Easy as Pie

There is assembly-line pizza--a la Domino’s and Little Caesar’s--and then there is the more distinct, upper-crust kind. Linda and John Wells have become purveyors of the latter.

The Wellses are owners of the new Ojai Pizza, which opened last weekend in a prime downtown location on Ojai Avenue.

The new eatery will depart greatly from the Wellses’ other pizza outlet, Double Play in Camarillo, which they have operated since 1990. The philosophy there is an expeditious one: make ‘em fast and sell ‘em cheap. Bargain-priced takeout pizza is big, competitive business, of course, but the Wellses yearned for something more akin to a restaurant setting.

So when they purchased a second Double Play outlet in Meiners Oaks four years ago, it was with the intent to eventually launch into something bigger.

“We purchased that store and knew at some point we would move it,” Linda Wells said. “We always wanted to have a sit-down place.”

Enter the site of the defunct Roger Keller’s restaurant in the heart of Ojai. When the space became available, the Wellses jumped at the opportunity to move. The setting seems ready-made for an upscale pie: exposed brick walls, refinished hardwood floor, skylight and a new oak bar. The Wellses have also added a game room and partitioned off another area for group gatherings.

“We really want this to be a comfortable place for families,” Wells said.

Ojai Pizza serves up California-style pies--in other words, anything goes.

Specialty pizzas include the Mediterranean (pesto sauce, garlic, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, zucchini, mozzarella and fresh tomato); barbecue chicken; vegetarian; and Mexican (pinto beans, ground beef, tomatillo sauce, sour cream, cheeses, tomatoes, olives, tortilla chips). The alfredo comes with an alfredo sauce base with lightly seasoned chicken breast, red onion, zucchini and mozzarella.

Other menu items include a few pasta dishes, submarine sandwiches, calzones, plus green and antipasto salads. Beer and wine too.

DETAILS

Ojai Pizza is at 331 E. Ojai Ave. Hours: Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Free deliveries within a five-mile radius. Nominal charge for the more remote areas of the Ojai Valley. Call 646-7878.

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First, a pop quiz:

Name California’s state tree. Give yourself a smiley face if you guessed the California redwood. And the state bird? Of course, the California valley quail. How about the state ice cream?

The folks at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream hope to fill that void with their “Flavor of California” contest.

The Oakland-based ice cream giant is soliciting ideas from California residents to come up with a recipe that best exemplifies the flavor of the Golden State.

Here’s how it works:

All entries must include a creative name for the flavor and a description of the recipe.

The Dreyer’s Web site offered this example: “California Gold Rush--French vanilla ice cream with swirls of caramel and studded with honey-toasted California almonds.”

Ten semifinalists will be selected based on how well their flavors represent the state of California, the catchy name, ingredients and ability to be mass produced.

Semifinalists will travel to the company’s top-secret R&D; lab in the Bay Area in June to turn their concoctions into ice cream. (Note: the 10 will receive gift certificates good for a one-year supply of ice cream.)

The group will compete in a taste-off challenge judged by a panel of community leaders and top Dreyer’s officials.

From there, the two top-scoring flavors will be marketed by Dreyer’s and sold around the state during the summer and fall. Sales from those two flavors will be tracked along with “people’s choice” write-in votes and votes taken from the company’s Web site.

The winning flavor will be marketed in 2000 to fete California’s 150th birthday.

So what’s in a winning flavor? For insight we consulted John Harrison--Dreyer’s longtime official taster who invented flavors like cookies ‘n’ cream and French silk.

Harrison said to consider a common denominator of the national top-five bestselling ice creams, which are vanilla, Rocky Road, butter pecan, cookies ‘n’ cream and Neapolitan.

“Most of these are with one or two blended ingredients,” he said. “So that would be a marvelous tip. Just apply the old kissing method: ‘Keep it simple, stupid.’ ”

DETAILS

Entries must be postmarked on or before May 14. Include the inventor’s name, address, phone number and age if under 18. Send entries to: Flavor of California; Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream; 5929 College Ave., Oakland, CA 94618. Entry forms can also be submitted online at https://www.dreyers.com/california.

Rodney Bosch writes about the restaurant scene in Ventura County and outlying points. He can be reached at 653-7572, fax 653-7576 or by e-mail at: rodney.bosch@latimes.com.