Business on the go; Pizza Gallery
By Lyn Dowling
If you are under the impression that the Pizza Gallery & Grill simply is a pizza joint with a twist – and a well-deserved reputation for kid-friendly dining at various levels -- disabuse yourself of the notion. The restaurant is capable of far more than pies, sandwiches and informal fare.
The point was proved at a wine dinner hosted by CPA Jerry Spaniol Thursday evening in the restaurant’s private meeting room, which is so familiar to locals as the place in which everything from publications to youth sports clubs meet. This time, the modish, unpretentious room was neatly decorated in a marine theme, with shells and bits of polished glass atop tucked-in white tablecloths, highly polished silverware and appropriate stemware, not to mention candlelight.
It is not what one would expect from a pizza joint. Then again, one does not expect a pizza joint to serve fresh seafood in vanilla cognac sauce as a menu item.
Festivities started not with drinks and appetizers, but with a talk about the economy and investments by Spaniol, a registered representative of Genworth Financial. Santo Montalbano, a representative of Hines, the real estate investment trust, followed with a presentation about global real estate from the macroeconomic perspective.
Tonight’s pairings started with saffron seafood: mussels and shrimp served with a spicy stock in a lovely, contemporary bowl. It was accompanied by a 2008 Rheinhessen liebfraumilch by the esteemed German winemaker Peter Brum.
The first step there was encouraging: a server, Scott Atkinson, who set aside the wrong glass to pour the wine into the correct one, the better to savor its bright fruitiness, which provided great contrast to the heat-infused seafood dish.
Another Brum product, Vino Noire, came next, the accompaniment to a Mediterranean salad topped with a three-cheese vinagrette. Behold, another unique German red, tannin-free and smooth, and again, a fine match with the rather large salad. The salad was tart, a good complement to the sweetish, berry-redolent wine.
Most organizers of wine dinners tend to stay away from lamb, especially the pan-seared sort, yet the PG&G cooks treaded there, serving it with a slightly sweet blackberry risotto. It was served with 2007 LaFond Pinot Noir, a California wine made for lamb that did not, as Atkinson said, “challenge the food,” with a somewhat woody aroma and a long finish.
The lamb came in twin chops that had a hint of honey about them, each set on a risotto cake. It actually was served with a pair of wines, the second being a bold Bodega del Fin del Mundo Malbec, served in conjunction with a positively lovely, tart lemon sorbet as intermezzo.
The final course, appropriately, saw a return to Peter Brum, for one of the winemaker’s characteristic spatleses. It was served with a honey-tinged panna cotta. The sweet spat was fine for the warm weather and a good complement to the creamy dessert.
The bottom lines are that you can do dinner and do business providing the restaurant in question has the facilities and willingness to go along; and, more important, that the restaurants you think you know sometimes aren’t. Sometimes, the places you visit every day, or at least every now and then, are possessed of far more capability than is immediately apparent, and the Pizza Gallery & Grill is one of them.
How to find out more: www.pizzagalleryandgrill.com.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENEWVDZNOV8&feature=email
Who to call: (321) 633-0397
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