You want PIE for dinner?

Pizza Pie, that is. My much more attractive better half was talking to me about an article she saw on Thrillist.com, about a place called Project Pie in Hillcrest.

To say I was interested after reading the article would be a slight understatement. Kyle Hall goes into depth about the owner, the ideals etc. Great article, read it here: Project Pie. Rather than rewording his already great work, I'll just do my own review.

Walking west on University from 5th Avenue, you can start to see the neon glow of the Project Pie sign. Upon entering, you might feel a bit of hipster decor creeping up on you. From the Edison bulbs on faucet style outlets, the visibly hand written quotes on the wall, you might get that impression.

However, after taking in the sights and sounds after entering, you'll come up to the "menu". The idea is simple, either pick a number from the Menu, from 1.) Classic Cheese Pie, to 7.) Prosciutto, Caramelized Onions, Mozzarella, Parmesan (White Pizza), or Build your own. With toppings ranging from delicious pepperoni, to Gorgonzola to simply Sea Salt, with various blasts of flavor in between, all fresh, all delectable.

After perusing the menu and various options, we walk up, the nice pizza engineer asks our name, writes it on a piece of wax paper, takes a freshly made pizza dough out of refrigeration, puts it in what I would call a "press" (a form of modified tortilla press), it comes out, perfectly formed, exactly the size of the peel (about a perfectly personal sized 10 inches), the pizza engineer spreads a very thin layer of corn meal,  throws the freshly pressed dough on top, then brushes on some olive oil (I assume), and pass it down the line... 

Now, this is where it REALLY gets good. I decided to paint by numbers for my first pie at this well thought out kitchen (the #2, if you're counting, pepperoni, Italian sausage, crumbled meatballs, mozzarella, signature red sauce and fresh garlic). Niki decided on picking a number herself (the afore mentioned #7, a SAUCE-LESS white pizza. She didn't even realize it was without sauce until we got back home). You can stick with the stock flavors for the numbers.

After they get done assembling your pie the way you want it (take that BK!), they slide it on peel into the, "Really, Really HOT" stone fire oven. The pizza bakes approximately 2 minutes. The crust is thin, but not too thin, crunchy thanks to the corn meal, has a great snap to it, very nicely done!

HOWEVER... You can add, whatever you like... No extra cost, Pizza Hut, be ENVIOUS (Pizza Duh, am I right?!?!), so with this news on hand, I added (to my already delicious sounding pie), prosciutto, black olives, MOUNDS of bacon, and extra fresh garlic. My beautiful counterpart added, fresh garlic, black olives and artichokes to her #7. But you can add what you want... WHAT YOU WANT!!! 

They ask us if we want drinks, of course, they have fountain drinks, but if you're thinking you're only getting the familiar Coke, or Sprite, you're in for a nice surprise! They have Boylan's Fountain Drinks, such as Black Cherry Cola, Root Beer (yum!), and of course their famous Birch Beer, all of course made with pure cane sugar, no preservatives, and no artificial coloring. If you haven't had it, stopping by Project Pie is worth that alone!

Now, I'm not going to go into obscure adjectives to describe just HOW much we loved the pizza (we are kind of pizza snobs). I've had pizza on 3 different continents and this by far is one of my absolute favorites! From my earlier mention of the just right crunchy crust to the glorious snap of the cheese... I'll let you decide just how delicious it is... Believe me, you will NOT be disappointed!

We will have to go back and try their sweet pies, but we were way to full to have any on that visit.

A definite recommend from me. Not to put to fine of a point on it, Aaaahhhhnold said it best, "I'll be back!".

Project Pie

3888 4th Avenue

San Diego, CA 92103

http://www.projectpie.com/

To view all the of the pics full sized, visit my site: http://www.photog-rob.com

Project Pie Visit Gallery

Burlesque, ladies, fire, alcohol.... What's not to like?!?!?!

My shoulder is finally starting to feel better, so I decided to start getting out again. The Brass Rail, in Hillcrest is host to a monthly show: The House of Pink Boombox! monthly review. Hosted by the always great Xanadu Rocketship.

Head Mistress Lilly Holiday started off the night in a formal looking blue ball gown with red opera gloves (reminiscent of a Disney princess), slowly and seductively bearing all to the rhythm of the music the excellent JoshTheBear, DJ at The Brass Rail was pumping out.

Next up was the beautiful Elena playing with swords and fire! With a mixture of belly dancing, sword play, and fire dancing (Tribal Fire Dance), she can hypnotize you, cut you and burn you all at the same time! All while staring at her gyrate like a snake...

Next up was a solo performance by the ultra talented Anna Yanushkevich. Showing what sultry is all about. Well balanced would be a complete understatement watching her contort, flex, while her paused stasis on a lonely fold up chair was mesmerizing.

Next, a burlesque performance by San Von Zombie, takes you back to the old time prohibition era speakeasy. Sensual, her measured disrobing, piece by piece... Slinky... Smokey (if a dance can be smokey, and I mean that in the best way possible).

Next was the ladies of Bete Noir, of Sarah Saraphim Edgar and Avarra LaRoux Ponto, dancing with sharp objects. Avarra apparently has the nickname, "The Snake", it's quite apparent that she EARNED that name as she winds her way across the floor with sword in hand. Her sword carrying counterpart Saraphim dancing Ying to The Snake's Yang. You have to see them perform to appreciate the delicate harmony of point/counterpoint. 

After a bit of Xanadu Rocketship's grifting, back out was the head Mistress, Lilly Holiday sexily clad in a gorgeous full length gown. Head adorned with a beautiful plumage of a feathery hat. She danced a swing style dance, sexy, shaking, vibrating, exhilarating.

Saraphim, solo, next to dazzle with a hula-hoop. Round and round, the hoop never stops, her body, slinking in a hypnotic, rhythmic motion, keeps the hoops attention and yours!

San Von Zombie, far from a glissade, she swings and sways her hips up to the stage, clad in what appears to be a full length black and silver corseted style dress. But wait... She's not gonna show you everything all at once... Are you crazy?

One more slither for The Snake, this time, a solo performance art dance. Watch her slither, slink, slide.

Lilly, her final dance of the night. She skips the nice full length numbers, instead deciding to go with a corset, a sheer wrap style skirt and not much else... This is what we're here for...

Last, yet far from least... Anna and Elena, in a Tribal Fire dance, spellbinding, sensual, loving, and fierce.

The night, was electric, the Pink Boombox squad spanked and slapped it out of the park. I highly recommend taking in one of their shows. They will be performing monthly at The Brass Rail, don't miss it!

Visit The House of Pink Boombox to keep up to date! 

Seacrest... OUT!

Oh yeah. My main business

Lest I forget to self promote. Needless to say, I'm a full time professional freelance photographer. I also work for a couple of international photo stock companies. I specialize in event photography, but am very proficient in every other field associated with photography. You can always check out some of my work on my site: PHOTOG-ROB.COM. I will from time to time post some of my shots on my blog here, but more likely than not you can check out my work via Facebook, Google+, or just my website (not all of my work is on my site, some is owned by the purchaser of my services and I will not post it on my site).

I was house photographer for the now and sadly closed 4th & B downtown San Diego. Here's a shot from our Halloween show with Peter Murphy, an excellent night.

Like I said, I shoot everything, nudes...

Head shots...

Highly manufactured wedding shots...

Promotional shots...

Guerrilla style street shooting...

Fashion...

Landscape...

Highly manipulated HDR...

Product shots...

Specialized event photography such as concerts...

So, if you're in need of a photographer, no matter what your budget, hit me up. I'm always glad to work with a new subject, client, whatever need be. I'm your hired gun...

Aside from this blog you can keep up with some of my social onlineness (yeah, not a real word, but whatever). You can check my;

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PhotographerRob

Twitter: http://twitter.com/SanDawgForsythe

Instagram: http://instagram.com/robforsythe

Tumblr: http://its-photogrob-blog.tumblr.com/

WWW: http://www.photog-rob.com

Hot Dog! It's Daddy's!!!

So, my girl (Niki) and I were cruising around the Hillcrest area. Starting to feel a little munchy (not hungry, per say, but just a little munchy). So as we walked in the various shops, we were keeping our eye out for something different, something we hadn't had the honor of trying out. Low and behold, we come upon an eating establishment between the various Mexican-Sushi-Indian mixes on University (most of which are very good), perfect for satiating a need for a bite, not a whole dinner, not a have to sit down and hope you can waddle out supper.


Daddy's Hot dogs (1281 University Ave), had a small, but very eclectic menu selection, such as the the "Manhattan", a seemingly typical "kraut" dog, or so you might be misled to think, one bite will tell you, this isn't a conveyor style dog, excellent snap to the split beef wiener (hehe... he said, "wiener"...), to the excellent, but not too tart sauerkraut, lovely grilled onions, with deli mustard, just... "right", and you know it with the first bite. My lovely significant other got the "Seattle" dog... Oh, my... A beef wiener (snicker), with cream cheese (yes... cream cheese), killer tasty grilled onions, Daddy's own, homemade Jalapeno relish (delicious!), and BBQ sauce or deli mustard (the right choice is THE BBQ sauce, no doubt). Just an excellent mix of spice bite from the Jalapeno relish (again, delicious!) and the coolness of the cream cheese (yes, I reiterate, cream cheese, on a hot dog) and the snap of the beef hot dog... Now then, my girl being the beautiful person she is garners attention, so Daddy decided to give her a "tester" dog, un-named as of yet, however, when he springs it forth, people will rejoice... Let's just say, it could be "everything" you might want in a Hot dog...

Check out the menu at www.daddyshotdogs.com and say, "Hi!" to Daddy, one of the most down to Earth, honest people you will ever meet. You will want to put his dog in your mouth!

Shoulder Surgery.... and MANY random thoughts... Free form. No editing!

So, I decided to start a blog. I have a myriad of subjects always on my brain. I'm not sure anyone other than my beautiful significant other (Niki) cares about what I have to say... I don't care. I'll post nonsensical ravings, suggestions, observations, etc., about my daily life (well.... our daily life).

So, since this is my debut blog, I'll talk a little bit about myself. Odd, but I generally don't do this... A proverb I heard when I was very young keeps me tight lipped: 

Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt

But I digest, here we go. It's your chance to back out now!

I have lived a full life, well, a couple of lives if I think too much about it. I've been a lowly grunt, washing cars for a auto rental on a Naval base in Jacksonville, FL. I was born in Texas, grew up in FL (well, I've actually never really grown up), and spent more than half my life (so far) in San Diego. I've ran a medical company pedaling cardiovascular specialists to various hospitals in southern California. I've owned a very profitable metal polishing company. I started a hot rod shop with nothing more than a lift I bought for a highly discounted price and a small space and built it to a very well known shop only to have it crash around me when my wife of 7 years (well, 2 years at the time, but we were together for 7 years) decided I wasn't around enough to keep her occupied (more on that sometime down the line, I'm sure). I've labored alone, by myself to remodel a house. I've driven, and raced extremely high powered race cars on many tracks in various cities around the world. I've met presidents (two, exactly, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan). I've played a baritone saxophone on the field of the old Hoosier Dome in Indiana. I've met rock stars, movie stars, racing stars, people that have mapped the human DNA sequence, people that have helped get shuttles into space (I've actually been to a shuttle launch and witnessed the Challenger explosion). I've met people from every walk of life, huge RICH CEO's of GM and Chrysler. I've met people that clean the shit out of public stalls for a living. At one point when I was growing up, I was so introverted that people thought that I was a mute. I have done background checks on Tony Robbins. I've been in a P3 Orion, I've witnessed (on many occasions) open heart surgery. I have artwork that is scattered throughout the world. I have built things that NASA uses.

Okay, now that some of that is off my chest... 

Now then, my recent surgery. I had been working at a metal fabrication shop, had an accident, tore up my left shoulder. Over a year and half later of fighting with the insurance company, I finally got to get my surgery. I had been in the medical field for a little while, my mom all my life (so far) so I know generally what is what. I had been to many doctors, to see what they think was wrong in there, many speculations, many tests, an extremely uncomfortable MRI and still boiled down to getting in there, rooting around like a rat terrier in a garden to see the cause of my pain and agony. As I sit here with bloody gauze's (most of which fell out of the foam "bandaging" the first time I tried to take a shower, "Don't get the dressings wet, other than that, you'll be fine", the nurse tells me, sure... That was a lot of fun, you never realize just how much you do with one appendage until it's slightly immobile...) and foam shoulder pad, not really hopped up on Vicodin or Percocet (However, WISHING, I was... Don't get me wrong, I've taken them, however, I don't think the dosage is enough for me to really feel them, just take the edge off the pain, which they have), thanking the swift hand of my great surgeon, cause I can already feel much of the tension that was causing huge stress headaches on a daily basis abating, even while I get sharp stabbing pains in the healing wounds. While I don't know the findings, or the happenings during the surgery, I do feel it will greatly help, will it completely heal my wounds? I suppose only time will tell.

Well, the second Percocet is kicking in (thankfully!), I'll be turning in now.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, if so, please subscribe (I'm sure there's a subscribe button somewhere), and I'm sure you'll get a kick out of my musings, or maybe infuriated, or maybe just learn something about me that completely surprises the shit out of you.

If you actually read this far, I honestly thank you from the bottom of my cold heart. PEACE!