Tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in the SF Bay Area (including Berkeley, Oakland, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, and San Jose)
Start New Threadformer NYer and Angeleno looking for the best slice. We love Village Pizza in SF, Mombo's over here isn't bad. But, we want the best without going to one after another. Please recommend
By moanabite
on Jul 15, 2009 05:15 PM
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By the slice, hard to do. Most pizza places sell by the (often large) pie.
Kashaya has a small pizza that varies by the moment as well as the season. She brings her brick oven to farmers markets, so each pizza is one of a kind. You'll have to track her down.
Many more choices for whole pizza including I love NY Pie, Rosso Pizzeria and La Vera in downtown Santa Rosa. I haven't been to La Vera in years, but it's been there for years - so it must be doing something right? :)
Santa Rosa, CA, Santa Rosa, CA
65 Brookwood Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
53 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, CA
629 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
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Kashaya had a booth at the Occidentaly Farmers' Market last Friday. It smelled great, but I wasn't in the market for cooked food last week (unusual for me, I normally eat at least one thing at the market and often take prepared dinner home, but I already had dinner planned). I have had her pizza often in the past and loved it. The bacon, carmelized onion and bleu cheese is fabulous; the spinach and ricotta good but I felt it needed a little something to give it a bit more zip. The crust is excellent, though. I'll report back on more flvors as the summer progresses.
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Any updates to this?
Comparisons between Jackson's, Rosso, Pizza Gourmet, NY Pie, et cetera?
I've got a bad Jones for good pizza. My favorite pie is currently at Diavola, but
Geyserville is a bit of a haul. But I love their pizza oven, their gourmet ingredients, their
thin crust.
Ideas?
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My vote would be Rosso Pizzeria, I think it would be the closest to Diavola in Santa Rosa.
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Haven't had Rosso yet, but may do so tonight at the Wednesday Night Market.
I've been to La Vera a number of times and really like this place. I think it is under construction currently to update the vibe inside. Watch for the reopening. I think all of their food (salads, pizzas, pastas) are definitely good, if not great.
Oh, also, at night La Vera has a pizza cart on the street selling slices to the bar crowd.
JB
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What's your favorite pizza there? It's been years since I've been to La Vera and remember liking a pesto pie, i think.
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La Vera al Salsicci
Fresh roma tomato, garlic, olive oil, mozzarella, Italian sausage, green onion, fresh basil
It's really, really, delicious...I wish they would go ahead and reopen!
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PickyZaEater and I finally got over to LaVera, last night. Mikee liked it!!! Applause.
We had a Mushroom Mania on one side, plain old cheese on d'other side. Flavor was XLNT, love that they sprinkle fresh basil on the pie. Only one complaint, we asked for a well done pie and the crust was still a wee bit too underdone, for us. End result, too wet pie, making it tough to fold and eat. HOWEVER, it was damn good. We'll be back. As an aside,PickeyZaEater (x NYer) told the female owner that she was one of the best dressed women he has seen in Santa Rosa in the 2 yrs that we're here! I'm the other one:)
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If you like Diavola's pizza, then Rosso or Kashaya would be the closest in style and they're wood-fired. I reported on the wood-fired pie from Jackson's Bar but that was the first week it was open and the technique wasn't quite there yet. Other wood-fired pizzas you might want to put on your list, but a little further out geographically, are PizzaVino 707 and La Bodega (Sonoma Wine Shop) in Sebastopol and Baci in Healdsburg (that I've not tried yet).
135 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
6948 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, CA
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As always, thanks everyone for the help. Some new places to check out, and heading over to Sebastopol is fine for good pizza pie.
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Forgot one, Franco's in downtown Santa Rosa. I haven't tried it yet, but was walking by this weekend, poked my head in to see if there was a menu, and the owner gave me a tour. It has a full menu but also makes pizza in the wood-fired Mugnaini oven. It's been open for a few months but will have a Grand Opening on June 10.
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Melanie, always so good to read your 411 on food and wine. You are such an invaluable resource!
All best,
Maria
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So far no reports on Franco's food, so I hope some of the 'hounds will check it out and let us know. The owner was planting olive trees and getting the large patio ready. Here's the website with the announcement for the grand opening.
http://www.francosristorante.com/
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Since moving to Santa Rosa about a month ago, I have been to I Love NY Pie and Rosso Pizzeria.
I love NY Pie was ok, not bad, but not over the top good either. I would go back just for cheap pizza by the slice.
Rosso Pizzeria was more my kind of pie. My hubby and I went for an early dinner and had the soup of the day (which I can't remember, but I licked the bowl clean!), a white pizza with asparagus (the special of the day) and the beppo. Everything was delicious, my only complaint was I don't think the oven was hot enough yet because the crust was a little spotty, but it was quite an early dinner so I can't blame them. My favorite part of this restaurant although they have a remarkable wine list, if you want to bring your own wine part of the corkage is donated to a local soccer youth group.
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It's been a couple, three years since my last visit to I Love NY Pie. When it first opened, slices were available, then that stopped. Glad to hear that slices are back . . . is this lunch time only?
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I went to I Love NY PIE on a Wednesday at noon, beyond that I can't comment. I hope it isn't just lunch time, I'll try to scope it out this weekend.
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Any updates on I Love NY Pie?
And Biteclub reports that Lisa Hemenway is taking over the market and wood-fired pizza oven at closed Skyhawk for a new venture, Fresh, that is slated to open in August.
http://www.biteclubeats.com/2010/06/f...
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Went to Rosso on Saturday. I actually find it very comparable to A16, both in terms of the perfect crust and delicious toppings. The Justin Timberlake CD playing was a little strange though....
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Here's Rosso's owner/chef, John Franchetti, showboating for my camera at Thursday's farmers market on the Windsor Town Green.
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