AJ Barilles in Yucaipa is a large free standing restaurant with a dining room and a huge outdoor patio area that is perfect for casual parties. The star of the show at Aj’s are their pizzas which have won numerous awards including the Mona Lisa Pizza which won first place in the nontraditional division while the pizza placed fifth in the world finals at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas in 2010.

In addition to pizzas, they also serve Chicago-Style beef as well as other tasty sandwiches, Chicago style hot dogs, salads, and of course some exciting pasta dishes with the homemade meatballs and spaghetti leading the way. The food is delicious and their salad bar is a nice touch.

I highly recommend you try the The Italian Beef Sandwich consisted of a nice portion of thinly sliced beef served open-face on a special roll from Chicago with au jus, bell peppers and onions. The sandwich was very tasty and when spicy pickled Giardinera were added into the mix, this sandwich was sent into a higher level of “deliciousness.”

The lasagna was another great dish. Assembled when ordered, this masterful dish featured lasagna pasta sheets, ricotta cheese, onions, green peppers, meatballs and mozzarella cheese topped and layered with a fantastic sweet and herb-laden tomato marinara sauce with more mozzarella cheese on top. It is then baked and served with garlic bread. The finished dish was outstanding and oh-so-filling.

Of course, I just had to try again the award-winning Mona Lisa Pizza as well as the Chicago Stockyard Pizza that came in second when Paul competed in the 2008 International Pizza Expo. The Mona Lisa Pizza consisted of a freshly made, thin, herb-infused pizza crust topped with marinara sauce, crushed garlic, a meatball and sausage mixture and small cherry tomatoes cut in half, and mozzarella cheese. The crust was very crisp and the toppings, along with the herb-laden crust, were truly magical. The Chicago Stockyard was equally as good to me. This pizza was made with a unique crust that had fresh garlic, mozzarella cheese and bacon bits rolled into the pizza crust wall, while marinara sauce, Italian sausage, Polish sausage, Caponi hot sausage, pepperoni, red, yellow, green and orange bell peppers were lovingly placed on top of the crust and perfectly baked. If you wish to have this type of stuffed crust, you must ask for the “intense” crust.