Let’s Dine Out – LouEddie’s Pizza

By TIM WILCOX

Special to the Alpine Mountaineer

The weather is a predictable and, frankly, the default topic of conversation. But let’s indulge it for a moment and factor in a prominent mountain resident: Louise “Lou” York. She’s not in the least intimidated by our winters, though she’ll admit that last year’s season was a bit much. Why this absence of anxiety when cold-air storms darken the horizon? Because Lou is from Fenton, Michigan – south of Flint and north of Detroit – and Michigan is among the snowiest states in the U.S.

Those Upper Midwest winters are a fading memory, however. Lou moved to Orange County about 40 years ago, settling in the Newport Beach area. But missing the annual experience of four seasons, she relocated again after a decade near the ocean to Twin Peaks and eventually Lake Arrowhead. So she’s been a contented mountain resident – winter, spring, summer and fall – for some 30 years now.

For the last dozen years or so, Lou has owned and operated LouEddie’s Pizza in Skyforest. It’s housed in one of seven historic cabins that are part of century-old Willow Woods Park. Owned by Lou as well, it’s a rustic and memory-making venue for weddings, rehearsal dinners and party gatherings – a seasonal sibling enterprise with its own management team.

Lou recalls the remarkably heavy snowfall of slightly more than one year ago. “It was a concern, of course, but the cabins held up with no problem,” she says, adding with laugh: “These are probably the most stable structures I’ve seen in my life.”

But since this is a dining-out column, let’s get back to the eatery itself. Lou’s cohort in launching the restaurant was Eddie Hillary, her beloved partner in life. A culinary maestro with a genius for recipes, Eddie focused on the pizzeria while Lou concentrated on the special-events business. Two years after the opening, he died, and Lou expanded her purview to the overall enterprise.

Following a wistful glance through the restaurant’s south-facing windows, with two enormous Ponderosa pines presiding over the Willow Woods compound, she says, “That was the hardest part of this whole undertaking.”

Eddie would be proud of what Lou and her team have accomplished in the last decade. Today LouEddie’s is hugely popular with mountain residents and also visitors from the down the hill. Its reputation is built on aptly named “artisan pizzas” that bear his culinary signature. 

On the Menu

 

Super-fresh dough is hand-tossed (an art in itself) to create an especially pleasing crust for the 17 distinctive renditions. Ranking No. 1 with the large contingent of regular customers is LouEddie’s Special ($21.99). It’s an ensemble of homemade sausage, pepperoni, caramelized onions, mushrooms and mozzarella topped with a custom pizza/pesto sauce.

Tuscan Chicken ($23.99) is another standout: chicken breast, tomato, red onion, piquant Peppadew peppers, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, fresh basil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Honey-mustard sauce supplies the sweet finishing touch.

Also displaying a decidedly ethnic flourish, Baja Fiesta incorporates chicken breast, homemade chorizo, roasted mixed peppers, mozzarella, cilantro and spicy chipotle sauce. Then there’s Mad Greek, which combines pepperoncini, roasted tomatoes, feta and mozzarella cheeses, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and oregano with LouEddie’s custom pizza sauce. Each of these picks is $24.99.

So is Slide Peak, which may be the meatiest artisan option. This one features pepperoni, homemade sausage, smoked bacon and soppressata. You may be unfamiliar with that last ingredient. It’s a dry-cured pork salami that has a number of venerable regional renditions in Italy.

These are just a handful of pizza paragons. Among the other creatively named options are Meatball Mogul, Maui Waui, Holy Cow, Deer Meadow, Hot Rocket Pie and Yard Sale. The overall slate ranges from $17.99 to $24.99. Diners can also build their own pizza, drawing on a substantial list of sauces, cheeses, meats and veggies. Part of the fun is coming up with a clever name for your creation.

As a complement to any pizza, LouEddie’s offers five salads: house green, Caesar, caprese, antipasta and Greek. The caprese order is presented on a large plate for $16.99. The other salads ask you to choose between a little bowl ($8.99 to $12.99) or a big bowl ($12.99 to $16.99).

LouEddie’s signature soup is a savory and robust caldo verde. An $8.99 cup stars sausage, chorizo, kale, potato and red onion. When available, fresh-baked garlic knots (made from pizza dough) run $7.99.

So what’s the secret to the restaurant’s success? Lou turns to one of her managers, Taylor Artiaga, and asks, “What do you think?” Taylor’s response: “Eddie’s recipes, for sure. Also, the super hard work you both put into this place and that you continue to do. I’d say, too, the overall vibe of the restaurant, which keeps people coming back for more.”

Lou is quick to credit her staff with working just as diligently and effectively. She also shares plans for expanding the availability of LouEddie’s branded products in grocery stores such as Jensen’s in Blue Jay and Goodwin’s in Crestline (when it reopens in the near future). With that objective in mind, a second production kitchen will be established in one of the Willow Woods cabins.

“Our goal is to be in key grocery resellers from Crestline to Big Bear,” she says. Then, pointing to an entryway display freezer, she proudly adds: “We already have the best frozen pizzas, ready for baking at home, in the mountains.”

LouEddie’s Pizza: 28651 Hwy. 18 in Skyforest; (909) 336-4931; dine in, take out; MC, VS and Apple Pay; $7.99-$24.99; 4 to 8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri.-Sun.; catering and special events.