Ode to Pizzio's_Part I

I’d like to share one of my favorite restaurants: Pizzio’s, in northwest Santa Rosa. I love the décor and overall feel of this place. It reminds me of the interior of the restaurant in the movie “Big Night” (in fact, the owner and chef, Roger Gafner, says that the wall colors are modeled after “Big Night”). Pizzio’s has a great neighborhood feel—small, quiet, great colors, dim lighting. It’s not big or loud or ostentatious…and thus the food can really shine. The pastas are wonderful, Rodger cooks a mean flat iron steak, and I LOVE his pesto. My favorite dish is spaghettini aglio e olio, a supremely understated pasta with olive oil and garlic yet set off with just the right amount of kick from pepperocini. I’ve also come to enjoy the staff: Roger, of course, who frequently visits the dining room; his lovely wife Louise, weekend hostess; waitresses Andy and Diane; and Judy, who cooks a mean pizza. And I’m starting to get to know Mike and the rest of the cooking crew (who are, by the way, a scary-looking bunch at best, the kind of misfits and miscreants one shudders to think about spending all day playing with knives and fire, yet possessing that almost-other-worldly ability to reach that exact medium-rare point or drizzle just the right amount of cheese on The Rosa pizza). To put it simply, you should check out Pizzio’s: 2484 West Third Street, in the Big Oak shopping center, at the corner of Fulton and West Third.

P.S. If you do meet Roger, DON’T ask him anything about his chess skills. It’s a long story (which I’ll talk about more later, of course). For now, let me just say that, well, he shouldn’t quit his night job to become a chess pro, if you know what I mean.