Review: Filomena's Italian Kitchen - Costa Mesa, CA

On my fourth trip to Anaheim in three years, I knew that pizza options in this town are pretty dreary. Although Los Angeles is just 27 miles away, it's 27 miles of congested freeways. 

I looked instead to some other nearby towns in Orange County and found a nice write-up of Filomena's Italian Kitchen in Costa Mesa, about a 20 minute ride from the Disneyland area. The Orange County Register reports that:

This is a hidden gem, where [the] pizza has slowly evolved ... the crust reached perfection midway through 2015. It’s hard to categorize the style, as it’s not quite New York, not quite sourdough, but rather a whole lot of goodness in between.

I called ahead on a Tuesday night and learned that the restaurant was mostly full with a wine tasting event, but the host found an open table for two. The wine event looked excellent; I learned that the cost to participate was $125.

The tasting room

The dining room

View of the bar from back of dining room

Inside, there is a large open room where wine tasters enjoyed a reception, and a more conventional dining room with a small bar. 

Menu from the Wine Tasting Event

We chose a bottle of California Cabernet ($49) from an extensive and pricy wine list and ordered two of the 12" pizzas - one with the pepperoni endorsed by the Orange County Register, and one with Italian sausage.

The sausage pizza

It's worth noting that the entire restaurant buzzed with warmth and comfort; the terrific service and the excitement of the wine event were both contributors to the happy atmosphere. When I saw the pies reach our table, I was encouraged that the reviews I'd seen would prove accurate.

The pepperoni pizza

We were offered freshly grated cheese to top our pies. I'm a fan of the post-bake addition of a sharp cheese like grana padano; I had mixed feelings about adding the same Parmesan that would go on the spaghetti at a neighboring table. We allowed the cheese on the sausage pie and declined it on the pepperoni pizza.

Superb cornicione on these pies

This pie looked Neapolitan, but it's baked in a conventional gas oven at 550 degrees. As always, the crust is the key factor, and this was spectacular bread. It was a bit thin in the center to support the generous payload of cheese and sauce, not to mention the meat toppings. Still, the slices held together well enough that knife and fork were not required.

Each bite closer to the cornicione was a little thicker, a little chewier, and a little crisper. As good as every morsel was, the best part was the cornicione, a puffy and toasty crust with ideal flavor and al dente crunch. There are some real breadmaking skills in this dough, and it was cooked to perfection.

Nice browning & char underneath; appears to be cooked on a screen

The cheese blend seemed to be mostly conventional mozzarella, and it largely melded with the sauce. It was a salty pizza - a good thing - but not overly salty. The sauce may have been very good, but it took a back seat to the volume of cheese and the heavenly crust.

Scrumptious crust on this pie

Both meat toppings were good, but the pepperoni - spicy cups with an ideal curl - had the superior character. The sausage was clearly excellent quality, but it had been pre-cooked before going on the pie. If I had the chance to return, I'd ask for the sausage to be applied raw before baking, Trenton style.

There were no leftover slices

This pizza was wonderful stuff and easily worth the trip from Anaheim. We met the chef/owner Linda on our exit and discovered that her roots matched ours, growing up in South Jersey. 

Chef/owner Linda Johnsen

She clearly has both the training and the passion for Italian food and I'd return often if I lived nearby. Great stuff, destination East-coast style pizza. Don't miss it.