Top 5 Hamburgers

What I have not found in LA is killer pizza and BBQ. Any recommendations? Gonna check out Phillips.

03-11-10: Bongofury
What I have not found in LA is killer pizza and BBQ. Any recommendations? Gonna check out Phillips.

As I mentioned above:

J & J Burger Shack (barbecue)
5754 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles
just East of Farifax & Adams Blvd.

There are two separate parts to J & J, yet the same shack. One is a burger joint, the other is just barbecue. Their barbecue is pretty damned good. Their beef ribs a big and meaty, pork falls off the bone, brisket & chicken is good, and hot links rock. I also like all their side dishes. They do real wood smoking and it split logs are stacked high just outside the patio.

Tasty Q Bar-B-Cue
2959 Crenshaw Blvd. (one block south of Jefferson)
Los Angeles, CA 90016

Good BBQ & sides and great prices. BTW, bring your own turkey and they'll deep fry it for you while you eat.

Somehow, it always end up being Phillips or J & J for me, depending on where I am in town at the time.

Bong-o,

I'm not a big believer in this new high-end, designer, pizza fad that's overtaken LA. Like burgers, pizza is a food of the masses. It's one of the highest profit margin, and cheapest to make, items in all of restauranting. So, a $20 personal designer pizza that the size of an appetizer does nothing for me no matter how good it is. When I get a pie, I'm looking to my eat on.

And yeah, I've been to Pizzaria Mozza and a few of the other new high-end places. They are good, but to tell the truth, none of them are any better than this little shack in Pedro - not from an ingredient and final taste POV, and certainly not from a value perspective:

Pavich's Brick Oven Pizzeria (LA Times review)
2311 S. Alma St., (just north of 25th St, on Alma)
San Pedro, (310) 519-1200

This is one of the great thin-crust pizza in Los Angeles. It is a true Mediterranean style pie, but from a Croatian perspective. A light, flakey, almost filo dough like crust with just the right amount of toasting to make it crackle and crunch. Quality toppings bursting with flavor. Terrific cheeses. Most of their pizzas are lightly topped, but they've lately begun to offering "everything but the kitchen sink" versions because that's what people are used to. (picture slideshow)

And get this, their 18" premium pizza is........$18-20. That's right, a twenty spot, maybe even some change back. This sucker is a two or three meal affair, easy. And that's pigging out. Check the slideshow above.

The only downside is that is take-out only. There is usually one or two fold-out tables out front during the day, if you are lucky. But, grab one and head down the street(Alma) 1 mile to a park with a 180 degree view of the entire coast from Malibu to Dana Point.

T Mob and Tvad: Thanks guys. TM: I agree with you. In Italy, where I have spent some time on sabbatical, you could buy a feshly made pizza for about $6 with real tomatoes from Naples and buffalo mozz. cheese. Simply made but choice tasty ingredients. Hard to imagine that fetches $20 here.

I travel to NYC every other week, so I am a little spoiled, by all the great slice joints--Emporio, Lazzos, La Pizza Fresca, L & M etc... Lots of cool Neopolitan style pizza places are spreading up--Keste is particularly hot--made it to #1 in New York Magazine after only being open four months. My favorite non-NY pizza places is Serious Pie in Seattle and A16 in SF. Have not taken the time to drive up to Mozza as I live in Laguna Beach and it would be a hour and half haul on a good day. San Pedro is a easy 45 minute shot so I will check your recommendation out.

I have spent a fair amount of time in Santa Maria (Jockos), Austin (The Salt Lick) and Memphis (A & R) sampling some great Q. I especially like a website called www.choppedonion.com that covers all the great backroad barbecue joints in the South. Tasty-Q sounds like my kind of joint. Just never think to go up to South Central.