Los Angeles where to shop

[PizzaEater101]

I ended up going to tama and grabbing a case of rosa grande and a case of grande WMM, the rosa grande was $7.50/lb x 10lbs, the case of grande WMM was $4.75/lb x 54.3lbs (8 loaves).  Cash sale, will-call, they had it pulled pretty quickly as I was there about 20 minutes after calling my order in.

I wouldn't hesitate to go there again, although it may be some time before I get through this purchase as I believe I've got about 70 pizzas worth of cheese on hand now.

Congrats.  When I bought pepperoni there it was a box of Swiss brand but I forget how many pounds it was.  I am still using it now and it is great quality.   That is too many loafs for me because I don't have enough freezer space for that.  This is why I decided to stick with Bella Rosano which I feel is excellent.  Better than Grande?  I don't know because although I used both I would need an AB comparison.  With the rave reviews of Saputo Gold and ability to get one loaf at a time I am going to try it.

Did you make a pizza yet with your Grande?

[pixelforest]

Congrats.  When I bought pepperoni there it was a box of Swiss brand but I forget how many pounds it was.  I am still using it now and it is great quality.   That is too many loafs for me because I don't have enough freezer space for that.  This is why I decided to stick with Bella Rosano which I feel is excellent.  Better than Grande?  I don't know because although I used both I would need an AB comparison.  With the rave reviews of Saputo Gold and ability to get one loaf at a time I am going to try it.

Did you make a pizza yet with your Grande?

I did.  I had bought two loaves from the spot down in anaheim prior to buying the case from tama, so I knew I wanted it.  Did a bunch of blind testing with friends (tomatoes, pepperoni, cheese) as a control against my expectations and everything was more or less unanimously in line with my ideas and the knowledge from here - rosa grande, stanislaus tomatoes, grande cheese.  haven't tried saputo but the grande was much better than the contenders - primo italiano, galbani profesionale, regular galbani loaf (not profesionale).

 I'm currently working through the loser cheese loaves while I am fiddling with sicilian/grandma dough formula tweaking and am excited to get back to the grande stash.  it's been a nonstop stream of notes, reading, math, and kitchen work to crank sicilian after sicilian out of my poor little domestic oven every single day for weeks now.  but the pies are getting better and better. 

[pixelforest]

one thing i am now sorta looking for is lioni fresh mozz loaves.  haven't turned up a supplier yet, and it doesn't seem like anyone else is really selling a fresh mozzzarella loaf that i could throw into the deli slicer.  lioni lists two suppliers in california but they're both bougie cheese shops that don't appear to sell the fresh mozzarella loaves.

[PizzaEater101]

How do you have space to store so much?  You have an extra freezer?

[PizzaSean]

one thing i am now sorta looking for is lioni fresh mozz loaves.  haven't turned up a supplier yet, and it doesn't seem like anyone else is really selling a fresh mozzzarella loaf that i could throw into the deli slicer.  lioni lists two suppliers in california but they're both bougie cheese shops that don't appear to sell the fresh mozzarella loaves.

I was recently on this quest as well and turned up the bougie cheese shops. I have a feeling it would be easier to get my hands on some when I'm back east and then just bring it back here. If I manage to do that I'll message you.

[PizzaSean]

Not to get too far off topic here, but I just learned that there is a Prince St Pizza newly opened here in LA and they use that Lioni Latticini fresh mozz loaf on their squares as I understand it from some other threads within pizzamaking.com. So maybe there'll be hope for us getting some locally!

[PizzaEater101]

Not to get too far off topic here, but I just learned that there is a Prince St Pizza newly opened here in LA and they use that Lioni Latticini fresh mozz loaf on their squares as I understand it from some other threads within pizzamaking.com. So maybe there'll be hope for us getting some locally!

Thanks for the heads up on this.  I didn't know that and definitely want to try it.

[PizzaSean]

Yeah! I've actually only had Prince St. once in NY, but I'm eager to see how it is here.

[PizzaEater101]

I've never seen shredded! I've been to Pasadena and all I've found was Supremo and Galbani and no Saputo of either type.

At RD Van Nuys it's always loaf. It's been in stock every single time except for once out of maybe 10 trips I've made there so far.

I also learned that if you go on instacart.com you can enter addresses in different locations and view the stock of the RD/Jetro in different locations. It's probably not fool proof but it gives you an idea if they have something in stock or not at least. I'm guessing phone calls probably do the same job, now that I type this out.


Price for Saputo Gold loaves seems to be higher every time I go. It was $3.20 in Sept and $3.89 yesterday. I think yesterdays case price was 3.71 if you bought a box of 6 loaves.

I just ran out of Bella Rosano and figured I should try some Saputo Gold so I went to van Nuys.  Of course when I got out to VN my GPS sent me to the wrong place so I tried again and GPS sent me to the right place.  The lengths we go to make pizza. It was a beautiful afternoon in the SF Valley.  Bought the SG.  Interestingly enough it looks very much like Grande and both are made in Wisconsin and some of you say it is just like Grande.  Huh... Interesting. The label looks different than the label of what is pictured on the Internet BUT it is SG nevertheless. The shelf only had one left but I noticed below there was about for boxes of it with one open so I grabbed one from an open box.   I will try it on Wednesday or Thursday.  I am pretty excited to try it out. 

[PizzaSean]

PizzaEater101,

That's great that you got the Saputo Gold! I'm excited to hear how you like it and maybe see some pics.

I haven't had grande in ages, but it does remind me of it somewhat. In my memory, the grande WMLMM gave me a little more of that beautiful orange grease on top of the pie. That said, Saputo might be doing that just as well if I had a broiler element on the top of my oven as I did back when I tried grande.

And regarding the RD Van Nuys stock situation - I ran into the same thing and a worker helped me out by taking loaves out of the cases and bringing them to the nearby scale for labeling for individual sale.

[thedoctaaa]

Where’s the best spot to find some Grande cheese in LA?

[PizzaEater101]

Where’s the best spot to find some Grande cheese in LA?

As mentioned above Tama Trading in the downtown LA area.  You can buy a bag of shredded but if you want a loaf you have to buy a minimum amount which may be 5 loafs for around $100 but you need serious space in the freezer.  To buy smaller amounts but more costly per pound you can buy in Pasadena at Roma Market on North Lake.  Pay more per pound but you don't have to buy and store a large amount either.

[PizzaEater101]

PizzaEater101,

That's great that you got the Saputo Gold! I'm excited to hear how you like it and maybe see some pics.

I haven't had grande in ages, but it does remind me of it somewhat. In my memory, the grande WMLMM gave me a little more of that beautiful orange grease on top of the pie. That said, Saputo might be doing that just as well if I had a broiler element on the top of my oven as I did back when I tried grande.

And regarding the RD Van Nuys stock situation - I ran into the same thing and a worker helped me out by taking loaves out of the cases and bringing them to the nearby scale for labeling for individual sale.

I'm sorry, I never responded to you. I meant to but didn't right away then I forgot.  I don't have pics but I can say I liked it.  I think I like Grande better but it was close and more worth it per pound than the Grande.  Honestly as much as I like Grande I think I am going to stick with Bella Rosano from Costco business.  Like Saputo it is a great price and comes close enough for Grande like quality. 

Have you made pizza lately and what cheese did you use?

[PizzaSean]

I'm sorry, I never responded to you. I meant to but didn't right away then I forgot.  I don't have pics but I can say I liked it.  I think I like Grande better but it was close and more worth it per pound than the Grande.  Honestly as much as I like Grande I think I am going to stick with Bella Rosano from Costco business.  Like Saputo it is a great price and comes close enough for Grande like quality. 

Have you made pizza lately and what cheese did you use?

Hi PizzaEater101 -

Please don't worry about the delay in response - I'm not always checking in here regularly myself. I've been making pizzas most recently with Saputo but before that I'd been using Grande from Tama Trading as mentioned above.

 
Your experience sounds about like my experience! I find that the Saputo is a great value and is close in quality. I prefer the Grande a bit but it is quite a difference in price - seems to melt better and look a little better and taste a little beter.

I don't have a costco business account but I know there's a Costco Business center in Commerce that I've gotten gas at. Curious about that Bella Rosano now!

[Quebert]

I really want to try Saputo Gold or Grande,  I use Galbani Mozzarella in 5lb loaves from Smart & Final. I like it, but I don't have anything to compare it to outside of Boar's Head and Belgioioso.  Boar's head is good but would bankrupt me if I tried to use it exclusively lol.  I get the Galbani for $12 right now.  I know they're way more $$$ but I bet both the Saputo or Grande would be a big step up in the quality of my pizzas. 

[PizzaEater101]

Hi PizzaEater101 -

Please don't worry about the delay in response - I'm not always checking in here regularly myself. I've been making pizzas most recently with Saputo but before that I'd been using Grande from Tama Trading as mentioned above.

 
Your experience sounds about like my experience! I find that the Saputo is a great value and is close in quality. I prefer the Grande a bit but it is quite a difference in price - seems to melt better and look a little better and taste a little beter.

I don't have a costco business account but I know there's a Costco Business center in Commerce that I've gotten gas at. Curious about that Bella Rosano now!

The Costco Business in Commerce is the exact one I go to.  You don't need a special account for shopping there.  If you have a regular Costco membership you can shop there.  I still have some shredded Grande from Tama Trading so I have to finish that but after I will get Bella Rosno from Costo Business.

[PizzaEater101]

I really want to try Saputo Gold or Grande,  I use Galbani Mozzarella in 5lb loaves from Smart & Final. I like it, but I don't have anything to compare it to outside of Boar's Head and Belgioioso.  Boar's head is good but would bankrupt me if I tried to use it exclusively lol.  I get the Galbani for $12 right now.  I know they're way more $$$ but I bet both the Saputo or Grande would be a big step up in the quality of my pizzas.

I have heard good things about Galbani. 

Some of the RD locations sell Saputo loafs but not all of them.  Maybe near you they have it.  I live east of Los Angeles and of all the different locations in So Call within 30 miles only the Van Nuys location had it so I went there.  It's about 25 miles from me.

[PizzaSean]

The Costco Business in Commerce is the exact one I go to.  You don't need a special account for shopping there.  If you have a regular Costco membership you can shop there.  I still have some shredded Grande from Tama Trading so I have to finish that but after I will get Bella Rosno from Costo Business.

Oh that's so funny, for some reason I thought that my regular Costco card was no good at that location. I'm excited to try a loaf of the Bella Rosno! Do you remember what the price per lb tends to be like?

[halfprice]

Oh that's so funny, for some reason I thought that my regular Costco card was no good at that location. I'm excited to try a loaf of the Bella Rosno! Do you remember what the price per lb tends to be like?

I go there for the cheese and sausage crumble 10lb box.  It's pretty good.  Also Bought the pepperoni and still use it but it's cut to thin. I won't but it again

Jerry

[PizzaEater101]

Oh that's so funny, for some reason I thought that my regular Costco card was no good at that location. I'm excited to try a loaf of the Bella Rosno! Do you remember what the price per lb tends to be like?

Off hand I don't recall but it's probably about $2.50 a LB.  Don't go on a Sunday because unlike the regular Costco it is closed Sundays. 

If you buy the Bella Rosano (BR) please post how you like it.  I feel it's on par with Grande.  I think Grande is slightly above it but not enough to justify the price of Grande.   The BR is whole milk but there also is another brand that is part skim.  I'd go with the WM by BR but just saying they have PS also.

Many people dislike pre shredded Moz because the bags have that has potato starch on the Moz to prevent clumping and they feel it changes the melt or flavor, and also they want to shred it themself or slice it.  To me I don't mind the Grande shredded I get at Tama Trading because Grande has no potato starch, they spray it with some special gas that prevents clumping.  But once you open and put what you don't use in a zip lock freezer bag it will clump, but no big deal to me.  And I usually would shred Moz rather than slice it so if it's pre-shredded less work for me.  So the Grande is fine BUT I think I will go back to Bella Rosano because it's less money and just as good but first I must finish off what Grande I have left.