Studio City | All That Glitters

Location: 12103 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City

So I know that turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce are all that’s on the brain this week, but I just had to share the great news with you! I cannot at all take the credit for this awesome find, my boyfriend told me about it, but the moment we stepped inside I knew pizza would never be the same. It was described to me as the “Chipotle for pizza!”

Pizza Rev sits not too far from the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. Its motto: craft your own pizza. My motto: I’ll take everything on mine!

{Making the dough.}

{Over 30 toppings to choose from.}

Interestingly, the decor reminds me a lot of Chipotle, down to the buffet style ordering set-up as you move along in line to build your own pizza, starting with their homemade dough. Next, choose your cheese, choose your sauce, and then choose your toppings. The thrilling thing about this place is that for $7.95 you can put ANYTHING you want on your personal sized pie. The sky’s the limit. Naturally, I went overboard as one does with a buffet of toppings to choose from.

{Building mine!}

For our gluten-free friends, Pizza Rev has you covered. While a small $2.00 increase comes with ordering their wheat free crust, unlimited toppings more than make up for it. If you’re too tired to create your own (and who in the world would these people be?) you can also order from their “Our Way” menu and stick with the basics.

{In the oven.}

A short wait while your custom designed pizza cooks in their open deck oven and you’re out the door. I crafted a regular dough pizza with olive oil, mozzarella, feta cheese, ricotta, all beef pepperoni, ham, spinach, tomato, mushroom, pineapple, and black olives! Told you, I went overboard, but O.M.G. was it delish!!

{My finished custom designed pizza :)}

Location: 12136 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City

It’s funny how some things just stick and feel so comforting. When I was younger I spent a lot of time hanging out in bookstores. My mom and I would go out on a Friday or Saturday night to the local Borders or Barnes & Noble, grab a coffee (I was hot chocolate at the time) and go our separate ways for a few hours. I would walk over and listen to CDs getting excited when the technology finally allowed you to scan any CD in the store and you could listen to it. I’d wander to another section and skim through a magazine or walk over and find a book that grabbed me with a catchy title, sit and look through it.

Fifteen years later and in gratitude to my mom, this is still one of the things that I love to do occasionally. When I’m bored, when I’m in a not so great mood, or I’m eager to check out a new book; I’ll go and sit in a bookstore, latte in hand, and melt into another place for a while. Last Saturday night, I revisited this favorite pastime of mine. How appropriate that the bookstore I landed in was an old movie theater with the marquee still intact. It gave it a unique charm. Sadly, there was no in-house coffee bar and it lacked some of the warmth that your typical Barnes & Noble would have (warm lighting and lots of seating) but I was happy to be around the books and exploring a new place none the less.

I know that times are changing and it’s becoming rare to have nights like this as more bookstores close or go out of business. I, too, am guilty of the ease and cost of ordering online, but nothing replaces the feeling or the experience of physically being around books. I’ll continue my love affair with bookstores until the last one closes, and my optimistic side hopes that day never comes.