Echigo and Prime Pizza - the Continuum

Fooding

LA County Safer At Home: Day 419

Menu at Echigo.

Tuna special is to-go only?

Sashimi special also to-go only.

You can tell how old the building is from the ceiling...

Seaweed salad was best described as not bad.

Miso soup and edamame.

Maguro. Quality fish, modest cuts.

Hamachi.

Sea bream, I think. Felt a bit more generous than the hamachi.

Sake (salmon). As quality as it is, was ultimately quite indifferent.

Kanpachi, I think. Most generous cut so far but just okay.

Blue crab hand roll. Nothing exciting but a nice finishing piece.

Paderia's new Santa Monica/West LA location.

Cheesecakes look like a million calories. Per bite. Inside.

Inside.

Pastel de nata seemed like too thick a crust.

But in reality it was actually just about right. Nom.

Menu at Prime Pizza's new west LA location.

Had a bigger crowd a few minutes earlier.

Garlic knot. I mean, it's a garlic knot?

Grandma's slice was huge.

Pepperoni was nicely thin but skimpy on the pepperoni.

Also slim on toppings despite the generous size of the slice.

Two new restaurants (to me) in the same plaza. Echigo for lunch-- clearly they've been upstairs a long time, and the 5-piece plus blue crab hand roll lunch special is an amazing value. Service was quite personable as well, which meant a very casual feel for lunch. I wouldn't put them in the top-tier of sushi restaurants around, but initial impressions are much more promising than what the spartan interior hinted at.

Downstairs is Prime Pizza's newest location. Unlike some other new restaurants/new branches, they handled their first day quite well. Pizza was just okay, a step above average but not actually interesting. Price was reasonable and the square slices are massive. Crust is decent enough if you like thin and crackery, but the real let down was being way skimpy on toppings.

Can't forget-- in-between was a stop at Paderia's new Santa Monica/west LA location. Pastel de nata crust seemed off at first look, but one bite was enough to confirm it was actually about right, and quite delicious! Plus the aroma as you walk in... mmmmmmmmmm. Stayed away from the other pastries, as tempting as the cheesecakes and whatnot were-- didn't have the stomach space!