2937 Bristol Street A102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
My friend Ed was back in town for the evening, and he's always eager to get together. Who can blame him? Katie and I are pretty awesome. I have known Ed since kindergarten, which was long ago. He's my longest-lasting friend, was a groomsman at my wedding, and I'm incredibly proud of his life's success. I'd, of course, never tell him that, so I thought I'd write it here since he's way too important to be bothered with my humble restaurant blog. Whenever he's back in OC, I try to find a fantastic place to eat. This time we met up at Folks Pizzeria in Costa Mesa.
Folks is located in The Camp, across the street from the Lab Anti-Mall, and just down the road from South Coast Plaza. They took over the space that Old Vine Kitchen and Bar vacated when they moved next door for bigger digs. Folks Pizzeria has been open for over three years and has grown a loyal following. Unfortunately, they often have an hour or longer wait times on most nights and sometimes more on weekends. You can make reservations in advance through their website, the phone, or on their Yelp page. Make note that they are not open for lunch, only from 4 to 9pm daily.
Run by Chloe Tran and Chef Joey Booterbaugh, they describe Folks as an artisanal restaurant that celebrates California's natural bounty of local ingredients. The menu they have curated is seasonal and built to share with the others at your dining party. Chef Joey left the fine dining scene in LA, with a brief detour to San Fransisco, to open this spot and has won praise from OC Register restaurant critic Brad Johnson, who named this spot as one of the best 75 restaurants in OC this year. My anticipation was building.
The Folks menu is straight and to the point. They offer four red-based pizzas and four white pizzas. The pizzas are 14 inches across and easily feed two to three people. Pizzas are priced from $21 to $26, and there are eight toppings that you can pick from to customize your perfect pizza. Rounding out the menu are two salad options and a quintet of shareable starters. So let's see if all the hype is real for Folks Pizzeria.
I'm a sucker for Meatballs ($18 plus a $3 upcharge for the jersey ricotta) and like to try them almost everywhere we go. These golf ball-sized meatballs came three to an order, which was perfect since there were three of us. They were incredibly tender, and if I was guessing, I'd say they were made up of ground pork and a little ground beef. They were served in a delectable pork cheek gravy with some basil, parsley, and chives for seasoning. The ricotta added a nice creaminess to this starter and was worth the extra three bucks. The grilled sourdough that came with this was an excellent vehicle for dipping into the excess red sauce.
We had plenty of bread from the meatball appetizer and the pizza that was coming up next, but Katie added to our carb count by ordering this Bread and Butter ($11). This was the same crusty sourdough bread that came with our meatballs. However, it was paired with labneh brown butter, which I believe was made with yogurt. I was not really a fan. It lacked the creaminess I expected, and the flavor seemed off to me. However, Katie and Ed liked it, with Katie even going one step further, calling it addicting, so maybe it's just not my thing.
Behold the Matterhorn of cheese, or at least that's what came to mind when this Chopped Salad ($18) was sat on our table. Under all that, finely grated pecorino was some soppressata, sheep's milk feta, olives, pickled chilies, almonds, basil, greens, and a wonderful oregano vinaigrette tying everything together. I liked the different textures and flavor boosts that this salad brought. It's not going to replace my usual Caesar salad, but it was nice for a change of pace.
Pizza time! We went with the Pepperoni and Fennel Sausage ($25 plus $4.50 for the sausage). You can assume that this is a high-quality pizza made with great ingredients from the lack of grease. The crust held firm under all the toppings, and the slight char on the outer crust was not too obtrusive. They don't use an overabundance of cheese on their pizzas, instead allowing the toppings to be featured front and center. With all of our starters and the salad, we had just enough pizza for the three of us.
Folks Pizzeria was as advertised. It definitely belongs on Brad Johnson's top 75 OC restaurant list. The pizza here is good and not pigeonholed into a type like most people tend to do with pizza. It's a pizza all its own. Not New York style, definitely not Chicago or Detroit either. Let's just say it's a high-quality pizza that doesn't try to do too much except showcase excellent ingredients and the craftsmanship of the kitchen here. Even the sides were all delicious. We look forward to returning visits to try more of their sides and pizzas. Our server was pretty shy but efficient. As busy as they were, the food came out much more quickly than I had anticipated. It gave us a little less time to catch up with Ed, but with pizza this good, we weren't going to be doing a lot of talking anyways.
Out of five scarecrows (because the city of Costa Mesa was home to a scarecrow and pumpkin festival every autumn for a while), five being best to zero being worst, Folks Pizzeria gets 3.5 scarecrows.
For more information about Folks Pizzeria, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.folkshospitality.com/
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