which was practically a whole day without TC who was gone for a field trip with her school...
For our short drive to Little Italy, I plugged in my ipod to my new stereo (a Valentine's gift courtesy of Bert). You gotta have some good tunes first...in this case, Whodini!
"Friends...how many of us have them? Friends...ones you can depend on!"
Damn, early hip hop man. Way better than that crap they play on the radio nowadays.
Now I sound like Dana Carvey's "Grumpy Old Man" SNL Character:
"That's the way it was...and I liked it!!!!" (SNL Weekend update video by hulu)
I had to use these up before the March 7 expiry date...We used the "free" lunch coupon rather than the 20% off the bill.
I had a total brain fart and totally forgot or didn't realize that the Little Italy Mercato was that same day. We normally avoid Little Italy on Saturdays like the devil does church but as we attempted to find parking, my blood pressure went up seeing all of the occupied spaces on the street. Even our "secret" spot near the eyeball sculpture (near the dog park) was full. We got lucky and saw a car pulling out of a metered spot (in front of this cute row of tiny cottages) and snagged it right away.
As we headed south on India Street, we saw a big crowd gathered around this guy...known as Smilin' Jack.
Yes, he does smile...a lot! And he has a super intense stare too (see below). When he saw me whip out my camera, it was like he posed just for me! I forgot what song he was playing, but he was very entertaining and was really smiling during his performance. He must have some strong face muscles to be constantly smiling all the time.
Here's a video I saw from youtube about Smilin' Jack:
Whenever I think of the accordian, a much maligned instrument like the tuba or flugelhorn, I think of two things - Lawrence Welk = bad and Wierd Al, which equals awesome!!!! Wierd Al should be canonized or knighted!
We were happy to see that Isola Pizza Bar was one the outer edges of Little Italy and nowhere near the craziness of the farmer's market. It was totally packed in the streets near the market and all of these annoying little yappy dogs were around as well. So many damn dogs!
We got there before the lunch rush...
and chose to sit inside so I could admire the interior and also not be cold (since it was a little breezy on their outdoor patio).
Their lunch menu:
Per the coupon, we got two drinks - a San Pellegrino Limonata and Aranciata. We were also given an appetizer of foccacia drizzled with olive oil. It was a little on the plain side and I wished it came with a sauce or even balsamic mixed with the oil. Since we ordered pizzas, we didn't eat too much of this.
Their oven...
Our pizzas....
This was Bert's Burrata e Pomodorini (fresh mozzarella cheese with cherry tomatoes and basil).
I ordered the Tallegio, which is not on the lunch menu. I read about it on Mary's post (linked at the end) and was intrigued by the paper thin potato slices. I forgot to order it with sausage though. Anyhow, our server told us that they could still make it for me, so I was pretty happy about that.
Not too much char on the underside, which I liked. Too much char makes it too bitter and unenjoyable for me.
Of the two pizzas, we each liked our own the best. Bert thought the Tallegio was too salty, while I enjoyed it for that same reason. It wasn't overly salty in my opinion. Bert's pizza toppings were so simple and fresh. We both liked the pizza dough which held up with the ingredients (which weren't overly packed anyways). It wasn't soggy in the middle either, which is typical of Napoletan style. I personally did not like the outer crust. It was a bit too hard for me plus I didn't want to have carb overload. I was already planning where dinner would be later that day!
This is so cool - this photo mural of Italian screen siren Sophia Loren camouflages their bathroom doors! One of my former co-workers (who has since retired) had a big crush on her when he was younger (he's a baby boomer). I'm sure a lot of men had major boners for her. She's still looking pretty good (and preserved) for her age.
Our leftovers were boxed up and enjoyed by TC the next day.
With our parking meter ticking away, we headed over to the Mercato (our first time) to see if we could find something sweet for dessert.
Who else went to Isola Pizza Bar?
Kirbie and Mary both went here last summer.
Isola Pizza Bar
1526 India St.
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 255-4230
www.isolapizzabar.com
Of course, I cannot resist including this clip from classic 80's flick, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" featuring comedian Taylor Negron as the guy who delivers pizza to perpetually stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli in Mr. Hand's history class:
"If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it OUR time?"
I always noticed how he calls up three people to grab some slices(Hamilton, Brandt and Cornfeld) but FOUR people come up! Plus that pizza looks like it doesn't have any sausage at all (it's supposed to be double cheese and sausage). Yeah I notice stuff like that.
"Help yourselves! Get a good one!"
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