Parting shot

Seen in Pizza Man restaurant, Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Darlene and I went to NoHo/Burbank last month to visit some old haunts, including one of our favorite comics shops, the best Cuban bakery located in a non-Communist country and Pizza Man, a small chain of pizzerias that we'd come to love.

I don't know why we originally decided to try Pizza Man. It had all the markings of a greasy dive with crap customer service, crappier pizza and a B or C rating from the health department. But I guess the price of a large pizza with three toppings (about $8) lured us in. And actually, we were wrong about our assumptions; the pizza was outstanding (sausage, black olive and mushroom), the place itself was clean and tidy, they had an A rating and the "Pizza Man" was really nice. I think he was Armenian; not that his ethnicity matters -- I just remember seeing an Armenian flag proudly displayed behind the counter.

Well, when we went back last month to get "the usual," the first thing we noticed was the absence of the nice Armenian Pizza Man. Then we got the pizza, and it was... meh. Not awesome like before, just... basic. They had switched their sausage, from super-crumbly-everywhere to large clumps. It was over-sauced and under-cheesed. And while the flavors of each component were fine, the whole thing was disappointing.

Will we ever go back to Pizza Man? I can't say. It might merit doing some drive-bys of other Pizza man establishments in the hopes of seeing that Armenian flag through the front window. Short of that, I guess we'll just have our memories.

And that photo above WHAT UP?

P.Ho