Category: Restaurants

At Milpa Grille, a serving of corn, squash, and beans is more than a trio of colorful vegetables. It’s a mix of core crops with a shared legacy of cultivation that goes back millennia, now taking root in Boyle Heights as core ingredients for the retrospective eatery.

“We’re bringing back Mesoamerican, pre-Columbian staple crops,” said Deysi Serrano, who runs Milpa Grille alongside Dan Morales and Dan Torres. From their combined backgrounds working with restaurants, the co-owners envisioned creating a healthy, affordable option for their neighborhood while honoring a history and heritage that predates Mexican cuisine.

The menu at Milpa Grille is inspired by the foods on which ancient civilizations thrived in Mexico and Central America long before rice and wheat were introduced. While the name “milpa” often refers to corn fields, it comes from a farming practice of planting a mix of mutually beneficial crops together on the same field. Maize, beans, and squash have long been collectively revered and symbolized as “the three sisters” because they grow together in harmony as milpa crops and offer a balanced source of nutrition when combined.

You’ll find this combination featured in the Milpa Bowl, a signature dish that includes a grilled mix of corn, three squashes (yellow squash, zucchini, and Mexican calabaza), black beans, carrots, and bell peppers. On its own, the medley is a nutritional powerhouse of vitamins, antioxidants, and protein, but you can add shredded pork or grilled chicken for a meatier meal. A garnishing of pickled onions and nachos plus splashes of salsa add a spike of flavor and texture.

“You eat, it’s good enough, you’re going to feel satisfied. It’s fresh, and you won’t be sluggish afterwards,” said Deysi. “It could be because we don’t have rice, but I also think it’s because it’s very light and nutritious.”

For a leafy veggie variety, the Milpa Salad loads grilled corn and black beans on a bed of mixed greens, along with nopales (cactus), pico de gallo, avocado, cotija cheese, and the option to add chicken or pork. The Milpa Soup is another comforting variation with chunks of grilled corn, squash, and cabbage immersed in a hearty red base made from grilled tomatoes.

“We’re vegan friendly, vegetarian friendly, and if you want meat, then great, we have that too,” said Deysi.

True to Milpa Grille’s name, nearly all the fixings on the menu meet the grill—from the corn to the squash, from the tomatoes to the tomatillos, and certainly the chicken. Each one earns sear marks with caramelized and charred colors, releasing smoky flavors that permeate the dishes, even the housemade salsas.

If you’re craving more familiar Mexican fare, you can get your milpa ingredients and other options wrapped in corn tortillas in the form of taquitos, street tacos, and enchiladas. The top-selling taquito choice is generously filled with soft and savory seasoned potatoes, which contrasts the crunch of the fried tortilla and fresh shredded cabbage on top. The enchiladas with grilled squash and bell peppers are another flavorful standout, which is often customized to add corn for a burst of sweetness.

“They’re really catered to what you want to put in them,” Deysi noted. Each meal comes with your choice of two sides, including grilled corn or veggies, black beans, or salad to ensure you can get the full milpa experience.

“We have a small menu. We want to make sure it’s straight to the point, yet really good, whatever you choose,” said Deysi.

If you weren’t acquainted with milpa agriculture before visiting Milpa Grille, it quickly becomes clear that maize plays a central role. Corn commands the menu not only mixed into the milpa dishes, but also as the main feature of many selections: grilled corn on the cob (Elote), grilled corn salad (Esquite), corn soup (Creme de Elote), cornbread (Pan de Elote), and even a drink made with fresh corn (Atole de Elote). Milpa Grille also makes their own “Maya Mix” version of elote mayonnaise with secret spices to enhance almost any dish.

The Creme de Elote soup is a particular favorite as a side dish or a snack. Grilled corn and carrots help thicken the soup while chile pasilla, cilantro, and celery lend it a vibrant green color, accented with a white zigzag of sour cream drizzled on top. Its soothing creaminess and fresh corn flavor make it unique and memorable enough that it sees constant customer demand even through the summer.

“We’re always listening to our customers,” Deysi said. “This menu really caters to them and the community to see what they want us to change.”

On the sweeter side, Coconut Flan is on the dessert list in addition to the Pan de Elote. The housemade beverages complete the menu, including pineapple-ginger-spinach and watermelon-strawberry agua frescas. To perk you up, the Cafe de Olla is a lightly sweetened coffee with cinnamon, served hot or iced. And you can enjoy your cold drink with a modern, eco-friendly pasta straw, perhaps the only wheat-based item you’ll find in the restaurant.

The atmosphere inside Milpa Grille feels modern and homey, surrounded in wood patterns of varying shades, with ample references to its milpa theme. The image of corn is not only in the restaurant logo, but also in the figures of Mayan or Aztec maize gods gracing the counter, and pictured on the walls along with other milpa crops. As you enter, the large Milpa Grille logo on the door greets you with the brazenly amusing claim, “Est. 5000 BC,” an estimation of when the earliest crops were domesticated.

“It’s really about a reminder. When you step into the restaurant you know that this is what our ancestors ate,” said Deysi. “You taste history.”

For restaurant hours and info, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the Milpa Grille website and follow them on social media.

They’re lighter than pizzas and puffier than flatbreads, yet aren’t quite either. So at Gourmet Romano, these atypical entrees are simply described as gourmet crusts. The dough-first approach at this newly opened Burbank eatery uses an artisanal Roman recipe that gets gently hand-pressed and baked into crunchy, airy crusts and panini breads, all adorned in authentic Italian flavors.

“This particular crust is different, because it’s mixed with different flours, and we use a different technique when making the dough,” said Karen Galstyan, who opened Gourmet Romano in July with his wife Serina. “That’s why we didn’t call it pizza. We say it’s gourmet food on the crust.”

Listed first on the menu, the Foccacia makes a bold statement as a crust-only option. Unfettered by toppings, you can taste the true essence of the crust, lightly seasoned with salt, rosemary, and olive oil. The otherwise undressed Foccacia looks like a golden, bubbly cloud with a surprising outer crunch that’s delicately soft on the inside. “With our Focaccia, you are enjoying the crust in itself. It’s hard to find a pizza that you can eat without the toppings,” said Karen.

This new Roman-style crust is also known as pinsa, which is gaining popularity in the US, not only for its texture but also for its healthier profile. Made with a flour blend of rice, soy, and wheat, it has less sodium, fewer calories, and less gluten than regular pizza dough. For the toppings, Gourmet Romano selects authentic Italian ingredients and fresh organic produce to create a balance of flavors without overwhelming the crust.

“For me, it has to be healthy and delicious; that makes it complete,” said Karen. “We want to make sure we find the best quality, the healthiest ingredients we can put on the crust.”

On a weekly basis, the core components are flown in from Italy, including the flour, organic extra virgin olive oil, tomato sauce, cheeses, and cured meats. The fresh organic vegetables and herbs are bought locally—including the basil, tomatoes, zucchini, and arugula—so the special menu at Gourmet Romano changes monthly with the seasons.

You may recognize a few familiar pizza flavors and Italian dishes in the names of some crust entrees. The Margherita (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil) and 4 Formaggi (mozzarella, pecorino, parmigiano, and gorgonzola cheeses) are classic choices. The Cacio e Pepe is modeled after Rome’s most beloved pasta dish, speckled with enticingly potent pecorino (sheep milk cheese) and ground pepper, along with parmigiano and mozzarella, and a garnish of organic zucchini. The Carbonara crust is also based on a pasta dish, featuring its well-known key ingredients: egg yolk and fragrant guanciale.

Among the meatier entrees, the San Daniele is a popular pick, named after the acclaimed Italian prosciutto which is aged for 24 months. On the spicy side is Welcome to Hell, which aptly describes the fiery sensations induced by the peppery nduja and Calabrese salami. Also earning a cheeky name is the Super Mario, which puts mushrooms in the game along with organic sausage.

The Salmone Cream Cheese is vibrantly layered with wild caught smoked salmon, sliced avocado, arugula, and dashes of pink ground pepper. The Alice, topped with anchovies and tomatoes, has appeared on the specials menu, and Karen aims to offer more seafood toppings soon, such as wild-caught shrimp and sea bass.

Among the meatless options, the Vegone has healthy helpings of zucchini and eggplant, plus swirls of three different vegetable creams: bell pepper, sundried tomato, and carrot. And the Freshness is a simple crust with cheese, fresh tomatoes, and arugula.

The San Daniele and Freshness crusts are two that showcase white lumps of buffalo mozzarella, a cheese prized for its soft, smooth texture and rich, creamy flavor. It’s also added to the Italiana salad, one of the three salads on the menu. “For Italians, real, real mozzarella is the buffalo mozzarella,” Karen said. “It’s a totally different taste.”

Just as the gourmet crusts may defy your usual idea of pizza, the paninis at Gourmet Romano are not the grill-pressed ones that might come to mind. These use the same specialty pinsa dough that’s baked and simply folded in half over the ingredients to form a sandwich. Each panini contains a different type of pork—mortadella, prosciutto cotto, or porchetta—plus cheese and a few other ingredients.

Ultimately, all the gourmet crusts and paninis are the same size, which are large enough yet light enough to fill you up without weighing you down. They’re also easy to share, particularly if you’d like to try their specialty side items or leave room for dessert.

It may be hard to pass up the selection of handmade suppli, a popular Italian side dish and snack. These Roman-style stuffed rice balls are filled with a combination of cheese, meat, and sauce, then breaded and deep fried for a crunchy outer surface. “If you like something fried, this is a different experience. It’s very delicious,” Karen said.

Gourmet Romano makes 3 kinds of suppli from scratch: Pomodoro & Basilico (tomato sauce, basil, and parmigiano cheese), Cacio e Pepe (pecorino and black pepper), and Amatriciano (tomato sauce, guanciale, and pecorino). And just for fun, they also offer housemade organic potato chips.

For dessert, head back to the list of gourmet crusts and look for the Nutellina. This dessert crust is smeared with a premium chocolate hazelnut spread and sprinkled with organic coconut and pecans. Karen chose to use Nocciolata spread, which is similar to Nutella but contains all organic ingredients. It offers a sense of chocolatey indulgence without tasting sugary, allowing Gourmet Romano to flaunt the versatility of their crust.

The secret to Gourmet Romano’s crust is the Italian chefs, Francesco Esposito and Matteo Di Nicola, who brought their training, skills, and passion to California to make a mark with this innovative version of pizza. Their secret to making the crust is actually out in the open, literally written on the wall behind the counter display.

One core distinction explained in this chalk statement is the amount of water in the dough, which retains 80% versus the usual 50-60% water in regular pizza dough. Another difference is the length of the fermentation process. Instead of giving the dough a quick 2 to 4 hours to ferment, Gourmet Romano goes way, way beyond that for a rising time of at least 48 hours, up to 72. The method is similar to making sourdough bread and brings the same benefits—the extended fermentation time allows the dough to build flavor, character, and healthy bacteria, plus it breaks down the yeast and gluten.

“We do that to make it more digestible and lighter,” said Karen, adding a common sense rationale: “It’s important how you feel two hours after your meal. If you feel good, then you will come back.”

Gourmet Romano also presents a welcoming atmosphere to keep you coming back. The staff greets you with a friendly “ciao” when you enter and another “ciao” when you leave, with Italian pop music playing in the background all along. The wall of shelves and refrigerated drinks are stocked with jars and bottles of imported Italian foods and beverages to pique your culinary curiosity.

Adding to the atmosphere is the rustic industrial interior, designed by Italian firm Tiberi Arredamenti. The modern trendiness inside contrasts the distressed look outside, painted to resemble the ancient walls of Rome.

Currently, the restaurant is only furnished with a long bar table and stools against one wall for dine-in seating, but Karen is working to add tables and chairs inside and outside the restaurant in the near future. He also plans to continuously expand the menu and envisions offering wine as well.

“When you enter this place, we want you to feel like you entered Rome,” Karen said. “We want it to be like a slice of Rome in Burbank.”

For restaurant hours and more info, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the Gourmet Romano website and follow them on social media.

Wrap or burrito? Potato chips or tortilla chips? Ahi tuna salad or fajitas? Bayleaf and Calavera Burrito Company are two conjoined restaurants where you can mix and match contemporary American and traditional Mexican cuisines without skipping a beat.

Inside the revitalized Spring Arcade Building in Downtown Los Angeles, the attached eateries look decidedly unrelated, each with its own signage and open doorway. Step inside either one, and the only obvious connection is the pathway in front of a staircase that divides each side and leads to an upper-level seating area. To your left, Calavera Burrito Co. is decorated with colorful sugar skulls from which the restaurant borrows its name, celebrating Mexican heritage and traditional foods. To your right, Bayleaf is a garden of green plants and open preparation space for assembling fresh salads and sandwiches.

“You can come here seven days a week and try different food. Today you can try Bayleaf, and tomorrow you can come back and try Calavera,” said Andres Temores, general manager of both restaurants. And since the two fall under the same ownership, you can also conveniently add dishes from each place to the same order tab.

Though the menus are distinctly different, the restaurants share similar approaches to food preparation as both chefs collaborate and share the same kitchen. To achieve fine dining quality at a fast food pace, the chefs drive the menus and draw from experience to nimbly make nearly everything from scratch. Executive Chef Catherine Wooten was a top graduate of Le Cordon Bleu who combines inspirations from the many cultures of American cuisine to balance tastes and textures at Bayleaf. For Calavera, Chef Ruben Ruiz uses family recipes from Michoacán, Mexico for the succulent meats and sauces that occupy the burritos and plates.

“You put them together and they’re the A-team,” Andres said. “There’s a lot of freedom for them to express themselves.”

Bayleaf

On the Bayleaf menu, a selection of entrees can be served as a salad, sandwich, or wrap with your choice of ahi tuna, turkey, steak, or veggies. You then choose a flavor style, which may appeal to you based on key ingredients, such as the barbecue and bacon jam in the Modern Cowboy, or the candied walnuts and grapes in the Tarragon Waldorf. Other styles incorporate regional flavors like Mediterranean, Latin, or Asian.

The mix of styles may vary seasonally, but for each one, Chef Catherine aims for balance. “There has to be sweet, salty, savory, and even sour so that it’s well rounded,” she explained. “I like texture to be in it. I like for there to be different temperatures and different variations on heat.”

The flavors of the Spicy Sumo style exemplify this balancing act. It’s one of Bayleaf’s most popular mixes, particularly with the seared ahi tuna, which gets coated in a fiery housemade sauce and paired with a slaw of shredded cabbage and creamy garlic soy ginger sauce. Charred jalapeno slices add heat, contrasted by the cool crunch of a Japanese cucumber salad mix and spiral-cut carrots, cushioned with mixed greens.

“I’m actually a quarter Japanese. So Japanese food really speaks to me because it reminds me of my grandmother and my mom,” said Catherine, who is also part Cherokee Indian, English, Guatemalan, and Spanish. Inspirations from her multi-ethnic heritage, world travels, and culinary training all culminate in her menu selections for Bayleaf. Her creative skills with salads have been honed through extensive experience, having started her career making appetizers and salads as an intern at Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas.

Seasonal ingredients also factor into the ever-evolving creations on the Bayleaf menu. This summer featured stone fruits and berries, and this fall will mix in root vegetables, squashes, and pumpkins. Fruits and vegetables are bought whole and chopped on site, along with fresh herbs. The restaurant’s name is well-suited to its chef since Catherine uses bay leaves in many of the dishes, including her sauces and soups, such as the clam chowder and chicken tortilla soup.

“It adds a soul to the dish. It’s unlike any other herb,” she said. “A lot of the dishes here have that background flavor.”

For the sandwiches, Catherine chose pretzel buns, not just for their distinctive taste and look, but also because the soft and tender bread inside cradles the ingredients so they’re less prone to getting squished out. The risk is real, considering that each sandwich is loaded to a precarious height that often requires the aid of a wooden pick to stay upright.

Any entree choice comes with crispy housemade chips—a mix of both regular and sweet potatoes, each cooked separately and then blended together for that interplay of salty and sweet flavors. “It was not easy to accomplish them because at first they were soggy. And then they weren’t all uniformly fried, and then they were burned,” Catherine said. “So, you really have to find the perfect way to do them.”

At Bayleaf, desserts vary daily. On any given day you’ll find ice cream cookie sandwiches, whoopie pies, carrot cake, and maybe bread pudding a la mode. Among the housemade beverages, Bayleaf offers lemonades enhanced with cucumbers, berries, melons, pineapple, and other juicy fruits.

Calavera Burrito Company

The handcrafted quality at Calavera is immediately apparent when you pick up one of their signature burritos. A trace of flour dust on your fingertips offers evidence of tortillas made from scratch. Chef Ruben’s approach to building the perfect burrito starts with making flour tortillas with just the right amount of flexibility, flattening them to about 2 millimeters. “It has to be thick, but not that thick, and not too thin,” he estimates. The same care goes into making the crunchy corn tortilla chips that are fried in-house and served on the side.

Folding the burrito is part science and part art. Ruben starts with a layer of rice to absorb the juices from the meats. Then the trick is to evenly spread out the ingredients so that in every bite you taste the rice, meats, beans, vegetables, guacamole, and sauces. “I’m making it as if I’m making the burrito for me, and as if I was going to eat it. I’m a big believer in that,” he said.

Your choice of beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables fills the burritos as well as the platos, nachos, and mulitas. The fajitas are one of the most popular picks, with beef fillets marinated in a well-tested recipe. But since Ruben comes from Michoacán, which is known for carnitas and birria, these meats undergo a more complex, slower preparation to achieve their distinctive flavors and textures. The beef for the birria is marinated in a mole sauce made with a multitude of spices, including four different peppers, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, and chocolate.

Ruben starts preparing the birria and carnitas at 6am, allowing the meats to cook through the morning until they’re tender enough to fall apart, just in time for the lunch crowds. The pork for the carnitas gets seared, braised, and seasoned section by section over the course of 4-6 hours. Likewise, the chicken thighs roast slowly in the oven for three hours until they, too, shred with ease. The extra effort Ruben puts into the slow cooking process reminds him of his uncle, who handled food with reverence, telling him, “It all depends on the love that you put in the food. That’s what you’re going to get back.”

With just one dessert option at Calavera, the choice is easy: churro fried ice cream with guava sauce. Drinks get the same freshly-made-in-house treatment as Bayleaf, with Calavera serving jamaica and tamarindo aguas, plus a strawberry flavored horchata.

Both restaurants plan to expand their menus and hours to include breakfast and dinner this fall, giving Catherine and Ruben more opportunities to express their passions for food and create fresh gourmet dishes for the bustling urbanites and visitors of Downtown LA.

“We offer a little bit everything for everyone. It works out very well,” said Andres. “You can try a little bit of both and leave happy.”

For restaurant hours and info, click the respective Foodzooka profiles below and follow Bayleaf and Calavera Burrito Co. on social media.

A trip to PSY Street Kitchen in the San Fernando Valley may seem like traveling through another dimension of food. In this psychedelic zone, burger buns are black, bacon is beefy, salad comes hot, tahini overrides ketchup, and the rules are strictly kosher.

This mind-altering concept comes from Gal Ben Goya and chef Uzi Wizman, an enterprising couple influenced by their Israeli roots along with Wizman’s travels and studies of global cuisines. After Uzi landed in Los Angeles in 2015 and completed an internship alongside renowned chef Nobu Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, he ultimately sought to meld worldly flavors in ways that also captured the diverse diets and tastes of Los Angeles.

When Uzi and Gal first opened their restaurant in 2017, it went by the name PSYburger, reflecting the notable variety of burgers on the menu. However, the name couldn’t adequately convey the uniqueness of Uzi’s innovative burgers and other dishes, all designed to meet kosher dietary restrictions. Now with its renaming to PSY Street Kitchen, customers are more open to a creative food experience without setting their expectations on standard American burgers.

“Uzi makes things more modern, more his touch,” said Gal. “It’s a mix of a lot of things and different flavors from all over.”

Though the Classic Beef burger tops the menu list, its preparation takes it beyond its modest label. PSY’s beef burger meat is salted and soaked in a pickling process to meet kosher requirements, which also primes the beef for tasty drippings once grilled. The Classic is slathered with barbecue sauce and 1000 island dressing, along with a layer of PSY’s designated veggies: lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onions, and pickled cabbage.

To outfit your burger with some attitude, PSY Street Kitchen’s signature pretzel buns are sure to raise some eyebrows. From afar, these bulbous black and gold colored burger cushions might be mistaken for monstrous mega-sized mushrooms. To come up with this unique bun, Uzi sampled bread from 10 local bakeries before partnering with Dan Messinger at Bibi’s Bakery and Cafe, a kosher establishment in the Pico Robertson District. The duo created a hybrid bun that’s part pretzel and part challah bread, then finished it with a caramel coat that gives the bun its distinctive black veneer.

“Uzi’s favorite color is black. The whole restaurant is black. So, it was really exciting when we found this bun,” said Gal. For a more familiar look, sesame seed buns or whole wheat buns are also available for any burger. Or you can opt to go “protein style” with your burger of choice wrapped in lettuce or served on a plate with two side items.

Among the other beef options is the Kebab burger, which infuses the flavors of a kebab plate with pickled lemon, turkish salad, and raw tahini. The Sloppy Joe is PSY’s fusion take on the Middle Eastern pita sandwich, with the insides of the bun scooped out to form a pocket that encloses the saucy ground beef smothered in BBQ.

Additional varieties of meat burgers include Lamb, Grilled Chicken Breast, Spring Chicken (grilled marinated chicken thigh), and Schnitzel (batter-fried chicken breast). And the Miso Salmon Burger is a grilled ground salmon patty topped with aioli capers.

For vegetarians and vegans, the Falafel Burger and the Portobello Burger (grilled or batter fried) are go-to picks. And occasionally, a vegan version of the sloppy joe using several types of tofu is also available as a special.

You may notice on the menu that several burgers and other dishes share a particular ingredient in common. PSY Street Kitchen’s tahini spread, made from ground sesame seeds, finds its way into just about everything: burgers, salads, appetizers, and sides. PSY imports a raw tahini from Israel and adds nothing to it—no lemon, no salt.

“We use a special type of tahini that almost has the same texture as peanut butter,” said Gal. On the burgers, it’s a Middle Eastern answer to ketchup and mayo. When mixed with a sweet barbecue sauce, the flavor balance works like pairing peanut butter with jelly. This mix is featured on dishes such as the fried portobello appetizer Crunchy Shroom and the Portobello Burger.

Since kosher guidelines don’t allow serving meat with dairy, you won’t find a standard cheeseburger at PSY Street Kitchen. But an array of flavorful non-dairy topping options will keep your tastebuds suitably preoccupied. “We try to make the customer not miss dairy,” said Gal.

While vegan cheese is among the choices, more intriguing toppings include guacamole, kosher beef bacon, fried egg, and fried pickles, along with novel options such as truffle aioli, Turkish salad (made with stewed tomatoes and eggplant), and garlic confit, which is caramelized garlic cloves. “They’re like little garlic candies,” Gal described. “They’re amazing.”

If you’re feeling a bit less indulgent, PSY offers a few suggestions “when your heart says burger, but your jeans say salad,” as quoted in the folds of the printed menu. The Market Salad is the most popular option, with nine chopped vegetables tossed and stirred with tahini. The Hot Market Salad is a grilled version of mixed vegetables, topped with peanuts and mixed with a sweeter dressing over fresh greens.

On the starters menu, Roasted Cauliflower is the top seller, covered in garlic panko and served with tahini seasoned with lemon and paprika sauce. The BBQ Wings are coated with a sweet sauce that can be made spicy or mild. The Baked Potato is a whole potato sliced in half, grilled, and topped with truffle aioli and garlic confit. And then there’s the Eggplant Mess, where the chef takes a whole peeled eggplant, chars it on the grill, then mashes it together with several housemade sauces. Scooping spoonfuls of the eggplant mash onto the accompanying slices of bruschetta allows you to neatly deliver the tasty mess to your mouth. “It’s a fun dish if you like eggplant,” Gal said.

Though PSY Street Kitchen doesn’t offer a set dessert list, keep an eye on the specials for occasional temptations such as malabi brulee or hot fudge and ice cream cake, made from Uzi’s family recipe.

As the menu puts a groovy spin on kosher cuisine, the atmosphere inside PSY Street Kitchen evokes a similar sense of irreverence in its crowded strip mall location on Ventura Blvd. A large black and white wall mural depicts a giant burger and other ingredients floating against gravity in the funky, artistic style of skateboard culture and vinyl record shops.

On another wall, PSY’s massive, colorful burger logo is set against a chalky, dark brick pattern with its rainbow colors spilling out below the frame. The word “psychedelic” is also painted above the door, perhaps to prepare you for an offbeat dining experience.

For kosher customers who find it difficult to eat out, PSY Street Kitchen is a surprising and welcome change of pace from the everyday deli. But the appeal of Uzi’s unconventional menu has drawn equal attention from non-kosher diners. “I would say about 50 percent of our customers don’t care about kosher,” said Gal. “They just come here because the food is good, which is really fun for us.”

For restaurant hours and info, click the Foodzooka profiles below for the PSY Street Kitchen locations in Sherman Oaks and on the Westside. From there, you can also visit their website and follow them on social media.

If a new restaurant called Wall St Pizza sounds misplaced on its Washington Blvd spot in Culver City, perhaps that’s the point. This is a New York style pizza place looking to stand out in Los Angeles.

The quintessential New York pizza is known for having a flexibly thin and soft but crisp crust that expands 18 inches across, wide enough to have to fold when handling a slice. Randy Langhamer, owner of Wall St Pizza, should know. He and his son Keith, who is the CEO of the business, are native New Yorkers, complete with the accent and ribbing sense of humor.

Though becoming a restaurateur marks a career change for Randy, the name of his new business lends a metaphorical continuity to his occupational pursuits, having spent 36 years working on Wall Street as a global equity trader.

“What it has taught me is drive and determination, and you hold yourself to a certain standard,” Randy said.

To bring his vision for Wall St Pizza to fruition, Randy let Keith take the wheel to operate the restaurant and put his experience to work. “I’ve been in the service industry for about 12 years,” Keith explained. “You’ve gotta give people customer service. We’re big on customer service and hospitality.” He was involved in multiple restaurant openings in Las Vegas hotels, including at Caesars Palace, Paris, and The Linq.

To live up to the restaurant’s slogan and Wall Street pun, “We know how to make dough,” Randy has placed particular focus on the quality of the dough, which went through 21 rounds of recipes to meet his critical standards. He admits that they continue to make tweaks not only based on his own preferences, but also from constructive customer feedback.

For Wall St Pizza, the dough flour of choice is Caputo “00,” which is milled in Naples, Italy. It has a low gluten content and is considered to be the gold standard by pizza makers for its fine grind, necessary to give the edges a crispy crunch. The dough also gets a dose of water altered with the aid of a filtration system and added minerals to replicate the pH of water in New York.

Another main ingredient for the dough is patience. Using a technique called long proofing, the dough is left to sit for 24 hours to ferment and rise. The process leaves tiny air bubbles throughout the dough and gives the crust a chewy bite even in the thinnest places. It achieves a lightness that doesn’t create a sensation of filling up on bread, even for slices that span the width of your plate. Notably, you can also request gluten free or whole wheat crust.

“Chefs and owners of restaurants made it a point to eat here. And one said, ‘I got to tell you, this is probably the best dough pizza I’ve had in years,’” Randy said.

After the dough is hand tossed, it’s layered with a housemade sauce of simmered San Marzano tomatoes, which originally grew in the volcanic soils near Italy’s Mt. Vesuvius, cultivating a less acidic fruit with a more potent sweetness. The cheeses that top Wall St pizzas include buttery Italian cheese from Grande and fresh mozzarella from Di Stefano Cheese in Pomona.

The menu lists nearly 20 made-to-order specialty pizzas, all carrying 18-inches worth of gourmet toppings, including some fun crossover creations—consider dishes like buffalo chicken, stuffed baked potatoes, or tacos in pizza form. You’ll also find a distinctive variety of fresh non-GMO vegetables, cheeses, sauces and meats. No matter your choice, the cooked ingredients are either freshly baked, broiled or sauteed, but nothing is fried.

For pickier palates, traditional New York pizzas can be customized with your choice of toppings from a familiar roundup of meat and veggie options on 12-inch or 18-inch crusts. Randy particularly recommends the housemade meatballs, which are sizable spheres of well-blended ground beef and Italian sausage. “I’m not a big meatball guy, but these things are killer.”

If an entire pizza intimidates your appetite, you can choose a slice from several varieties on display at the counter as available. Or you can enjoy the specialty dough in its other forms, including substantially sized hero sandwiches, calzones, and garlic knots. The garlic knots alone are an ode to the dough, made with fresh garlic, pecorino romano and parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil.

In keeping with the restaurant’s theme, the menu items read like a glossary of Wall Street jargon, with specialty pizzas named after stock trading terms, and salads named after stock ticker symbols. Even if you don’t recognize some of the labels or their meanings, they’re at least a curious and perhaps educational conversation starter in discussing the dishes they describe.

On the walls are photos and posters of the iconic movies the market inspired, showcasing the frequent connections between Hollywood and Wall Street. At the bar, the beers curated by Keith also maintain East Coast connections, with several New York microbrews on tap and in bottles. Vino enthusiasts will find 12 organic French and Argentine wines, all rated 92 or 93 points.

While lingering at the bar, you’ll notice colorful shards of glass embedded in the smooth countertop, all of which came from recycled beer and wine bottles. If the TV above doesn’t hold your interest, the adjacent large window may mesmerize you. Framed within is a neon-lit cascading waterfall that flows ironically into a row of ceaseless flames from the fire pit below.

The restaurant’s layout was designed with a west wall that rolls up and extends the dining area out to an open patio. Located in an area on the verge of significant expansion, Randy and Keith are enthusiastic to get to know the local community. With Wall St, they offer guests a gathering spot with plenty of tasty options for an easy excuse to make repeat visits.

Acknowledging that Wall St Pizza is a stylistic departure from typical New York pizza joints, Randy suggests, “It’s not really a pizzeria. It’s more of a pizza lounge.”

For restaurant hours and more info, click the Foodzooka profile below to find the Wall St Pizza website and follow them on social media.