In this week’s edition of Ladies Who Lunch, I will be telling you about my adventure to Michael’s Pizzeria, one of the top pizza places in Long Beach.  Also, somewhere that I had never been.

My dear friend works in the food business; it is important for her to stay up on all the restaurants around town. So, even though it was a Saturday, she was working, and I got to be her faithful and willing assistant!

We grabbed a table near the open kitchen so that we could converse with the chef, Julio.  You know when you get those déjà vu feelings that are for real?  This was one of those times.  It turns out that Julio had worked as a chef for Patina in the past and had catered at least one of my events (the catering kitchen was one of my favorite places at events, so I always met the chef).

Because I take my job as a lunch assistant very seriously, I needed a glass of wine and they had a great selection of interesting Italian white wines available by the glass.  The sweet, young waiter had a creative way of interpreting the wine list, but even though I had no idea what he was talking about, he was willing to bring a taste of this one and that one so that I could figure out which I wanted.

For food, we had the arugula salad.  I love an arugula salad.  This one was just simple and nice, arugula, a little cheese, and balsamic dressing.  It was the perfect compliment to the pizza we ordered, the Capricciosa on gluten free crust (it’s called teamwork people).  The Capricciosa has prosciutto, artichokes, mushrooms, olives, mozzarella, and tomato sauce.  Yum!  Even though the gluten free crust was not like a traditional, thin, crispy, wood-fired pizza crust, it was tasty.  We found out that it is Julio’s own, special recipe.

We also found out that he makes all of the mozzarella himself in-house.  And boy is it delicious.  But that’s not all!  Julio ALSO makes all of the gelato in-house.  And boy is it good.  I would usually have more savory food and skip dessert, but I will never skip the gelato here.  It made my life better.  The only downside was that we had decided to share, so I didn’t get my very own scoop of salted caramel gelato (I hadn’t known that I needed my own scoop, but now I do).

Now, my friend has furnished me with the supplies to be able to make my own gourmet pizza at home – special Italian flour, a big can of San Marzano tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella. I’ve been meaning to give it a shot but haven’t been able to overcome the new thing inertia … maybe this post is going to be the kick-in-the-pants that I have been needing!

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My sister and her sister-in-law had been a few days earlier and couldn’t stop raving about it. So even though it involved getting off of the beach and putting on real clothes it seemed like a worthwhile adventure.  And the only thing better than a ladies lunch adventure with one little mommy is one with two!

We drove out past Paia on the road to Hana (Mama’s is just outside of Paia, so we stopped before the drive got too interesting).  As soon as we got out of the car we were delighted by this magical little tropical escape.  We walked down a little palm tree-lined path with the ocean on our right.  The open front of the restaurant was on our left.  The entrance was at the far end, opposite the parking lot which gave us a welcome little stroll after our car trip.

The restaurant had that amazing, tropical, polished wood look.  It was dark and cozy and open and airy at the same time.  All of the servers wore fresh flowers in their hair and there were amazing flower arrangements everywhere you looked.

Mama’s is known for its local fresh fish, which is brought in daily.  The menu proudly lists the name of the fisherman who caught whatever is on the menu that day.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper “ladies who lunch” lunch without cocktails.

Our waitress gave such a sweet performance.  She was very animated and enthusiastically recommended several dishes.  Based on her suggestions, for our appetizers we had a Hawaiian ceviche with Opakapaka and mango and a Maui venison that was seared and served over a kale slaw (both of which I forgot to photograph but trust me they looked as good as they tasted).  For our main dishes, I had the stuffed fish, mom had the ginger-steamed Opakapaka, and mom-in-law had the Ahi and Mahi-Mahi in Panang curry.  Even though I enjoyed my main dish, I sort-of regret not ordering one of the waitress’s recommendations because her appetizer suggestions were so fantastic.

Even though we were all properly stuffed at this point, we knew that we couldn’t leave without trying the coconut cake.  The last coconut cake that I remember having was a very heavy and decadent, Southern style coconut cake.  This was the complete opposite – it was like eating a delicious, coconut-flavored cloud.

I love a good ladies-who-lunch date!

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