Things I Like: Casa Bianca

I went to Casa Bianca tonight with several of the guys I'm mentoring. For the uninitiated, Casa Bianca Pizza Pie is a traditional Italian-American restaurant located in Eagle Rock, and they are celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this year. I love this place, and I am not alone. In his wonderful guide to LA eating, Counter Intelligence, Jonathan Gold writes:

Of all the neighborhood pizza parlors that claim to serve the greatest pizza in Los Angeles, one of them has to be telling the truth. I'm pretty sure that place is Casa Bianca Pizza Pie. I realized I was on the right track when my friend Bob (ed: Not me!), who is usually fond of exchanging restaurant gossip, turned suddenly ugly.

"You realize if you write about Casa Bianca," he said, "I'm going to have to kill you. Slowly. After I break both of your legs. It's hard enough to get in on a Saturday night as it is."

It's that good. We were lucky to walk right in on a rainy Thursday night. We had their classic pizza of sausage, mushrooms, and green peppers, along with the antipasto salad. I've never had anything else there. I guess I don't want to mess with a good thing.

The fellas loved the food - "This is the best salad I've ever had!" - but loved the atmosphere and decor even more. I won't try to describe it - just go - but one of the guys got it exactly right: "So this is what Buca di Beppo is trying to be like".