Pete Tittl: L.A. Pizza Veloz gives city more great Italian — and at crazy-good prices
| Monday, Jan 05 2009 03:09 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:42 PM
L.A. Pizza Veloz
3605 Mount Vernon Ave.
872-3637
Hours:11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. every day.
Prices:Salad $5.99-$8.50, sandwiches $6.95, pasta $6.99-$10.99, specialty pizzas $16.99, side dishes $1.50-$5.99, specialty pizzas $14.99-$16.99, entrees $6.99-$10.99. Child’s plate $3.99.
Payment:MasterCard and VISA accepted. Does not accept American Express, Discover, personal checks or The Californian’s Press Pass.
Dress:Casual
Amenities:Wheelchair accessible; beer and wine served; some vegetarian options.
Food:3 stars
Atmosphere:3 stars
Service:3 stars
Value:31⁄2 stars
Next week:Logan’s Roadhouse
Images
Chef Carlos Alberto readies his pasta at L.A. Pizza Veloz.
Two servings of Chicken Piccata ready to go.
Hero salami sandwich.
L.A. Pizza Veloz lasagna makes for a filling lunch and a good value.
L.A. Pizza Veloz owner Carlos Delgado with a pepperoni pizza inside his spotless restaurant.
I do love a good Italian restaurant, and no city can have too many of them. Of course I’m not in the business so I can say stuff like that, but Italian is one of the great cuisines in the world and we’ve had our share of great ones.
Into this mix comes another refugee from Beverly Hills, which also spawned Uricchio’s, an Italian great located downtown. Reader Connie Brandt told me that the owner of L.A. Pizza Veloz in northeast Bakersfield, across from Memorial Stadium at Bakersfield College, had actually worked as a chef in a high-end Italian restaurant in the Southland.
“The lasagna and eggplant specialties are made to order and yummy,” she wrote. “Prices are good, too.” So we headed off and ordered all sorts of menu items: the lasagna ($8.99), a “chicken buster” calzone ($11.99), a regular pepperoni pizza ($10.50 for a large), a meatball sandwich ($6.95) and some garlic bread.
Everything was good or great, which always makes a review fun to write. My companion’s lasagna was a homemade creation (you can choose meat or vegetarian sauce), a real value at $8.99, a large portion with a serving of garlic bread and a salad. (Someone told me you can get this same entree as a lunch special for $5.99 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday — wow). The meatball sandwich was rich with cheese and served on French bread that seemed fresh baked. The menu said the pizza sauce was made fresh twice daily, and on the pepperoni pizza we ordered you couldn’t miss the sweetness of the tomatoes used to make that. The calzone I ordered was particularly interesting, with grilled onions, tomatoes, cheese and chicken breast meat folded inside the calzone. There was a sauce on the side to serve over the top, but I just took it straight, depending on the tomatoes inside to add some veggie magic.
What’s funny is reading the menu, which reads “serving Los Angeles since 1997 and now Bakersfield.” My son asked why people would come from Beverly Hills to Bakersfield to open a restaurant. I wanted to pull out pie charts showing the square footage cost of restaurant rent, etc., but I finally resorted to a cheesey lie: “Bakersfield is the New York, New York of restaurants: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” He rolled his eyes. Another moment of fatherly wisdom shared.
There were some interesting specialty pizzas we didn’t get a chance to sample. For example the pizza “fra Diablo” ($14.99 large) offers “lots of garlic,” chicken, pepperocinis, mozzarella and a spicy marinara sauce. The Mexican pizza has sausage, olive, onions and jalapenos, and the white pizza has only cheeses, garlic and fresh tomatoes.
There was one service oddity. My companion ordered a glass of Fetzer cabernet sauvignon, a bargain at $4.99 a glass. Oddly, they had kept the cab in the cooler, so the red wine was cold. She had to wait a long time to drink in. You’d think people from Beverly Hills would know that decent red varietals are not served chilled. Live and learn, I guess. Also, my companion was also not pleased with how cold the restaurant’s interior was, and fondly recalled how warm the dining room is at Café Med.
Service was solid and friendly, although the waitress brought a salad with Italian dressing, not balsamic as ordered.
L.A. Pizza Veloz can be recommended for a fine dining experience. The eastside gets another winner. Thank, Connie, for the great tip!
