Grimaldi's
2121 Rosecrans Ave. Ste. 1399
El Segundo, CA 90266
I was skeptical walking in here. A few years ago, I had a great pizza at the Grimaldi's underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Whether it's the water, the weather, or the crazy toppings we put on our pizzas, the West Coast has always been treated as a stepchild regarding great pizza in the US. Chicago has its fantastic deep dish, New York is celebrated for its thin crust, and we have pineapple on pizza, which is blasphemous to other areas of the country. Yes, Southern California is not known for its pizzas, but I hoped Grimaldi's opening here would bring us some pizza cred.
I was skeptical because I was worried this would not be as good as the pizza we had in New York. Grimaldi's has been around for over a hundred years. They cook their pizzas in a coal-fired brick oven, giving them a crispness and flavor you can't get from other pizza ovens. Along with the oven lore, they also have a secret dough and pizza sauce recipe, and they have tried to replicate the New York water over the years and feel they have a good handle on it now. The pizza oven is 25 tons and burns at 1200 degrees. We were excited to see if this pizza could live up to what we experienced in Brooklyn.
Our reason for being up in this neck of the woods was that we were taking Chuck and Stephanie to LAX for their red-eye flight back to North Carolina. We arrived at Grimaldi's at just after eight on a Saturday night. There was plenty of parking in the structure at the back of this location. When leaving the structure, make your way towards Rosecrans, where Grimaldi's is situated. The Brooklyn location is notorious for its long lines throughout the day, but that was not the case in El Segundo. We were seated right away.
This is a much more spacious space than the East Coast location. The tables are spread out a lot more. There's a sleek kind of vibe here, with lots of dark woods, exposed brick, and their signature red and white tablecloths. The menu here is straightforward. Starters include six different kinds of salads; the rest of the menu is left for pizzas and calzones. No pasta dishes or other entrees are offered at Grimaldi's. This is strictly a pizza place, so you should move along if you're not in the mood for pizza. Luckily, we were all ready for pizza, so we ordered and eagerly awaited our food.
I'm always partial to Caesar Salads ($11), so I roped our party of four into giving the one at Grimaldi's a try. This is the large version of this salad, which barely fed the four of us. This Caesar had all the usual suspects included; shaved Parmesan, romaine lettuce, Caesar dressing, and croutons. The freshness of the romaine was definitely evident in these pictures. The vibrant green was very pleasing, and plenty of Parmesan and croutons were included in this. This salad failed due to the minimal use of dressing. It was barely noticeable throughout the salad. Yes, we could have asked for more, but I would like the food to come out as the kitchen envisions it. The lack of dressing on this made this salad average, which was disappointing.
Katie's pizza made its way to the table first. She had a personal-size pizza. There are no specialty pizzas here; you choose the size you want and what kind of sauce you desire, and then pick your toppings, which range in price from $2 to $5. She went with a Personal White with Garlic pizza and added Spicy Chicken Sausage and Artichoke Hearts ($19). Katie was pretty blown away with this pizza, which she said was on par with our one in Brooklyn. This personal pizza was the perfect size for her, and she was even generous enough to share two slices with the three of us while we were waiting for our pizza to come out. I liked the spicy sausage, which added a kick, and the garlic in the front and center of this pizza. Big-time flavors.
A long time passed between when Katie's pizza came out and when ours hit the table. It was nearly twenty minutes, but the manager was right on top of things. He apologized for the wait, explaining that our pizza was burnt accidentally and he would take it off the bill. This was very generous of him, and I liked that he admitted their snafu. However, this large pizza ($23 with toppings) was worth waiting for. We selected jalapenos, pepperoni, and sausage to top our pie. This is usually my go-to order when trying a new pizza place. The toppings were evenly spread across the pizza. This pizza was not overly cheesy, but you could still tell it was there. The crust stayed crisp, and the edges were not excessively bready, which I liked. My one complaint is that there was too little sauce used on this, but that's just my preference. When we were done, I also noticed a lack of grease on the pizza pan. I attribute this to the high-quality toppings and cheese they use here. This is not an overly heavy pizza, which made Stephanie and Chuck happy since they would sit on a plane for the next four hours.
Since our pizza was being taken off the bill, we decided to splurge on dessert. At Grimaldi's, there are three desserts to choose from, or you could get the Dessert Trio ($10) and sample all three. This trio comprised tiramisu, your choice of one of their house-made cheesecakes, and their signature cannoli. I liked the cheesecake the best, which is odd because I'm not usually a fan. This one was not too chalky, though, and was more creamy. There was also no shortage of Oreo crumbs on this. The cannoli was good, but splitting between four people took a lot of work to get a sound bite. A good crunch to it, and the filling inside was solid. The tiramisu was decent but too bland. I liked that they did offer this option so you could try all of their desserts because sometimes it's too hard to pick just one.
Okay, first and foremost, many of you are thinking about Grimaldi's being too expensive. $19 for a personal-size pizza is too much, and I agree with that. In this case, though, you do get what you pay for. If you are a true pizza fan, you will want to experience what Grimaldi's has offered for over a hundred years, no matter the price. The pizzas here are worth it every once in a while, especially when you consider that a large pizza at Round Table or Lamppost costs over the $20 mark, and although they are good, they can not compete with what is offered at Grimaldi's. This was a much more comfortable setting than the cramped Brooklyn location we visited. Besides the unfortunate burning of our pizza, service was definitely not an issue on this night. Our waitress was over to our table every so often to maintain drink levels and meet our needs. Even when Chuck and Stephanie returned to town, they remarked how much they enjoyed this pizza. Having Grimaldi's in Southern California will gain us some pizza cred until someone orders pineapple on their pizza.
Out of five Barbie dolls (because the city of El Segundo is the corporate home to Mattel, makers of the famous blond doll), five being best to zero being worst, Grimaldi's gets 3.5 Barbie dolls.
For more information on Grimaldi's, go to their website here: http://www.grimaldispizzeria.com/
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