Restaurant Review: 800 Degrees

This week on pandagrub, we are going to do a restaurant review. Today we visited  800 Degrees which is a pizzeria near the Hammer Museum in West L.A.

 The panda in the picture above is named Riceball. Riceball is very excited to be going to 800 Degrees! It is located at 10889 Lindbrook Drive, Los Angeles,CA 90024. I found out about 800 Degrees in the LA Times. For the article click here. This restaurant is called 800 Degrees because they cook the pizzas in an 800 degree oven.

 At 800 Degrees, the chefs make the pizza to order.  They even make the dough fresh! 

After the chefs knead the pizza dough, they add whatever topping you ordered.  I ordered a pizza margherita, which is the classic combination of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil.  Those represent the colors of the Italian flag.  

 That's my pizza on the left side, and my dad's pizza is on the right side.  He ordered a pizza "bianca". A pizza "bianca" is a pizza without tomato sauce.

This is what my pizza margherita looked like when it was taken out of the oven. Riceball and I were very excited to gorge ourselves on pizza. My favorite part of the pizza  was the tomato sauce because it was very fresh.

This was my dad's pizza. On his pizza "bianca" he added prosciutto and arugula. My dad thought that his pizza was cooked perfectly and that the crust was very flavorful. My favorite part of the pizza was the prosciutto because it was like my two favorite lunch meats mixed together: salami and ham. The prosciutto melted in my mouth. I liked it so much, I stole most of the pieces off of my dad's pizza.   

These meatballs were the perfect way to end lunch. The meatballs are also baked in the 800 degree oven. Inside of the meatball, there was tomato, oregano,and parmigiano.  Riceball and I are definitely looking forward to coming back to 800 Degrees. Next time we will try the pizza marinara with soppressata.

An Easy Dessert

This week on pandagrub, we are going to be making Thin Mints trifles.

 The panda in the picture above is named Mei Mei. Mei Mei is sitting with the ingredients used in the Thin Mints trifles. The ingredients are mint, instant chocolate pudding mix, heavy whipping cream(the recipe says cool whip, but I made my own whipped cream), and one box of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies.

 First make the instant pudding. Here is what it should like when you finish making it.

 Take your box of Thin Mints and place in a Ziploc bag and pound with a mallet.

 If you decide to make your own  whipped cream this is what it should look like when you finish whipping it. For the whipped cream recipe click here.

 Now you can start assembling your trifle. First put a layer of crushed Thin Mints on the bottom of your bowl.

 Then put a big glob of your chocolate pudding on top of the layer of Thin Mints.

 Finally add your whipped cream on the top.

 Then add a sprig of mint and sprinkle the crumbled Thin Mints on top.

This was a delicious dessert. For the full recipe click here  

Breakfast Pizza

This week on pandagrub we are going to be making Breakfast Pizza. 

This post is dedicated to:

Mrs.Olivia Marie Beltran,

Happy Belated Birthday Ms. Olivia!

 The pandas in the picture above are named StubStare and Beady Eyes. They are sitting with the ingredients for the breakfast pizza. The ingredients are green onions, cheddar cheese (the recipe says parmesan and mozzarella, but we used cheddar), eggs,bacon, and store-bought pizza dough.

 StubStare and Beady Eyes are sitting with the pizza dough, some crumbled bacon, and 1 cup of cheddar cheese.(If you like your pizzas extra cheesy, you can use 2 cups of cheddar cheese.)

 After spreading the cheese and crumbling the bacon on the pizza,crack your eggs on the top.  Brush the crust with a bit of olive oil.  

Finally! After being baked at  500 degrees for 10 minutes the pizza is ready! StubStare and Beady Eyes are very excited to eat the pizza.

Look at the gooey cheese. To make this delicious breakfast pizza, click here.

Tonkatsu

This week on pandagrub we are going to be making tonkatsu.

 The panda in the picture above is named Beckett. Beckett is sitting with the ingredients for the tonkatsu. The ingredients are panko bread crumbs, flour, egg, pork chops, and tonkatsu sauce.

First Beckett is dredging the pork chops in flour. 

 Now he is dredging the pork chops in an egg wash.

 Finally Beckett is dredging the pork chops in the panko breadcrumbs.

 Beckett is turning the tonkatsu over. Look at the golden brown color.

 Beckett is very excited to finally get to eat the tonkatsu. 

For the full recipe click here.

By the way here is a food music video that I have lately been obsessed with:

626 by the Fung Brothers

I hope you enjoy this. By the way 626 is the San Gabriel Valley area code.