GRIMALDI’S COAL BRICK OVEN PIZZERIA in EL SEGUNDO

Michael Hepworth

GOURMET PIZZA AT ONLY CALIFORNIA LOCATION

El Segundo(Perfect Meal Today)6/21/15/–El Segundo is the only California location for Grimaldi’s Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria, an upscale and fun pizza themed restaurant that has been doing some pretty solid business since opening day. America’s love affair with pizza remains unabated, and if pizza is your thing and you have not tried the kid friendly Grimaldi’s, then take the effort to see the place where they claim they have more celebrity sightings than some five star restaurants.

That probably includes visits by the El Segundo based Lakers and Kings. Talking of celebrities, their menu mentions a couple of them who love their pizza, but since the two mentioned are Frank Sinatra and Rudy Giuliani, they might want to gear up for a younger and hipper crowd.

Other locations are based primarily in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Texas, and there are a lot of them. El Segundo is such an important flagship for the chain that they have three managers ensuring consistency and quality. They have one coal brick oven working during the week, and two ovens pumping out the pizza on weekends. A coal brick oven adds that crispness that a conventional gas or wood burning oven will not be able to do.

Basically they have three styles and three sizes of pizza. Personal pizza (12 in), small pizza (16 in) and large pizza (18 in). The styles are personal/basic, white with garlic and pesto.

Prices range from $10 to $19 for the base pizza which is announced as thin crust but it actually has a touch of thick about it as well. The rub however is that the toppings are extra with most of the vegetable and ham toppings coming in at $2 with the meats at either four of five dollars. The well trained servers advise no more than three toppings per pizza since they do not short change you on the amount.

The regular pepperoni pizza I tried with a couple of vegetable toppings was excellent and smothered in pepperoni, while the pesto with sausage and bacon had a real spicy feel to it, and yes the crust was perfect.

Starters consist mainly of salads that come in large or small sizes, but since the portions here are extremely generous small should be sufficient even for the gargantuan eater. Such is the case with the Antipasto starter with fresh mozzarella, roasted sweet red peppers, Genoa salami, olives and bread.

The wine list is compact but well laid out with a heavy emphasis on California and Italian wines. I would recommend the only Riesling on the list, the Robert Mondavi Private Selection reasonably priced at $7 a glass or $25 for the bottle. They also have six wines available from the highly thought of Francis Ford Coppola Winery, including Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Grenache, Chardonnay, Syrah and Zinfandel. They also have a special Private reserve list if you are celebrating a birthday, anniversary or any celebratory event.