Foodie Girls Lunch Brigade – Episode 4

The brigade hit the streets again last week, and simultaneously managed to stick with our short lived traditions (we were drawn in to this latest spot by reports of an outstanding dish that featured pork*) and break with them (we brought along our kids). Let's see how it went.

Episode 4 - The slow food movement

The scene is Little Dom's, a quiet, cozy spot in Los Feliz, on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon. The door to the restaurant swings open, once, twice, and then a third time. It is suddenly a bit less quiet. Four women, seven children under the age of 12, and a camera have come for lunch. They have come here based on this e-mail from FG2:

"Either of you been to Little Dom's? Have I gone completely ape s***, or does this place look amazing? I know it's far, but we should really put it on the list. Wait, do we even have a list?"

The group settles at an improvised table, peruses the menu, and orders with abandon: Cheese pizza, arugula salad with roasted grapes, fried Fontina cheese, and aged balsamic, risotto balls, a meatball sandwich, a side of potatoes (more on those in a minute) egg white frittata with wild boar bacon, fresh made pasta carbonara, pepperoni and sausage pizza, fried oyster sandwich, Little Dom's chopped salad, and the dish we've all heard about: pizza with a sunny side up egg, speck, mozzarella and tomato sauce. It becomes evident that the benefit of bringing kids is that we can order way more food without being embarrassed. It also becomes evident that the kids don't find that nearly as exciting as we do.

The food arrives. The pizzas were terrific. They arrive on a wooden plank, the edges puffy and crisp, the crust almost impossibly thin. The sauce was zesty without being overpowering, and the ingredients were absolutely fresh. Everyone loved them. The famous breakfast pizza was excellent. The risotto balls were tasty, too. The other winner was the potatoes that came as a side. According to our waiter, these were basically potatoes five ways: boiled, then pan seared, then roasted, then fried, then scattered with lemon juice, salt, and parsley. [You can see them in the photo of the meatball sandwich, above.] They were so good we ordered a side of them on their own. Delectable! The rest ranged from fine (the meatball sandwich, frittata, and pasta) to not so great (the grape salad and the oyster sandwich were pretty awful). And the service was super slooooow.

On the plus side, they had a great mirror to allow our little ballerinas to watch themselves dance around while they were waiting for their food. You can't put a price on that.

Foodie Girls Final Verdict: Little Dom's stays on the list...so long as you order pizza and potatoes, and aren't in any rush when you go.

* On an episode of the Food Network show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", this pizza was top of the list.