Review of Pitfire Pizza, Costa Mesa, CA

[tinroofrusted]

Review: Pitfire Pizza, Costa Mesa, CA
I've been on a diet since early January, so I've not been eating much pizza.  I am very pleased to report that I reached my first goal on my diet. I am going to maintain here for a bit and then go down a final ten pounds to my fighting weight. Part of my regime to get to this point has been skipping lunch, so I had my lunch spot all picked out for my first day in "maintenance mode": Pitfire Pizza in Costa Mesa (right near Newport Beach). This was opened up a few months ago in what used to be a Marie Callender's restaurant. They still serve pie, but of a different variety now.  

Pitfire is a "mini-chain", currently at seven locations. All of them are in greater Los Angeles except the Costa Mesa location, which is in Orange County to the south of LA. They did a nice job of converting the Marie Callender's space. It really is funky with lots of plywood surfaces. It gives off a kind of counter-culture feel I guess.  You line up and order your pizza, salad, and drinks at the counter; they give you a number which you are supposed to display on your table so they can deliver your pizza when it's ready.  

They are cooking the pizzas on a Woodstone oven. I looked at it and it was HUGE. Probably it can hold a dozen or more pizzas at a time.  There's a big open gas flame in the back of the oven. I read on their website that they bake the pizzas at about 620F, so it's not that much hotter than your average home oven. I'm not sure how long it takes to bake a pizza but I am guessing around five minutes or so.  

So how was the pizza? In a word, delicious.  I ordered the the Burrata Pie for  $9.95, which has burrata cheese, tomato sauce, wild arugula, caramelized onion,  hazelnut, and pesto. I know, it sounds like a bit of a mess, but it was really delicious.  I attach a photo for your inspection.  The crust is thin, with a good sized edge, that is puffy and bready.  The edge of the crust really tastes like freshly baked bread. The bottom was quite brown, as was the edge of the crust. I suspect they have a bit of sugar in the dough to promote browning. I would say that the only possible "defect" on this pie was that the crust was probably over-browned a bit. But the flavor of the pizza as really good so I don't want to be too picky. The arugula was very fresh and had a nice dressing on it.

I'll be headed back here soon to try out some of the other pizza flavors. They have some pretty good looking other pies that I'd like to try (in moderation, of course!)

Regards,

TinRoof

[Serpentelli]

Well That looks better than anything I can get within 6 hours of here so thanks for making me feel like a real country mouse!

We got great weather down here in NC, but great pizza we have not.

I can do without the hazelnuts, however. If I wants hazelnuts I go get me a spoon and dig into my daughter's jar o' Nutella thank you very much!

John K

[jeffereynelson]

Thanks for the review. We both live in the same general area so we must visit some of the same places. I haven't been there though before. Looks interesting, pretty high amount of char. I'll give it try sometime when I'm at South Coast.

You have been to Pizzeria Ortica correct?

[tinroofrusted]

You have been to Pizzeria Ortica correct?

Yes, I've been to Ortica maybe three times.  Good pizza with very nice quality ingredients.  I really loved the pizza with the egg in the middle.  I can't remember what kind of cheese it was (fontina or tallegio maybe?) but it was delicious.  I was not always crazy about their soggy centers, but as I said in my review of Fuoco, I am coming around on that lately.  A couple of years ago I did a pizza making class there too.  Which was actually worth doing.  They didn't give us the recipe for their dough but they did give us tips on how to know when the dough is ready, how to form pizzas, and how to get them in and out of the oven. 

I was actually not expecting much from Pitfire. I thought it was one of those new chain type places that smash the dough in a machine to form the crust (like Blaze Pizza does). So I was very pleasantly surprised about how delicious the pizza was. 

Some places I still need to visit in LA include Sotto, Stella Rossa, Mother Dough, and Olio. 

Regards,

TinRoof

[jeffereynelson]

Some places I still need to visit in LA include Sotto, Stella Rossa, Mother Dough, and Olio. 

Ya I haven't been to any of those places either. I think I'm going to make the trek into LA and do Olio tomorrow, and maybe try one other place since I'll be there anyways. Just have to be ready to eat a lot.

[pizzard]

We go the PITFIRE Pizza in Culver City on Washington Blvd. quite often.  They have a nice selection of microbrew beers on tap, and when the pizza comes on correctly...it  is excellent.  The seating is a little quirky, but for the most part it seems to work.  You can't sit down until you order, and on busy nights this can be problematic, because the food comes out so fast...and I want to enjoy a little beer first darn it. 

Also went to the new location in Manhattan Beach.  Unfortunately, I think the space is a bit small for this popular/busy location, but I'm glad they opened one in MB.  Again, you can't sit until you've ordered, so they really count on you eating and leaving. 

I can't say we haven't had issues with quality control from oven to plate...several times its been served burnt.  The manager told us that if we didn't want it that well done (it was burnt) we need to tell them when we order not to overcook it...kind of makes you think twice about ordering sausage for a topping. 

All in all we really do like PITFIRE.  They have an excellent product...love the pizza...love the beer!  Their other food items look great, but since getting good pizza in LA is mind boggling difficult ...we always go for the pizza.

This place will be around for a long time.  Here is the linkhttp://www.pitfirepizza.com/