Off I went to re-visit the Luggage Room – since it did make it to the 10-year mark, bravo!! The Luggage Room has evolved in more than just a pizzeria, but for my budget it’s pizza. Many of you have calendars to remind you of holidays, birthdays, and meetings. As I mentioned last week, writers have unusual calendars for National Food weeks and months. If you get on Santa's bad list, you may just get one of these peculiar calendars for Christmas. Guess what the National Food for October was? Times up… Pizza! If you got that one right, you may keep reading. If you missed that answer, you need to go back and start at the beginning of the article.
You may or may not know the owner Bob Lynn, a restaurant genius. He started Houston's Restaurant years ago and later opened the popular La Grande Orange, both in Pasadena. Here is an excerpt from a column that I did years ago, “Do you ever go to a place and have such a wonderful experience, that it reminds you of a great date that you can't get out of your mind? I am starting to believe that Central Park, in the middle of Pasadena, has some spell over me. You may be thinking, what is Peter talking about this week? Before you call for the padded car, let me explain. It happens to be that two of my favorite restaurants are both next to Central Park in Pasadena. The Luggage Room Restaurant and Le Grande Orange. This is just too good to be true!!”
The Luggage Room is an annex to the LGO Bar in the middle with an open kitchen to the east side of the room. The star is the wood fire pizza oven making pizza at a perfect 700 degrees, Yep, 700 - I asked the chef. The menu is selective, offering appetizers/salads, burgers and pizzas. I love the minimalist approach. I brought a few friends along to make sure that I had a thorough viewing of the menu. We grazed on what I feel is the highlight of the starter menu: bacon wrapped dates ($6) and a pleasing portion of deviled eggs ($6).
We were here for the pizza (Budget remember) and were able to sample many. Margherita Pizza ($17), Haas Avocado Festival ($17) brilliantly named, and truly an avocado feast!! The Mother Earth ($17) had plenty of olives, artichokes, roasted peppers. My favorite pizza of the night was The Gladiator ($18) made with spicy Italian sausage and molinari pepperoni. When I return, this will be my choice with a full glass of red wine. I'm glad that I brought my knowledgeable wine friends along, because they knew the wines on the menu!! Although Oktoberfest is behind us the German Bitburger beer was also a good choice. We had a great experience at the Luggage Annex at the LGO. I did notice that many customers were in no hurry to leave, enjoying their pizza and sipping their wine, with seemingly no immediate intention of departing this slice of Heaven. Check it out before a movie, or a first date. Burgers and Fish available too!
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