooms, and onions.  But, the sausage had a mild flavor.  They use a good quality sausage.

Despite the small amount of sausage, this was a very good pizza, better than Tony's but maybe not as good as Hollywood Pies or Masa.  The flavors all work well together.

Service was nice and friendly.  But, they need to either hire a host/hostess or find a better way to let first time customers know if they are a side down restaurant or counter service when they first walk in.  When I walked in, I went straight to the counter and ordered my pizza.  I didn't realize if you wanted to dine in, you could have sit down and ordered.  The other compliant I have is that they need to inform customers how long stuffed or deep dish pizza takes to bake.  Since I've been to a ton of Chicago pizza places I know the time and was expecting to wait 45 minutes.  But, if people haven't been to a Chicago pizza place, they may not know and then complain.

Even with the smaller amount of sausage on the pizza, I would gladly go back to Rance's for their stuffed pizza.  They also have a good selection of beer on tap!

Union Pizza Company

Union Pizza Company
1570 Rosecrans Ave
Manhattan Beach
310-536-9888

I'm always on the hunt for a good deep dish Chicago style pizza. My last experience at Selma's Chicago Pizzeria, left me wondering why I don't just stick with Hollywood Pies or Masa of Echo Park. Sadly, the quality and service of an old favorite, Tony’s Little Italy Pizza has gone downhill and I won't return. I found Union Pizza Company while looking for another restaurant in Manhattan Beach. I'm always skeptical of pizza places that try to do both thin crust and deep dish pizza. I'm guessing that's how they came up with the name Union Pizza Company. Located in a shopping center right next to Bristol Farms, Union Pizza Company has a small indoor dining room, but right outside is a huge covered outdoor eating space. A great thing about Union Pizza is free corkage!!

I ordered a large chicken sausage and mushroom deep dish pizza, $23.98.   The first thing I noticed about the pizza was the golden crust!!  If it tastes half as good as it looked, I know I'm going to like this place!  Well, the crust was light, buttery and a wonder texture!  This coming from somebody who won't eat the crust on deep dish pizza-so I can save room for the good stuff.  But, I ate every single crust!!

The sauce was good, nice fresh ingredients and seasoning.  The mushrooms were canned, but plentiful.  I'm not a fan of canned mushrooms and prefer fresh mushrooms.

Now, there were limited amounts of the chicken sausage, I would guess maybe 3 or 4 pieces per slice.  The sausage was good quality sausage that would be great on a hot dog bun.  I just would have liked to see more sausage in the pizza.

Service was overall good until the end.  The young lady greeted me when I walked in.  She was attentive and helpful.  She even told me the pizza takes 25 minutes to bake.  Some deep dish places do not tell you that!  When I asked her to turn the TV to the football game, she was more than willing to do so.  She was nice when she delivered the pizza to my table, though she could have brought more than one napkin.  But when I asked for a box she coped an attitude!!  I mean does she think I'm going to eat a whole damn deep dish pizza by myself in one sitting?  Is she being cheap and nickel and diming customers?  I mean come on just bring me a box and stop the attitude.  Not sure what brought that on.  I didn't say anything to her.  I was nice to her- thanking her for turning the channel and for delivering the pizza.  I didn't say anything about the one napkin, I just got up and got some napkins from the counter.

Anyways, overall I was impressed with the deep dish pizza at Union Pizza Company and I would go back.