Restaurant: Milo and Olive
Location: 2723 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403. p 310.453.6776
Date: June 30, 2012
Cuisine: Pizzeria
Rating: Very good neo-Neapolitan
There is a definite pizza revival trend going on. LA used to have no good pizza at all (and this was painful having spent so much time in Italian American dominated East Coast cities) but this has all changed. Like it’s cousin, Pizzeria Mozza, Milo and Olive is of the new generation of third (?) wave Neapolitan pizza.
The place is new, crowded, and tiny. They don’t take reservations so come very early or be prepared to wait.
The menu.
“Marinated artichokes, spinach, toasted pine nuts, capers, golden raisins, goat cheese.”
“Bucatini Carbonara, Nueske’s bacon, pea tendrils, pecorino romano, farm egg yolk.” This was much lighter than a traditional Carbonara, although it had many of the same flavors. The Bucatini had a really nice chew to it. The whole thing was buttery, and strongly flavored of from the smokey pancetta, but it was not nearly as eggy and cheesy as the “real deal.” Rich enough though.
“Mixed mushroom pizza. Fontina, Parmigiano Reggiano, thyme.” The Milo and Olive dough is pretty much perfect in my book: chewy, tasty, and not overly carbonized.
“Burrata pizza. La Quercia prosciutto, tomato, arugula, olive oil, sea salt.” This is basically a burrata, prosciutto, arugula salad on a pizza. The tomato sauce also served to balance out the creamy cheese and add a bit of acidity. I make a similar pizza myself, minus the ham (sigh).
Here is a clear view. Pizzas here are very generous in size, and even though this is a fairly light one, I was very full afterward.
I was eagerly watching the dough guys to see how they shape their pies. My wife and I make our own Ultimate Pizza at home and the dough handling is one of the areas that we need to improve on.
They have some decadent looking baked goods too, but we were too full.
Overall these were really good new wave pizzas. The dough was perfect and I want to experiment with some of the other toppings to see if one of them is truly awesome. They don’t have a real meatser meatser on the menu which is a shame. The Mozza version of that is spectacular.
See detailed info on our homemade Ultimate Pizza.
More new wave pizza: Mozza, 2Amys, Sotto, Starbelly, Pretorio.
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