A dingy strip mall directly across Mt. Vernon Avenue from Bakersfield College’s Memorial Stadium is not the first place I would think to look for a good Italian restaurant, yet that is precisely where you can find one.
For the last two years, L.A. Pizza Veloz has been serving up a variety of pizza, pasta and sandwiches. The restaurant is a transplant from Beverly Hills, Calif. and in my humble opinion we are lucky to have them.
The restaurant is open from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. most days, later on the weekends. While they offer a surprisingly varied menu of dinner entrees such as linguini primavera with shrimp, chicken carbonara, and a full menu of pizzas and calzones, of particular interest to BC students is their lunch special. And that is where I will focus this review.
Weekdays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., patrons can choose from 14 different pasta dishes or six types of sandwiches. The price is $5.99 and the portions are generous to say the least.
As my companion and I entered the 65-seat dining room, we were greeted by the kind of relaxed, casual atmosphere that should proceed a good Italian meal.
The dining room was decorated primarily in red, with humorous signs (Free beer tomorrow) hung on the walls and even a small shrine of sorts to BC football.
The service was prompt and friendly, and within three minutes we were eating the green salads that come with the lunch pasta dishes.
The salads were your typical green salad, nothing special here except for the notable freshness of the ingredients. There was no hint of brown around the edges of the lettuce and the cucumbers and tomatoes were crisp and flavorfull.
The normal selections of dressings were available. My companion had the Italian dressing, which tasted exactly as should be expected. I had the blue cheese dressing and was surprised to find that it was more of a creamy blue cheese, rather than the more traditional style with pieces of blue cheese mixed in.
Our entrees arrived at the table just as I swallowed the last bite of my salad. My companion ordered the beef ravioli with pink sauce, and I chose the beef tortellini and topped it off with a creamy pesto sauce. Both entrees were served hot, and all of the pasta components were cooked to a perfect al dente.
I was very pleased with both the pink and the pesto sauces we were served. The pink sauce seemed to be a gentle blending of alfredo and marinara sauces that managed to keep the creamy richness of a good alfredo while adding the tanginess and subtle sweetness of a properly made marinara.
The pesto sauce was a particularly pleasant surprise. All too often, pesto sauces are simply made from throwing a handful of basil, garlic and a cup or two of olive oil into a blender, resulting in a lot of sharp individual tastes fighting among themselves in the sauce, but that was far from the case at this establishment.
My beef tortellinis were paired with a creamy pesto sauce. The cream base served to blend the competing tastes within the sauce into a perfect harmony of flavor and also helped the sauce coat the pasta evenly.
The pasta dishes also included a couple of pieces of garlic bread, and this addition, no more than an afterthought at many restaurants, was one of the high points of the meal.
After the meal I spoke with owner Carlos Delgado after we had finished our meals and he informed me that they bake all of their own breads and create all of their sauces from scratch.
Since no review of a restaurant named L.A. Pizza Veloz would be complete without at least a mention of pizza, I also sampled a pie. While L.A. Pizza Veloz offers many of the traditional pizza toppings and combinations that most people are used to, they also offer pizzas topped with ingredients such as spinach, fresh basil, barbecue chicken and even chile verde.
The pizza I tried was cooked evenly, with no bubbles in the crust.
They advertise their pizza as “New York style”, but the crust I got was notably thicker than a true New York pizza. It was generously topped with quality ingredients, distributed evenly around the pie. I noticed a subtle sharpness in cheese as well as a hint of smokiness which I believe comes from adding a little cheddar and provolone cheeses to the normal mozzarella that most pizzerias use.
But the true star of any pizza is the sauce, and here, once again, L.A. Pizza Veloz did not disappoint. Instead of the normal tomato paste based sauce you find on most pizzas, the sauce on this pizza was a thinner, pureed tomato sauce. The sauce was sweeter than it was tangy, and the spices were subtle enough that it complimented the flavors of the toppings rather than overpowering them.
From the prompt, friendly service, to the generous portions of delicious pasta, pizza and sandwiches, I would definitely recommend L.A. Pizza Veloz to anyone looking for a great casual Italian meal.