One Way

The One Way Story ~ A True Story ~ A Love Story

Two years ago i was in Los Angeles and was spending a weekend in Pasadena with our old friend from International School Manila Lawrence Lee. http://www.ismanila.org
He asked me where i’d like to go for dinner.
I said take me to the best place in Pasadena.

You like pizza? Have you ever tried Sourdough pizza? Lawrence asked.
Yes I love pizza I'm always looking for a good pizza and No i said i never heard of Sourdough pizza before, I know sourdough bread and i like sourdough bread...
But Sourdough Pizza...never.
Well wait till you try this pizza.
The best pizza in the world is right here in Pasadena
I have to warn you though this pizza is addicting.
Once you have this pizza you will be hooked.

He took me to a place next to the train station in Pasadina that used to be the luggage room in the old days. Today it is a Sourdough Pizza restaurant aptly called, The Luggage Room.

We ordered 2 sourdough pizzas
The Mother Earth, artichokes roasted peppers broccolini tomatoes and onions
The Gladiator lindy & grundy italian sausage salumeria biellee pepperoni

It was love at first bite.


I was flabberghasted! It was the best pizza i ever had in my 60 years of pizzastromy!
I was in Pizza Heaven! I was in love! It was a major revelation! Its the toppings that normally make
a great pizza but in this case it was not just the toppings it was the crust. The Sourdough
had that extra tangy bite to it that the normal plain white dough pizzas do not have.
I truly fell in love with this Sourdough Pizza.

If you have been to Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco
and liked the Boudin’s Sourdough Bread http://www.boudinbakery.com , you will just love a Sourdough Pizza. Its like the Mac, once you try the Sourdough Pizza you will never go back.

The next evening when Lawrence asked me where i felt like going. Since i did not know when i would be going back to Pasadena again, i said Larry Habibi…(you guessed it)
Larry habibi if you don’t mind i’d like to go back to the Luggage Room again.
Larry smiled You see? I told you! You’re hooked!


We went back to the Luggage room and had two more delicious mouth watering Sourdough Pizzas.
I highly recommend the http://theluggageroom.com to everyone who goes to Los Angels.

When i came back to Manila i told my good friends Bobby & Ralph Joseph about my Sourdough Pizza Experience.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-WINE-Museum-Hotel-and-Resto/383608361653768
https://www.facebook.com/ralphs.wines?fref=ts

On my return to Manila, I mentioned about my sourdough experience with Ralph and Bobby. Ralph immediately told me about his Singaporean friend , Jacky Chan, a home baker who bakes sourdough breads and Pizzas during his free time. Jacky is an expat Manager living in Alabang Village and works for a International Company.He has been baking sourdough bread and Pizza for more than 10 years now and had recently bought a 5 Deck Industrial Baking Oven to further his interest in Baking.

One morning, we went to Jacky's home in Alabang and had coffee and sourdough bread and I started talking about Sourdough Pizza to Jacky. He explained to us that Sourdough is prefermented dough over a certain period of time and mixe with a new batch of dough when baking sourdough breads and that most sourdough breads are baked with a Starter Culture, Jacky said in his opinion his Pizzas are already made with a portion of Prefermented Sourdough mixing with new batch of Flour and water to give the Pizza crust a better taste. He invited us to go over to his home for Pizza Dinner and we went. The Pizza which Jacky had served was delicious and the bite on to the crust was chewy and tasty. After the dinner, we decided to open a Sourdough Pizza resturant and invted Jacky to be our adviser and contribute his recipe for the dough and he agreed.
Soon after that my wife Vicky was raving about and insisting we go to Maria Louisa’s Garden Restaurant and try the food and the bread they serve. She had gone twice before with friends and was insisting we go one romantic evening just the two of us.We did. The food was great and the bread they had was even greater.

http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2013/10/maria-luisas-secret-garden-room-makati-garden-club.html

That is where i met Chef Harold, the artist in the kitchen. He is a culinary genius who makes wonderful Steaks & Risotto & Mussels. Chef Harold’s is famous for his French Onion soup and Wild Mushroom soup, Mussels in White Wine Sauce that you dip in his world class sourdough bread, Escargot Bourguignon, steaks and meats certified Angus rib-eye steak to the tenderloin specialty steaks come with a choice of five sauces peppercorn, blue cheese, red wine, mushroom and béarnaise, his lamb shank on a bed of risotto is unforgettable.His signature Basil Mint Lemon drink refreshes all the way to the soul. His creme brulè is one of the best in the world and his Tomato & Mushroom soups are a gastronomic meal in themselves
I told him about my sourdough idea and asked him if he could make sourdough pizza. He said he would try in his spare time make some and let me know.
We had lunch at Maria Louisa’s again the next Sunday with Nando Ortigas & Milton Adamson & his only begotten son Alex and had feast with Chef Harold personally cooking our meal. I told Nando about my idea to open a small Sourdough Pizza restaurant with Chef Harold as a partner. He said if you do count me in.
I asked Chef Harold whats new with the Sourdough pizza and he said he had made some and it did taste better than the plain pizza. He said if we could try some one weekend at Zavoy, another restaurant where he works.

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/152055/specialty-steaks-crepe-flambe-at-ones-tableside-its-premium-european-comfort-food

As if by synchronicity i was with the king of the Manila nightlife Louie Ysmael at the opening of his new Thai restaurant Silk Road in the Fort. https://www.facebook.com/silkroadthaibistro
He was also opening another ultra chic nightclub called Gramercy 71 which was on the 71st floor of the Gramercy building. https://www.facebook.com/71Gramercy

I told him briefly about my Sourdough Pizza story and what did he think about us opening up one and he thought it was a great idea! And if it works he said we open one in Timog and another in Green Hills then one in Alabang and when it takes off we franchise. A big smile flashed on his face "When and where can we try it?”

The very next week my mother, sister and her daughter were in town from Lebanon and we all got together w/ Chef Harold and had lunch at Zavoy restaurant to try his Sourdough Pizza. I also asked him to make us a Sourdough Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger too while he’s at it to see if that could work.

Needless to say, the lunch was a gigantic success. Everybody loved it! It was like discovering Pizza and burgers for the first time. Vicky who normally does not eat the crust did not leave a crumb on her plate! And what was more of a surprise was the Sourdough Mushroombaconcheeseburger. My niece Jessica and Miltons son Alex loved it even more than the pizza.
That Sunday in November the seeds of the now One Way Restaurant were sown. We found a place that belongs to Ralph in Legaspi Village (behind A.I.M) at the end of Salcedo St on the corner of Benavides that was right on two One Way Streets. The name One Way was born. A star was born.
One Way's mission now is to turn on the Philippines to our One Way Sourdough Pizzas & Burgers & Steaks & Salads & our vision is that one day One Way will become a household word and on all pizza lovers lips.
Today three weeks into March, that weekend in Pasadena many moons ago has translated into the One Way Restaurant and become a reality. We should formally open sometime in April. Wish us luck and do come by Legaspi Village 206 Salcedo St corner Benavides Street. We are not a ‘location’ we are a destination. so do come have some Sourdough Pizza Sourdough Burger Soup Steaks Salads and enjoy a casual dining experience with fine dining ambiance and fall in love like we did with our One Way Sourdough Pizzas & Burgers & Bread.
If you take a minute to please “Like" us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OneWayStreetRestaurant and leave a comment telling us of your One Way Sourdough experience
Your comments and suggestions will be more than welcome while we are fine tuning One Way before our formal opening in April with the ribbon cutting and all that jazz.
The End


https://www.facebook.com/notes/surferjoe-habibi/the-one-way-story-a-true-story-a-love-story/10152295212209629