Promenade and Pizza

Spinach and Crispy Purple Kale Salad.
pecorino romano, medjool dates, shaved
radishes, mustard vinaigrette.

After the meet, and my mom visited her parents in the valley, we decided to spend our afternoon shopping (once again).  She loves to treat me when she visits because I don't get to see her much anymore!  We headed west to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  I like Third Street a lot more than The Grove because there are a lot more options, and its close to the beach.  After going to Victoria's Secret we looked around in Forever 21 (where I finally found my sweater).  After an hour or two we decided it was time for dinner.  The decision was between Umami and Stella Rossa Pizza Bar, both places we visited last time she was here in the summer.  Because I had just been to Umami the other week, I advocated for some pizza.  After a short 3 minute drive, we made our way from the shopping center to Main Street.  We were seated at the bar in the middle of the restaurant immediately.  I'm a big fan of the island style bar, it has a modern feel and breaks up the room nicely.  Our waitress/bartender was pregnant, which I thought was pretty funny.  My mom ordered a glass of wine and we decided to start with a salad.  I was bummed because they didn't have the same arugula and strawberry salad that I had over the summer.  I specially remember thinking it was delicious.  Must just be a summer menu item.  We went with the only salad on the menu that didn't contain bacon or eggs-- the Spinach and Crispy Kale Salad. Even though we had a kale appetizer just the other night, we thought it would compliment our pizza well.  Even though the mustard vinaigrette was drizzled on very sparsely, it complimented the saltiness from the pecorino.  Once again, my hunger led me to start eating before I was about to snap a picture.  The leaves were piled high in a nice dome like structure.

Shaved Mushroom (White Pizza)
gruyere, melted onions, black truffle,
torn parsley, thyme.

Oven-Roasted Tomato
fresh mozzarella, roasted
garlic, sweet basil.

Now its pizza time.  I already walked into the restaurant with a special pie on my mind.  I ordered it last time and was entranced by the salty truffle aroma.  My eye was on the Shaved Mushroom.  I almost never order pizza's without marinara sauce, but this is definitely an exception.  The sweetness of the onions combined with the black truffle and rosemary will knock your socks off.  Truffle oil is something I have come to cherish in the past year or so, not really being exposed to it when I was younger.  Stella Rossa has the option to order their pizzas "Thin Slim" style, which is almost like a flatbread cracker, or just on their normal dough.  Because their normal dough is already light, thin, and crunchy, we decided to stick with that.  Last time I had the "Thin Slim", and although it was good, it was definitely "cracker-like".

We also ordered the Oven-Roasted Tomato. We decided to go for this one instead of plain old margherita.  The big sweet slices of tomato on top made it a little more original.  It was super saucy, just the way I like it, and a perfect compliment to the saltiness of the Shaved Mushroom.  I ate a total of 7 slices of pizza. Probably my new record (I think it was 6 at Tutta Bella, my favorite place in Seattle).

Apple Oatmeal Cookie
with vanilla ice cream
(The size of my fist)

For dessert, we walked into the entry hall where the Pizza bar is connected to the M Street Kitchen.  There is a small cafe (The M Street Bakery) that carries some dishes to go, and most importantly, cookies!  I decided to order the apple oatmeal cookie (my apple crisp craving was getting to me).  And I of course had a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  The other option was peppermint, which would have gone nicely with all the chocolate chip options, but I wasn't really in the mood for chocolate.  The cookie sundae was huge! But warm and dense, just what I needed after my seven slices of pizza.  My mom ordered the chocolate chip with fleur de sel.  That was my second choice.  The salt wasn't too overpowering, but it still had almost a salted caramel taste to it.  The night was filled with shopping, pizza, and cookies with ice cream, basically all you could ask for.