Straight From the Kitchen

Greetings, Dear Readers!

Recently I sat down for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Maria's Italian Kitchen.

Now, the funny thing about this restaurant is that I have been here, or ordered food from here numerous times in the past, but having arrived for dinner I realized I had never written a review for any of their sandwiches before.

Which made me think I should change that this time around.

Of course, I usually show up and order some pasta dish, because well, that's what this place is exceptionally good at making.

So having decided to go with a sandwich this time, I picked the Hand Rolled Meatball sandwich. Made with their own house-ground pork and beef meatball, this sandwich is compact, but stuffed with the generously portioned meatballs and topped with a healthy dose of marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.

The meatballs were absolutely delicious. Tender and filled with flavor, I could easily eat an entire plate of these alone if I was so inclined (there's an appetizer of just that, BTW).

The marinara sauce is a bit tangy and thoroughly covers the meatballs, without being overpowering or turning the crisply toasted Italian roll into mush.

The mozzarella cheese is something that could have severely affected this sandwich negatively. When you have a lot of cheese that is melted on top of a sandwich, you can easily make it too chewy, becoming a severe choking hazard.

Despite the amount of cheese topping off this sandwich though, it's easy to bite through and adds its nice baked cheese flavor to finish off the sandwich.

Even though the meatball sandwich is something that has been done at almost every Italian restaurant or shop, the one made at Maria's Italian Kitchen has a slight edge over previous ones I've tasted (even this one from Little Toni's).

Until next week, Dear Readers...


Hand Rolled Meatball Sandwich
**** Stars
Maria's Italian Kitchen
13353 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
http://www.mariasitaliankitchen.com

That's A Spicy Meat-A-Ball

Greetings, Readers!

You know, sometimes in life we are thrown curveballs. We've all faced an experience in which we've ended up with something we haven't expected.

This week provided one of those experiences for me.

I had been researching places for my sandwiching this week (and have been given excellent suggestions from reader Matty) when I came across a place called the Grilled Cheese and Cupcake Company.

Yes. I said it. That's the name.

So of course I had to check this out as that combination seems to be about as nonsensical as the numerous Chinese Food and Donuts shops I see in Los Angeles.

Arriving at the shop, which I then realized used to be only a cupcake shop for a number of years, I found it locked up earlier than the store hours stated.

Then I noticed the piles of mail just inside the front door and realized that maybe this place had been closed for slightly longer than an early day would account for.

Feeling a bit dejected about missing out on this new adventure in eating, I resigned myself to grab a slice of pizza at Danielle's Wood Fired Pizza next door. My day brightened up a bit when I saw that they also served a meatball hero.

Danielle's is a cute little mom-and-pop shop in this small shopping center where the wood fired oven (you actually see the logs burning to cook your food) is visible from your seat.

The wait seemed a bit long for the sandwich, but that's because it's made completely from scratch when you order. No re-heated meatballs topped with cheese at this place. This is one of the reasons that the sandwich was so delicious.

The meatballs were cooked through without a single scorched mark on the outside, and retained their juicy and slightly spiced centers without a single dry spot. The marinara sauce was liberally applied without drowning the sandwich and the mozzerella cheese was thick while not being a choking hazard.

Although the bread could have been a little less toasted, as it became a little too dry, this was definitely one of the best meatball subs I've had in quite a while.

So, lesson learned here that sometimes we aren't meant to go to the place we plan for, but in the end we may just end up with something even better than we hoped for.

Have you had a similar experience where you ended up going to a different eatery than expected and had a better/worse experience than expected? Sandwiches or not.

Until next week, Readers!



Meatballs Hot Hero
**** Stars
Danielle's Wood Fired Pizza
Valley Village, CA 91607
4822 Laurel Canyon Blvd. (In the shopping center with Starbucks)
http://www.daniellespizza.com/

That's Amore!

Greetings, Dear Readers!

Sorry to those of you who may have shown up at the regularly scheduled time this morning to not find my new post. Your faith sandwichologist is a bit under the weather today and could not finish the post in time. 

But, enough of this pity party! On to this week's sandwich.

As you may have seen in the last few weeks, I've been trying to get to know my neighborhood a little bit better. The Noho Arts District, and adjoining Toluca Lake, are filled with numerous cafes and restaurants each with their own styles and flavors.

For this week's entry i simply crossed the street to Little Toni's, an Italian restaurant on the corner of a six-point intersection. Which is also impossible to get to without going south about 5 blocks and then crossing over.

But this isn't called the DANGER sandwich for no reason, so we ran quickly across the middle of the street to get there. 

Now, a warning for those that may not have been to this restaurant before, it can be quite a wait when the place gets packed. The times I've gone to Little Toni's, even after being seated, it's been some time since I've even seen a server.

This just gave me more time to consider which sandwich I've wanted. This time it happened to be the Meatball Sub. 

This sandwich was excellent. The meatballs were fully cooked, but moist and full of flavor and spices. The cheese was layered on above and below the meatballs, sealing in the delicious sauce (gravy for you crazy Italians). There were some points where too much mozzarella was in a mouthful, but it wasn't that much of a problem if you enjoy cheese, which I do. 

Lastly, despite all of this weight on top of a lightly toasted Italian roll, the sandwich held together very well, even with the roll soaking up some of the sauce during the sandwich. 

All in all a delicious experience, especially for someone who doesn't normally crave Italian food.

Don't forget that next week is the top 10 sandwiches of the last 100 posts. Will yours make it onto the list? Which sandwich would you put on the list if you were me?

Until next week...

Meatball Sub

**** Stars

Little Toni's

4745 Lankershim Blvd

North Hollywood, CA 91602