The best pizza I've eaten recently was perfect from top to bottom. Scattered over a layer of fresh tomato sauce were vegetables so recently harvested that I could sense the warmth of the sun where they grew.
There were thin slices of grilled green and yellow zucchini, red and green bell pepper strips and both regular whole milk mozzarella and fresh mozzarella. Just-picked basil had been sliced and placed on top. The ultra thin, crisp crust was what Griff's Pizzeria calls a cracker crust.
No wonder everything was so fresh. Griff's is in Templeton, a town surrounded by farms and vineyards. This is the Central Coast wine region, and Templeton is only a short drive from Paso Robles, a center for wine touring.
On Saturday's there's a farmer's market (above) that's worth attending if you're in the area.
As a matter of fact, what I had was a Farmer's Market pizza, one of six cracker crust pizzas on Griff's menu.
Others include the San Simeon, with a creamy garlic white sauce, shrimp, artichoke hearts and tomatoes, and Main Street, composed of mozzarella, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions and roasted garlic.
The Chanteclair amounts to breakfast on a pizza. It's topped with Black Forest ham, baked eggs and aged Swiss under a crisp layer of shaved Parmesan. All the cracker crust pizzas come with either a semolina or whole wheat crust.
Griff's has regular pizzas too, if you're addicted to red sauce, pepperoni, salami and meatballs. Even some of these sound creative, like the Tuscan Special, with a blend of garlic butter sauce and cheese, roasted chicken breast, roasted red-skinned potatoes, balsamic caramelized onions and fresh tomatoes, topped with Parmesan and fresh herbs.
Or the Flower Child, which has roasted vegetables, toasted cashews, crumbled feta, fresh herbs and pesto sauce made, I presume, with Templeton-grown basil.
Griff's Pizzeria & Bistro, 105 S. Main St., Templeton, CA 93465. Tel: (805) 434-1760.
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