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We wanted to do something out of our normal routine so we headed up to Ojai for an early dinner. It’s a nice drive out of the city about 65 miles north. The weather was pleasantly warm and we were of course on the lookout for restaurant with mainly outdoor seating. We were initially headed to a tapas restaurant but it was closed when we arrived despite them being listed as open on Google Maps.

I felt a little guilty driving through Ojai without my mom because I know she loves this place, but I did not go to Suzanne’s—a lovely restaurant to have one of those fancy 3 hour dinners. Today, it was just something spontaneous and casual. So the alternate we found was this pizza and pasta place on the town’s outskirts. We saw quite a bit of cars when we arrived and were a little concerned but this restaurant only has outdoor seating and all the tables were quite far apart. So we felt quite comfortable being able to remove out masks while we ate.

The Garlic Bread was good but nothing particularly remarkable about it. The Sautéed Zucchini in Garlic Butter was very delicious and the Zucchini’s were very picked from this restaurant’s garden that same day. It’s hard to ask for veggies fresher than that. The Shrimp Scampi was also very delicious with more of our that fresh zucchini a shrimp that was quite fresh as well. This dish was also prepared in that garlic butter and was quite saucy at the bottom of the dish. At this restaurant you can build your own pizza but I decided order the Boccali’s Combo Pizza which was loaded with pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, olive, bell pepper, and red onion. This was probably my favorite of all the items we ordered, The only thing I would change is to make the pepperoni be cooked longer. I tend love the charred flavor of ingredients, but I do realize it’s not the healthiest thing to eat—we have to watch out for those carcinogens.

I would highly recommend this place if you’re looking to make a quick trip outside of Los Angeles. I hope to bring my mom to this casual spot sometime soon and perhaps Suzanne’s when the weather is colder.