Ye Olde Pizza Parlor
My culinary tastes have matured since the days when I ate nothing but popcorn with garlic powder* or Rob’s ice cream. They have evolved to a point where I now enjoy asparagus, green beans and the occasional crudités basket at my favorite French restaurant. Simply put, I no longer consider Chili’s and Applebee’s fine dining. Still, you won’t ever find me judging Iron Chef America, as I would no sooner bring sweetbread within 10 feet of my lips as I would become an airline pilot (I hate to fly but that’s a story for another day). As for pizza, I now enjoy gourmet pizza from places like Settebello and Grimaldi’s, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate one of my favorite childhood pizza places, Ye Olde Pizza Parlor – Shakey’s Pizza. I’m sure even Tom Colicchio downs a dog and a beer at a game once in a while and feels like it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten.
My latest Shakey’s experience took place last month when we took a family vacation to Venice Beach. We arrived in L.A. late afternoon and needed to go to the grocery store to stock up the kitchen in the beach house we rented. Once we got back from the store, the only restaurant on my husbands mind was Shakey’s. Our sons had never heard of it, and now, both starving and concerned about the quality of the pizza they were about to be subjected to asked “is it like Grimaldi’s or Settebello?” Both my husband and I could not fathom how our boys had somehow made it to 19 and 20 without knowing what a Mojo potato is. How had we not exposed them to Shakey’s at some point in their young lives? We felt it to be one of our last good parenting duties (due to their advancing age how many more opportunities to good parent would we get?) to remedy that, immediately, and promised each other we would not be so remiss with the grandchildren.
GPS blazing, we hopped in the car and off we sped to Shakey’s Pizza in Culver City. Sure, the décor had been modernized since the days when the employees wore striped shirts and straw hats, but the pizza was the same and those Mojos, anyone that hasn’t tried a breaded fried potato round just doesn’t know what they are missing. Did you know they even have Mojos Supreme (cheese, green onion, bacon, black olives and salsa) now? Heaven!
Unfortunately, there is no Shakey’s Pizza in the Las Vegas area, but they do have locations all over the U.S. and even some in Mexico. If you want a slice of nostalgia or heaven or both, go to their website and punch in your zip for the nearest restaurant.
Suellen Meyers is a self-professed (decaf) Starbucks addict with the ability to return anything to any store at any time due to her 11-year stint in retail. Subsequent careers in sales and business ownership followed. Suellen recently went back to school and chronicles her experiences in her blog License to Bake. Now on the path to becoming a full-fledged writer (got a job for her – send her an email) she lives in Henderson, Nevada, with her husband who may or may not be over-educated and her two amazingly talented sons as well as their two dogs. You can contact her at suzyq221@gmail.com. To read her blog go to www.licensetobake.blogspot.com or at www.MyLocalPizzaGuy.com
