Mother Dough fires up Los Feliz

Pizzas cook quickly in the wood-fired oven

L.A. has taken big steps as a pizza town since I did a big pizza tasting round-up for VLife Weekend back in 2005. Since then we've gained Pizzeria Mozza, Tomato Pie, Lucifer's, Garage, Two Boots and Il Capricco Pizzeria, just down the street from the new Mother Dough on Hollywood Blvd.
Also sporting a wood-fired oven, Il Capricco is now Di Carlo, and I haven't been there lately, but it certainly raised the bar for Los Feliz when it opened. So pizza has now become a higher-stakes game, and Mother Dough has the goods to compete. It's more of an eat-in than a take out place, with beer and wine and a smattering of starters -- raw almonds with lemon juice, a nice dish of marinated olives, a charcuterie plate, burrata salad, bacon-wrapped dates.

sausage slices and buffalo mozzarella on a just-charred enough crust

Though the uber-hot oven takes only 90 seconds to cook a pizza, the sole pizza cook -- owner Bez Compani -- gets pretty backed up and pizzas take about a half hour after ordering to come out. The menu explains that the pies are traditional Neopolitan style, so toppings are minimal -- basically, sausages, prosciutto, zucchini, roasted tomato or plain bufala mozzarella. The sauce is fresher tasting than most pizza sauces, with bright tomato notes. The pizza comes out nicely charred -- though some have found it too charred -- but the best thing is the taste of the crust itself, with a distinct wild yeast sourdough tang and a perfect chew.
Pros: The crust was good enough that I'd definitely go back. The room is pleasant and I'd like to taste more varieties of pizza. And Bar Covell a few doors down makes a perfect place for a drink afterwards.
Cons: Minimalist menu could use more well-priced salads, sides or starters. Pizzas seem awfully slow for something that cooks in 90 seconds. Pizzas are a bit small for two to share, but at $18 each, pricey for each person to order their own.
Mother Dough
4648 Hollywood Blvd.
323-644-2885

Kale is having its moment

kale chips are super easy to make

In the time since I first started writing this post a few weeks ago, I've heard kale mentioned approximately a zillion times.
- Bearded guy on the patio at Bar Covell: "Local has the most amazing kale salad!"
- Tweet from someone I follow: "Great greens from Montrose farmer's market 3? kinds of kale!"
Naturally, that tweet came with the hashtag #kaleaddicts.
- Facebook post from the Paris By Mouth blog: "Free kale plants for urban gardens to be picked up at Candelaria? Paris really IS becoming New York."
During that time -- which coincided with the Charlie Sheen meltdown -- there was also an article in the New York Post, "Kale is totally winning."
Why is kale suddenly so sexy? Spinach never had this kind of cachet. No one is that ardent about chard. The main reason is that eating kale makes you feel amazingly virtuous. It doesn't matter if your whiskey-soaked evening was followed by a bacon-laden breakfast -- one kale salad later and you've zeroed out any fouls to the body.
Plus, made into baked chips, it feels like you've pulled off some kind of sneaky swap -- they're addictively salty and crunchy and even coated with a bit of olive oil, still extremely healthy.
Vegans love kale, but so do carnivores who find the slight bitterness nicely offsets something rich like pork belly or shortribs. Though it's actually more nutritious and easier to chew when cooked, kale salads have become popular despite the rather sturdy leaves. What sounds sexy and again, is really good for you? Massaging kale, that's what. Yes, if you want to eat kale raw, it helps to gently massage the dressing into it to soften up the fibers.
Here's Smitten Kitchen's recipe for kale chips. Like Smitten Kitchen, I used lacinato or black kale, which seems sweeter and less fibrous, but I think it works with either kind.
Here's a recipe from Dr. Andrew Weil's True Food Kitchen for Tuscan kale salad, which will be on the menu at the new Santa Monica Place location of the Phoenix and Newport Beach healthy food restaurant, opening May 9.
What other restaurants have good kale offerings?

Carmela Ice Cream: A swirl of spring in a cup

Northeast Pasadena might seem like kind of an unlikely place for an artisan creamery like Carmela Ice Cream -- that is, unless you've been to Bulgarini Gelato, which is even more remotely located in Altadena. But when I stopped in to Carmela today in the midst of the sudden heatwave, the shop was full of neighborhood families sampling the luxuriously creamy stuff, made from Clover organic cream, super fresh fruits and locally grown flowers and herbs. Carmela has been selling at the South Pasadena and Hollywood Farmer's Markets for a few years now, but it's nice to be able to stop by the storefront if you happen to be going for a hike in Eaton Canyon or a shopping trip at Hastings Ranch. Plus, there's a promising basturma shop next door, since Washington Blvd. is Pasadena's own Little Armenia.
Carmela's ice creams are rich and silky but not heavy or cloying, and the fruit flavors are particularly refreshing. I'm mad about the strawberry buttermilk, which tastes like the essence of spring and would be perfect atop an Easter shortcake. Fresh mint with chocolate nibs is assertively minty with nary a hint of bottled extract or green coloring. Dark chocolate with cocoa nibs is just that, but not so bitter it will scare the children. My love for the salted caramel has already been well-documented. Other flavors perfect for the heat include tangelo sorbet, cucumber sorbet and lemon basil sorbet. Carmela's not a sceney place -- there's only a dozen or so flavors at a time, none of them involving balsamic vinegar, blue cheese or beer. It's simply great ice cream, and isn't that enough?
Carmela Artisan Creamery
2495 E Washington Blvd
Pasadena
626.797.1405

Ciclavia: Where will you eat en route?

I missed the last Ciclavia but I won't let that happen again: Sunday is the day when 8 miles of streets are closed to cars from Heliotrope to Boyle Heights from 10 am to 3 pm, right through the middle of Downtown.
Here's a few places to eat en route:
Guisados Tacos on 1st St. in Boyle Heights at the finish line
Al & Bea's Burritos on 1st St.
Redwood Bar
Mas Malo
Bottega Louie
Seven Grand - opening early
Cole's
Casey's
Rocket Pizza at 122 W. 4th St. is offering $4 craft beers
Pete's Cafe -- offering a special price on a burger and a beer
Mama's Hot Tamales
Scoop's Ice Cream
Pure Luck on Heliotrope
Where will you be stopping on L.A.'s car-free Sunday?