Delicious Pizza Alert! Head Over to Grandma's Former Territory Fairfax Avenue! And A Return To Surf!

I didn't think there was going to be surfing last week because of the recent storms, but that turned out not to be true. More on surfing later. First let's talk pizza. I have mentioned that I love pizza. Several times. I just do. I love eating pizza. I love making pizza at home. So every time I hear of some new pizza that's getting good buzz, I always want to check it out, especially if it's the kind of place that sells thin crust NY style pizza by the slice, which is the pizza of my youth (everybody has a pizza of their youth, right?). Anyway, I'd been hearing about Prime Pizza on Fairfax. It's across the street from Animal and it's from the people behind The Golden State and other restaurants. Oh, side note about Fairfax Avenue: it suddenly hit me that, wow, the changes on this street are just kind of astonishing. When I was a kid and used to come out to California on visits, Fairfax is where my grandmother hung out! Grandma Esther had her bakeries and her other food shops and it was all old Jewish Bubbes like her on the street back in the day. Most of that world seems to be gone, except for Canters of course and maybe one or two other shops. It's all hipster kids. Times change! Here's another fun thing about Grandma Esther -- you didn't want to mess with her. She was a tough old lady. She'd take the bus up to Fairfax, and one day walking home from the bus stop, some dude tried to grab her purse. Well, she held on to it and fought him off. Don't mess with old ladies!

But back to Prime. You walk in to a clean, modern space. White subway tiles on the walls do indeed invoke that NY Vibe. Place your order for slices, or a whole pie if you're really hungry, and get it to go, or you can pull up a stool at the counter, where there's parm, red pepper flakes and oregano waiting in shakers -- this is how it should be. And how was the pizza? Well, here's a look at my order of one cheese, one pepperoni--

It was very excellent pizza. I'm a big fan of Vito's and also the Joe's Pizza locations in Santa Monica and Hollywood and also Garage Pizza in Los Feliz. But Prime may just be the new favorite. Everything was pretty perfect with this pizza, especially the crust, which is all important. It was crisp, but not shatteringly so. You could fold the slice nicely. Also you could see bubbles inside the thicker end of the crust, which had a nice yeasty chew. The sauce was the ideal combination of sweet, with just a hint of spice. Then just the right amount of cheese on top, and let me say something about the pepperoni -- take a closer look, first--

The discs were a little smaller in diameter than ones you'd normally see, but sliced just a little thicker. Definitely a cut above the pepperoni you usually get. (sorry the picture is a little fuzzy. I was hungry and couldn't control myself, I guess).

All in all super delicious pizza at Prime and I can't wait to go back and eat some more. In fact I would have saved this for a post-surf lunch, but like I said, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get in the water last week because of the storms and all the unsettled waves. But Friday things started to mellow out, and I did go out for a session. It was super, super fun, with pretty gentle waves and the mid-tide that I like best. I'll give myself props for one more thing. Occasionally a larger set of waves would roll through, larger than I'm generally comfortable with. But I stuck with it and was kept cool. That's another step in the right direction in this surf odyssey.

So if you find yourself in the Fairfax district around lunch or dinner time -- or any time you need a snack -- get yourself to Prime Pizza. Or maybe you're lucky enough to be in their delivery zone. Anyway, here's the vitals:

Prime Pizza:  www.primepizza.la.com