Project Pie, Chula Vista

Yesterday, on our way back home from la Moreliana, we took L.St. This particular stretch was near L and Nacion by the 805. You can see the 7-11 near the original Lolita's taco shop.

The looming storm clouds provided a formidable backdrop to the homes on the hillside. The lighting was actually quite spectacular. Everything looked crisp and clear against those dark clouds. Little did we know that it would storm heavily a few hours later.

We were on our way back to meet up with Bert so we could try out the newly opened pizza place at the Chula Vista mall...

After seeing the "coming soon" sign for months, Project Pie in Chula Vista was finally open. In fact, they just opened this Monday. With barely a few days in, I wanted to check it out for our Friday night dinner.

I hate the parking lot here. The lanes are so narrow and whenever I back up, I feel like I'm going to hit or scrape a car.

By the way, even though the address for Project Pie is listed as Broadway, it actually faces out on H Street.

I had to park way in the back and it was barely even 5 pm. Man, look at those clouds...

TC and I have only been to the Hillcrest location once and that was back in early Spring. We wanted Bert to experience this as well.

I don't even remember what store or restaurant was here before.

I usually try to avoid malls as much as possible, especially now that it's holiday season.

Our pizza doughs were flattened, laid out and ready to be sauced and dressed. We all chose to customize our pies (about $7.50 each/flat rate no matter what toppings you choose).

Here we have the cheeses (in no particular order) - mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta, gorgonzola, and feta (yuck to those last two).

Then we have the meats and assorted vegetable toppings - tomato, (not sure what is next to the tomato), chorizo,mushrooms, chicken, bacon, prosciutto, caramelized onions, and ham.

Then you have the vegetables and other miscellaneous toppings - basil, sundried tomatoes, jalapenos, olives, (I'm not sure what those first two bins held in the middle row), cilantro, artichoke hearts, green peppers, dried cranberries, walnuts (yes!), blue cheese (gross!), pineapple and red onion.

We all chose red sauce which was spread thinly on our pizza dough. A thin layer of olive oil was also brushed around the perimeter of the circle. The first one you see is mine...

The pizzas are fired up in here...

and are done pretty quickly. This place seemed to be a little "slower" than the one in Hillcrest in terms of wait time to get your pizza. They call out your name here and it was hard to hear them because it was so $%#@ loud; a microphone would have helped.  At Hillcrest, they delivered the pizza(s) to your table which I think is way better.

The space here is open but narrow. The ceilings are also exposed. Sound bounces a lot in here making it pretty damn noisy.

It can also get pretty $%#@ loud here. Bert was sitting in front of me and I had to raise my voice to even be heard. I hate that.

We were also sitting in front of this ipad/camera thing where customers could take their photos and post them to FB or Instagram (I chose the end of this communal table because the lighting was really good). Because of this, we were in the background (our backs were at least) of their selfies (gawd, I hate that word, it sounds so immature). There were a lot of squealy and giggly teens who were taking their photos over and over and over again. So $#%@ annoying.

Sodas, like at the Hillcrest locale, were by Boylan's, utilizing real cane sugar and not corn syrup.

Only Bert and TC partook of the fancy sodas. TC mixed three different flavors while Bert stuck with black cherry.

If you ever go here, do NOT sit at this corner unless you want to be bothered by large hordes of teens taking photos of themselves, haha.

Our three creations:

Bert's had standard "supreme" pizza toppings - you know, a little bit of everything. You can figure out what they are by looking.

TC's was like a standard "Hawaiian" pizza, again with easily recognizable ingredients...

I chose a few different things but some ingredients were the same from my pizza from PP - mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, bacon, prosciutto, basil, caramelized onions, and walnuts. I had to get those walnuts again. Last time, I had artichoke hearts on mine.

Of the three pizzas, I liked mine the best. Bert also liked my slice because of the walnuts. Something about the texture against the ricotta and the saltiness of the prosciutto and bacon  worked really well for me.

Would we go here again? Probably I would wait til it dies down. I found the noise level to be too loud for my tastes (perhaps that shows my age and intolerance to loud places) and comfort. Bert felt like that when he had dinner with the guys at Buffalo Wild Wings (also in this mall).

At least it's down here in CV and I don't have to deal with the horrid Hillcrest parking.

Previous visit to Project Pie, but at the Hillcrest location:
April 2013

Project Pie
555 Broadway (but the storefront faces out onto H St.; you can enter the mall from the H St. side)
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 621-2979

www.projectpie.com and the few reviews (so far) from Y***

On our way home, not even a few blocks away, it started to sprinkle. Then, it totally got serious and started pouring while thunder rumbled and lightning flashed scarily across the sky in jagged streaks. I was trying not to freak out while driving but it was so scary to me to be out and seeing the sky flash so brightly. I have this irrational fear that lightning will strike MY car and turn us into toast.

Once we got home, we could hear the neighbors' dogs crying and the loud rumbling of the thunder. It felt so good to be back in the comfort of our home...

I couldn't' really rest though since I had to prepare for a lunch gathering the next day with a few of my GF's. It was time to make a side dish and a couple of desserts...