Pitfire Pizza

The night before Thanksgiving my boyfriend and I were hungry, but didn’t know where to go. We didn’t want to drive far and we didn’t want to pay too much. We found ourselves at Pitfire Pizza Company in Westwood. Neither of us had been there before and had no idea what to expect. We walked in to a spacious restaurant and quickly realized it would be in our best interest to claim a table to sit at without the help of a server. Within first glance you can tell this place is listed somewhere on the internet as kid-friendly. Every other table was filled with a rugrat sitting in a high chair. Surprisingly, all the children in the restaurant were well behaved. We did get to hear one misbehaving child get his 3rd and final warning from the table across from us. Awkward, but amusing since we were only spectators.

Although they had interesting sounding pizzas and pastas (and later I found out they had a special pizza with pumpkin on it!), in order to share I had to eat one of the only two kinds of pizza my boyfriend prefers: cheese or pepperoni. I chose the latter. He went up to the register, placed our order, took a number, and came back to the table.

As you can see, or rather can’t see, there is not a plethora of pepperoni and those that are there are hiding under the cheese. It was a crusty pizza, but not crunchy more just..chewy. It was good and filling. I also ordered some Fiery Chicken Soup - chicken poached in a spicy red chile broth with red onions, hominy, topped with avocado, roasted corn and red cabbage. Sadly, it came out looking like it does in the picture - spilled over the sides and with a plastic fork. A plastic fork? (WTF.) With a mission statement starting with “Just because it’s a fast world doesn’t mean you have to eat fast food,” and promotion of organic foods in their menu, it made me a little concerned to find a plastic spoon in my soup. If you know me, you probably are aware of my anti-plastic stance. Or just recognize that I try to avoid using it as much as possible. Aside from the presentation of the soup, I found the taste to actually be very slightly spicy and delicious. It has been a long time since I have eaten anything with hominy in it and I found it to hit the spot.

In the end, my boyfriend and I enjoyed the food. We both are willing to come back again. A fun, relaxed atmosphere. Perfect for lunch or dinner. Also, I didn’t find out until the end, but they sell Auntie Em’s amazing cupcakes. I was surprised and excited to find that the cupcakes so close to my heart have made their way to the west side of Los Angeles. Of course they were sold out of Red Velvet, but it was okay because I was way too full from pizza and soup. Besides, Bigg Chill is just down the street.

Pitfire Pizza Company
2018 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 481-9860

Frogo Yogurt

If you don’t live in Los Angeles then you might not know, but frozen yogurt has become like the new Starbucks or the new cupcake. Ever since Pinkberry opened, frozen yogurt places are popping up all over the place. A lot of Pinkberry copycats have appeared throughout the city such as Red Mango, Kiwiberry, and Berri Good! All of which I have never been to before because I live within half a mile of 2 different Pinkberry locations (seriously, one to the north and one to the south). However, I am not as in love with Pinkberry or tart yogurt anymore. I find myself enjoying the more traditional style of frozen yogurt. My two favorite places to go are Bigg Chill and 21 Choices. Since 21 Choices is so far away, I go to Bigg Chill more often. However, it can be a pretty stressful experience at Bigg Chill because it is always packed with people.

As if the Jenny Craig location on Wilshire did not have it hard being next door to a Pizzeria and across the street from a Krispy Kreme. Now they are faced with more temptation, although a little healthier, by Frogo Yogurt on the corner of Wilshire and Euclid in Santa Monica. The yogurt shop is different than most yogurt places around because they also offer organic coffee drinks. The layout of the store is nice and simple. The modern orange chairs you see in the picture can be found throughout the whole establishment. Their menu is on TV screens behind glass on the walls, which made it a little inconvenient for me to read because the sun was causing a glare. They have about four flavors which rotate, but I do not know how regularly or consistently. The flavors they offered on my visit were: chocolate, white chocolate mousse, mango, and tart. I sampled the chocolate and tart. Frogo’s Tart is a sweeter and softer (as in probably melts faster) yogurt in comparison to Pinkberry’s distinctly tart taste and firmer consistency of yogurt. If I were in the mood for tart yogurt, I would probably choose Pinkberry over Frogo. I ordered a small chocolate with Reese’s Pieces. The chocolate tasted like traditional chocolate yogurt, but kind of got boring after a few bites. In the end, it was good, much better than the TCBY in the area, but not as tasty as Bigg Chill. It is definitely a more relaxed and refined place to go to if you’re on that side of town and want to eat traditional yogurt.

I thought about tasting the coffee, but I was hesitant. The coffee was staying warm in a pump pot, which in my mind means the coffee is most likely not at it’s freshest (unless of course the coffee is so popular that they are constantly making some, but this was not the case). It was also pretty late in the afternoon, so caffeine was the last stimulant my body needed. Maybe some other time.

Frogo Yogurt

1300 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Get Directions(310) 395-6794

Bigg Chill

10850 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064

Get Directions(310) 475-107

Late start.

Nothing is worse than sleeping in, but still waking up tired. I’ve recently, as of a day ago, started writing a To Do list on my wipey board (not a technical term). It definitely helped for the first day. But, day 2 doesn’t seem so exciting to barrel through. Maybe I am making the list too hard and not as rewarding or fun. Maybe I should just put easy things on it like:

1. Drink coffee
2. Get massage
3. Write birthday wish list
4. Take a stroll
5. Go to Pinkberry Bigg Chill
6. Sit and ponder
7. Have a glass of wine
8. Nap