Bob got that familiar pizza-sparkle in his eye as soon as he saw this place, but it looked pretty interesting to me as well. On Long Beach’s main street (Pacific Highway 103), with its hole-in-the-wall appearance, advertising jumbo calzones and cold beer, we were intrigued enough to venture a peek inside. A banner above the order counter declares, "BE SURE TO GET YOUR GOTTA EATZA LOTZA PIZZA CLUB CARD". A look at the menu convinced us. Seven different types of pizzas and calzones, East Coast style and hand-tossed. We’d been looking for good calzone, and one called "the Bake" included pepperoni, salami, sausage, beef, Canadian ham, mushrooms, olives, green pepper, onion and pineapple. Other filling options included shrimp, clams and meatballs. Bluto’s won’t win any interior decorating contests, but a quality product is what they’re about, not fashion. In the main dining area in front of the order counter, the walls are mostly decorated with the menu and newspaper clippings. There are a couple of articles about Bluto’s from Coast Weekend. Reading them, I learn that Bluto (Bruce Bailey) hails from Philadelphia and from the photograph, I see that he’s the one that brought us our bottles of Bud.
We wait for our calzones with anticipation in the back dining room, choosing the back corner table, the only one with a sun-moon-planets-stars oilcloth (all the others are red and white checked). Back of our table sit piled up chrome and black high stools, looking almost modern-sculpture like with shiny chrome legs sticking up in the air. In another corner sits an idle pinball machine, and across from us a bathroom. The hand-scrawled sign on the bathroom door informs non-paying customers that they will be charged $1 for use of the bathroom, and that, yes, we are watching you. It’s signed Bluto. Well that’s tellin’ em! The place isn’t busy but business is steady, with more people picking up to-go’s.
The anticipated moment arrives, and our calzone arrives cut in half on two plates. It’s chockfull of meats and veggies, even the surprising pineapple pieces, and the crust is wonderfully light and flaky. This calzone goes down real easy. Even though it was a jumbo, it was so good and not heavy, we both felt we could’ve eaten more! Instead, we opted for 2 more beers to accompany the last luscious bites.
A few more tidbits: Bluto offers caviar on your pizza or in your calzone "at market value". Thin crust is default; thick crust for $1 more. Seafood pizza toppings or calzone fillings are shrimp or clams. Hmm, why not oysters?