A Pizza Spot to Good to Be True?

 Truly Pizza

24402 Del Prado Ave. 

Dana Point, CA 92629

I will give you a little behind-the-scenes peek at the food blogging/Instagram world. The more followers a person has, the greater the chance they are being paid to visit or promote the restaurant they are showcasing. This leads many top food influencers to over-inflate what they may think of a restaurant. The tell-tell sign of this is when they say something is the "best of my life" or "this is perfect."  I hear these phrases constantly while scrolling through Instagram, and these phrases lose their value after so many instances. 

My policy for my blog and social media posts is to always honestly convey what I think of a restaurant. Even though I have a very modest following on social media, I get invited to some restaurants for a free meal, but I only give them a rating once I return and pay for a meal. I want my brand to be more of a reference point for all of you instead of a commercial for whatever restaurant invites us in for dinner. That's why 946 of my 1088 posts on this blog do have a rating attached to them. 

I bring this up because, yes, we got invited to Truly Pizza in Dana Point for their media event before they opened. What follows will feel like I'm gushing about this restaurant, and I am. Since our initial visit, I have been pleading with anyone I encounter that they must try this place, and I've gotten three Truly Pizza gift cards for people. So, yes, I will shower affection on Truly Pizza, but it's not because we got a free meal. It's because it's excellent. 

Truly Pizza opened in June and was an instant hit. They had wait times of over 2 hours for walk-ins on weekends and peak meal times. Their reservations were booked solid, and they had to suspend online reservations briefly. They are back now, and as I'm writing this four months after their opening date, online reservations have become more accessible, which is great for pizza lovers in Dana Point and the surrounding area. 

It's not really surprising that people have flocked to this restaurant. The team behind this spot has an excellent pedigree. John Arena collaborated with longtime friend and hospitality industry veteran Donna Baldwin and her developer partner Steve Muller to co-found Truly Pizza. John is a third-generation pizza maker who brought New York-style pizza to the people of Las Vegas with great acclaim. Rounding out the team and helming the kitchen at Truly Pizza is Chris Decker, a renowned pizza champion and a new resident of Dana Point. 

They have created a menu that will not overwhelm you with too many choices, but most people will find something to satisfy their cravings. There are four starters and a quintet of salads to start your meal. Two sandwiches are available for the two people out there who are not fans of pizza. Speaking of pizza, there are two types to choose from at Truly. They have their round 12-inch American artesian, which they describe as crispy and airy. There's also a square pizza reminiscent of Detroit-style pizza but with a much lighter touch. Prices for pizzas range between $17 to $30 and can easily feed three people with no leftovers to be taken home. Let's look at the food that got me hot and bothered since I had it a few months ago. 

I know I promised food, but I wanted to give you a glimpse into the atmosphere that Truly Pizza has created. We were seated upstairs with a beautiful view of the surrounding Lantern District of Dana Point. The faux lemon lattice above us provided a garden feel to the setting. Downstairs, the dominant feature is the glass-enclosed kitchen, which gives an excellent view of the hardworking kitchen staff creating pizzas and other menu items. Now, I promise, here's a look at the food.  

We started things off at Truly with two salads and a starter. Katie selected the Salumi Chopped Salad ($22) to begin with. This salad uses little gem lettuce and Calabrian chili vinaigrette as a dressing. The dressing had a tinge of spice to it, which played well with the rest of the ingredients of this salad. The high-quality soppressata and sliced salami were plentiful and joined in the bowl with red onion, fresh mozzarella cubes, shaved fennel, beans, and olives. Katie called this a meal in itself and would not hesitate to get this salad again. I had the popular Dana Point Wedge ($18). This version of a wedge starts with iceberg lettuce portioned into six stacks of easy-to-manage lettuce and then is complemented with candied pecans, dates, shaved egg, chives, red onion, smoked bacon, cracked black pepper, Point Reyes blue cheese, and finished off with their unbelievably good herby ranch. Yes, the produce was fresh, and the inclusion of the pecans and dates made this their own, but their incredible ranch dressing really set this apart. It stole the show here and ruined me for the bottled stuff I use because I'm too lazy to make my own. This wedge is a must-get. 

We added the Garlic Pull Apart Bread ($12) as a last-minute addition to our order. It's baked in a cast iron skillet and is topped with garlic, butter, and a sprinkling of Romano cheese. I could have used more garlic on this, but I always favor plenty of extra garlic. The rolls were nicely done, with a crunchy outer shell and pillowy soft bread underneath. These were made even better when we asked for some ranch to dip them in. 

Pizza Time! I've never really been into supreme pizzas, preferring to go for pizzas with the most meats and leave the vegetables for someone else. Our server and Katie talked me into getting this beautifully presented Suprema Pizza ($30). This square pizza came with roasted mushrooms and peppers, cup and char pepperoni, sausage, garlic confit, and a spicy giardiniera resting on a whole milk mozzarella and a red sauce underneath it all. I'm not a crust guy at all. I almost always leave the crust alone, but the crust here at Truly Pizza is light and airy, and I found myself eating all of it. The toppings are of the highest quality and yield no grease whatsoever. I love the cup pepperoni, as it has a great crunch to it. I thought the giardiniera would overpower here, but it went well with the other toppings. Katie and I could have finished this pizza, but I wanted a few pieces for the next day to see how it would hold up. The next day, it was just as good, even heated up in the microwave. I have my eye on their Crispy Pepperoni or their La Foresta pizza, featuring sausage, mushroom, and ricotta, for my follow-up visits. 

A sweet treat to end your meal at Truly is a great idea, as I watched table after table trying their house-made Soft Serve Ice Cream ($8). They rotate their flavors, but they had the classic chocolate and vanilla when we were here. You can choose one topping, picking between olive oil and sea salt, sprinkles, grape nuts, chocolate sauce, Oreo crumbles, or pistachios. I had the vanilla chocolate swirl with olive oil and sea salt. The contrast between the sweet and salty was a nice balance. Katie got straight chocolate with grape nuts because it reminded her of her childhood. I liked the added texture that the grape nuts brought.  

Hopefully, this blog post will entice you to try Truly Pizza. People are really partial to the kinds of pizza they like, whether it's New York, Detroit, Chicago, or any other type of pizza that is popular at any given moment. I would characterize this pizza as Californian, with its fresh and high-quality toppings, light crust, and unique topping combinations. I definitely got the sense that they pay attention to every detail here and want to showcase their pizzas and other items' greatness. It shows in the pride that they emit when complimented about their restaurant. I will be back soon to do a proper review when we pay for our meal, but honestly, I can't imagine not being impressed with Truly Pizza on my next visit. 

For more information about Truly Pizza, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.trulypizza.com/

Dinner With Eddie Spaghetti

Da Bianca Trattoria

7448 East Chapman Ave. 

Orange, CA 92869

I've had some powerful male role models in my life. As we are all getting older, I've made it my goal to get together with the people who have shaped me into who I am today. It's hard because most days after work, I just want to be home reading one of the latest best sellers or binge-watching the TV show everyone else at work has been discussing. This particular Friday, Katie and I decided we'd take my lifelong friend Ed out for a long-overdue dinner. 

Ed and his family moved across the street from us when I was 6 years old. He had one son and four daughters; our families became fast friends. Much like my own dad, Ed is very much a family man. He'd take us in his VW van to run errands. We'd go furniture shopping, Mervyn's, and sometimes we'd get him to take us miniature golfing if we begged enough. These were some fantastic times, and even when they moved away six years later, we still stayed in touch, and our families remained close even as the decades passed. I felt that I'd repay him for all the times he drove us around as kids, so we picked him up for dinner and took him to a spot close to where he's living now, Da Bianca Trattoria. 

This place came across my radar a few years ago when legendary OC chef Pascal Olhats named this his favorite Italian restaurant in OC in the Orange Coast magazine. Respecting his opinion, I quickly jotted it down on my restaurant wishlist. Da Bianca has been around since 1981, with their first nine years operating from Irvine. They moved to their current location near Newport Boulevard and Chapman Avenue in 1990. It's a little hard to find, and that might account for them only having 350 reviews on Yelp but possessing an over four-star rating. 

I made reservations on a Friday evening at 7:30, and even though we arrived a half hour early, they still sat us near the back of the restaurant. They must have known that Ed could get quite rambunctious. The dining area is comfortable, but the tables are too close to each other. Starters and salads lead off the menu, and plenty of pasta combinations with meat, chicken, vegetables, and seafood. There are ten entrees, but their customers rave about their nightly specials, which have become quite popular. Most pasta options are around $23, while the seafood options are about $8 more on average. With as much catching up as we had to do, it took a lot of work to concentrate on picking things from the menu, but we eventually made our selections. Let's see how everything turned out for us.  

Everyone who sits down at Da Bianca has some complimentary Garlic Bread to start. This was like a better version of when my mom would apply some Lawry's Garlic Spread over some French bread and place it under the broiler. I believe this was also placed under the broiler, but they use butter and fresh garlic instead of the stuff you can get at your local supermarket. Very good; I only wish they had made another pass through the dining room so I could have had more. 

We've been hooked since we had Arancini ($16.95) at another Italian restaurant. For those who need clarification on arancini, it's a rice ball stuffed, coated in bread crumbs, and deep-fried. Here at Da Bianca, they fill theirs with some meat, cheese, and peas. These were nicely fried with a crunch, while the inside rice was soft and pillowy. The meat was seasoned well inside, but more would have been welcomed. A good representation of Arancini.  

Salads are not included with meals here, but we all got one. Ed and Katie opted for the Insalata Misto ($5.50), which had mixed greens with mushrooms, carrots, tomato, and a house-made Italian dressing. This salad was simple yet satisfying. They mentioned how fresh the produce was and that they liked the dressing. I've got a Caesar Salad ($5.50) fetish, and this one was one of the best I've had in a long while. Again, this was a pretty basic version of my favorite salad, but this was elevated because each piece of romaine included a very liberal amount of their delicious Caesar dressing. It was dressed just as I liked, and I was almost tempted to order another.  

Katie was torn between a few things on the menu but eventually went with the Spaghetti Bolognese ($23.95). This classic Italian dish included pork, beef, and a mushroom sauce. Katie felt this was one of the best versions of this dish she's ever had. The noodles were cooked perfectly, and the meat-to-sauce ratio was on point. She claims she'd get this one hundred times out of a hundred when dining at Da Bianca. 

Ed got sidetracked when ordering, as he wanted to catch up before we ate. He finally went with the Cannelloni alla Romana ($24.95). Good choice. These Italian crepes were filled with chicken, mushroom, and spinach and then topped with cheese, marinara, and bechamel sauces. Ed was gracious enough to let me have some of this, and it was perfect. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of chicken, it did not detract from this. The combination of the bechamel and marinara was fantastic and tied everything together wonderfully. This has inspired me to order cannelloni more frequently. I can only hope it will be just as good as this one. 

I deviated from my usual order in an Italian restaurant, which is lasagna, and picked the Rigatoni al Gorgonzola ($23.95) at Da Bianca. The tube pasta was joined with thinly sliced zucchini, sausage, and a creamy gorgonzola sauce. I loved this unusual mixture of ingredients. The gorgonzola sauce tied everything together well, and the ground sausage was plentiful and flavorful. It's not something I'd typically order, but passing this up on future visits would be hard. 

I've never really been a big fan of Italian desserts. Cannoli's and tiramisu are okay, but I never really crave them. I let Katie pick the dessert this evening, and she went with the Tartufo ($9). The menu describes this as a rich gelato with a cream center and rolled-in caramelized hazelnuts. I never did get to the cream center, as my spoon only hit the gelato, which was okay. It also seemed they had forgotten about the crushed hazelnuts because all I could taste was the overabundance of cocoa powder coating this orb of gelato. 

Even with the less-than-stellar dessert, I left Da Bianca feeling good about our visit. With entrees and everything else we had here as good as it was, it's easy to see why they have been in business for so long. It also makes me wish they were in a more high-traffic area to get the recognition they deserve. It could be for the best that they are hidden a bit, so it's easier for the people in the know to get a table at this little eatery. We experienced warm and friendly service during our visit to this family-run restaurant. Da Bianca was a great place to catch up with my dear friend Ed and show him some appreciation for helping me become the man I am today. 

Out of five hawks (because nearby Santiago Canyon College has the hawk as their mascot), five being best to zero being worst, Da Bianca Trattoria gets 3.5 hawks. 

For more information about Da Bianca Trattoria, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.dabianca.com/