Tomato Joe's Pizza & Taps
19167 Golden Valley Rd., Santa Clarita, CA

Choosing a pizza is easy.

Until two people want completely different things.

Tomato Joe’s has a solution.

Put both flavours on the same pizza.

This week, I ordered a 12-inch Half & Half Pizza on the traditional crust.

One half Aloha.

One half Cheeseburger Pie.

Two very different pizzas.

One box.

And somehow, they worked surprisingly well together.

The Aloha half came with signature marinara, mozzarella, black forest ham, pineapple and mandarin oranges.

Yes.

Mandarin oranges.

I’m already a fan of pineapple on pizza, but the mandarin oranges added something completely different.

They brought another sweet, fruity element that worked well with the ham and cheese.

Pineapple and mandarin oranges on the same pizza could easily have been too much.

It wasn’t.

The combination worked.

And of the two halves, the Aloha was my favourite.

The Cheeseburger Pie was the more unusual choice.

It came with secret sauce, mozzarella, ground beef, cheddar, tomato, dill pickles, red onions and cold lettuce.

The question was obvious.

Can a pizza genuinely taste like a cheeseburger?

Apparently, yes.

Tomato Joe’s managed to recreate that familiar cheeseburger flavour surprisingly well.

There was plenty going on, but the combination came together much better than I expected.

The Aloha may have been my favourite.

But the Cheeseburger Pie was the surprise of the meal.

It really did taste like a cheeseburger.

And somehow, it worked.

Both halves were served on Tomato Joe’s traditional crust.

And the crust was really good.

It held up beneath two completely different sets of toppings and helped bring everything together.

One half was sweet, fruity and savoury.

The other recreated the flavour of a cheeseburger.

The traditional crust handled both.

12-inch Half & Half Pizza on traditional crust: $24.99 menu price

Two flavours.

One pizza.

No need to commit to an entire pizza of either one.

The Half & Half concept is what made this order stand out.

Instead of choosing between two completely different pizzas, I got to try both.

The Aloha was my personal winner, with the pineapple and mandarin oranges bringing a sweet contrast to the ham and cheese.

The Cheeseburger Pie was the unexpected surprise.

I wasn’t convinced that a pizza could genuinely recreate the taste of a cheeseburger.

Tomato Joe’s proved that it could.

The traditional crust was really good, both combinations delivered and the contrast between the two halves made the meal far more interesting than choosing a single flavour.

Sometimes two completely different pizzas belong in the same box.

Best For: Sharing a pizza when nobody can agree on the toppings.

Order: The Half & Half Pizza on traditional crust.

Our Pick: The Aloha, although the Cheeseburger Pie was the surprise of the meal.

The Damage: $24.99 menu price for a 12-inch pizza.

Return Visit: Yes. Two flavours are more interesting than one.

El Fuego Mexican Grill
28301 Newhall Ranch Road, Valencia, CA 91355

The restaurant was completely empty.

The burrito was anything but.

El Fuego delivered a big, fully loaded contender with almost everything packed inside one tortilla.

At first glance, the size looked like its greatest strength.

Then we opened it.

One part immediately came under pressure.

Another performed better than expected.

And suddenly, fully loaded didn’t necessarily mean fully prepared.

Could El Fuego keep everything together when the judging began?

Gelati Gelato
26240 Bouquet Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA

I went looking for dessert.

I found a gelato shop I didn’t know existed.

Inside, one counter was packed with more flavours than I was prepared to choose between.

So I picked two.

Then I let the server choose the third.

It was a risk.

Especially when his recommendation came with a name so fancy that I forgot it almost immediately.

Three scoops went home.

One became the clear favourite.

Another turned out to be the surprise of the order.

And suddenly, an unplanned dessert stop had given me a reason to return.

Which scoop won—and was Santa Clarita hiding a gelato spot worth knowing about?

Openings, events and things worth knowing.

Dinner and a movie. SCV edition.

The final City Cinemas night of the season lands at the Canyon Country Community Center this Friday, with Top Gun playing on the big screen under the stars.

The movie starts at 7pm, but the food trucks start serving at 6pm, so you can grab dinner before Maverick takes off.

Admission is free. Just bring a blanket or chair.

Food trucks. Top Gun. Friday night sorted.

No flight to Munich required.

Lucky Luke Brewing Santa Clarita is throwing Luketoberfest this Saturday, with special beer releases, seltzer cocktails, food trucks, a live DJ, contests and games.

The party runs from 1–7pm, with S&L Streetdogs serving from 3–10pm.

Beer + street dogs + Oktoberfest.

We understand the assignment.

Your Sunday farmers market run comes with a little extra this week.

Valencia FivePoint Farmers Market is hosting Chef Princella Zeno for a live Southern Fried Corn cooking demo, complete with cooking tips and complimentary tasting samples.

There are two demos, at 10am and 11:15am, so you can browse the market, pick up some fresh produce and learn a potential new Thanksgiving side while you're there.

The market runs Sunday morning at 27426 Navigation Ave.

Free samples on a Sunday?

Say less.

Next week, we’re heading out for steak.

A proper steakhouse.

No distractions.

Just one very important question:

Is it worth the Sauce?

The competition rolls on.

Another carne asada burrito enters the Burrito Belt with the leaderboard still there to be challenged.

Every tortilla matters.

Every bite counts.

Can the next contender shake up the standings?

Quick stop.

One drink.

No full restaurant review required.

The search for something capable of taking the top spot continues.

Will the next stop deliver the Sauce?

SECRET SAUCE