rubino's

rubino's
26012 marguerite parkway, mission viejo, ca 92692
tel: 949) 582-1166

what was consumed: antipasto salad, small (i.e., 12") cheese pizza, small vegetarian pizza with pepperoni

i love pizza. i've said it before (yes, i know, numerous times), and i'm saying it again. just in case you forgot. I LOVE PIZZA.

i didn't go home for the christmas holidays. instead, i made sure to go home when airplane tickets weren't through the roof, but more importantly, when my extended family from seoul would be in town. my cousins and their kids (i.e., nieces and nephew) were in town for their winter holiday (they get 2+ months in the winter. sort of like our summer vacations) going to school here in the states, getting the "american" experience, learning a bit of english. when it comes to places to eat, i've been trying to think of places that were memorable to me, but also sort of representative of so.cal (i.e., so.cal food that i've been missing so much!). so when the kids said they wanted to eat pizza, i searched through the annals of my mind's memories to find a pizza place i used to super enjoy when i was a kid ... rubino's!

in h.s., we had these things called "gold cards." these gold cards were good for a year and had discounts to local businesses. the sale of these gold cards were for fundraising purposes and a sort of advertisement for the local businesses. point is, rubino's was on that list, so i ate a lot of their pizza when in h.s. so many good memories of eating super yummy rubino's pizza - i wanted to share such memories with my family.

rubino's pizza is great. everything is made from scratch, their pizza is hand-stretched, all of that good stuff. but the cheese! 100% mozzarella cheese! and the toppings! so fresh! the entire combination is so delicious. when a hot pie sits in front of you, the delicious scent of the flavor combinations abound. and then, when you take a slice, the cheese is all stretchy and delicious. rubino's doesn't have the culinary creations that some of these new pizza places have. instead, they take those pizzas that we consider "ordinary" and regular and make them super duper delicious. that's a sign of a great pizzeria, eh?

according to their website, rubino's has been there since 1976 (that is, they've been around beginning with their santa ana location. who knows when their MV location opened ... no matter). not a surprise, then, that 13 years after my own h.s. graduation, the pizza there is still fresh and delicious. be sure to visit the people at rubino's if you're ever in the suburbs of south o.c.! YUM.

online: rubinospizza.biz