Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta - South Pasadena

In March 2008, cousin Q suggested we try Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta in South Pasadena for lunch. I'm rather indifferent to most pizza, except for the occasional nostalgic pangs for Giordano's Chicago-style stuffed spinach deep dish and Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana - Monterey Park if I want something more gourmet. Not to say that I don't like pizza, just that I'm pretty easy to please.

The mamma in the name is not the original mamma of the restaurant. Cousin Q told me there was a bit of controversy with the restaurant. A quick Google search after I got home turned up several Chowhound posts about a dissolved partnership, rumors of embezzlement and sabotage, and dueling pizza parlors. But since I'm not in the habit of writing about rumors, I will point to this Pasadena Weekly article that indicates it wasn't all speculation.

The current owners, a husband and wife team, bought the business from the original partners, one of whom named the restaurant after his Italian mamma. The pizza recipes were supposed to be handed over with the sale, but the new owners were given faulty recipes instead. It took weeks for the other partner to sneak out the original recipes, but by then, the new owners had hired a pizza consultant and the restaurant's new recipes were supposedly better than the originals. Pretty crazy, right? It gets crazier, the not-so-stellar partner's daughter, granddaughter of the mamma in the name, then opened a pizza restaurant on the same street, the next block over and named it Nonna Pizzeria - South Pasadena, after her grandmamma.

Now, it's really crazy! And competitive!

Or is it?
 

2006 Recipes: Picture Index

More lists. I've long wanted to have thumbnail images of each of my recipes. But since I have to manually cut and paste each link, in alphabetical order, into my recipe index, and considering there are now more than 400 recipes, it gets a little unfeasible. So, this is a picture index of all the recipes I've posted for that year, in chronological order. A picture menu for you, a visual reminder for me?

When I get caught up, other years will be added to the Recipes: Picture Indexes page.

Ask Wandering Chopsticks 5

Gosh! Has it been five months since I started my open question period? Crazy! How come time goes by so quickly?!

This photo hasn't been doctored in any way. The gloaming yesterday really was that gorgeous. A few minutes after I snapped some shots, the sky turned deep blue and then night.


Hmm. Let's see. In terms of announcements, I've been updating my lists so if you've wondered which recipes have been the most popular each year, they're now compiled on my "Recipes: Best of" page. Memorable dining out posts can be found on "Restaurants: Best of." 2009 entries will be added when I'm caught up.

I've slowly been adding thumbnail pictures to my Vietnamese Recipes page since that seems to be what people want. *Sigh.* Such a pain! I hope ya'll appreciate it!