Gluten-free pizza options - Santa /Windsor

July 19, 2009

Since Hallie and I are doing a long weekend get-away, we decided to check out

the GF pizza options. In Windsor there are two: 's Pizza Shack and Mangiamo

(now known as Pizzeria di Paolo). We went to both, although I had pizza only at

Pizzeria di Paolo. They are both comparable in terms of price - about $18 for a

12 " pizza. 's uses a Still Riding crust, and di Paolo very likely uses a

house crust.

I am a bit of a pizza snob, so I am looking for a better pizza than the one I

make at home*. And, I am still looking. The sauce at di Paolo is very good -

nice and spicy but not over powering. However, The overall pizza at di Paolo is

a bit on the dry side. It needs more sauce to counter the dry and very chewy

nature of the rice-based crust. The crust also toughens as it cools, so the last

piece became very, very chewy. The crust appears to have very little leavening

action.

I think the best part of the meal was that Hallie and I could both order pizza

together. The staff was really nice because they were not certain that the

Parmesan cheese on the table was GF, so they put freshly-grated Parmesan on the

pizza. Pizzeria di Paola is just opposite the Windsor green, so the ambiance is

really nice. There is also al fresco dining as well, but Windsor can be quite

warm, so the air conditioned restaurant was very welcome.

But pizza is an individual treat, and what one person doesn't like another

person loves. In addition, check out Yelp.com for Windsor California in the

pizza category.

Happy munching,

Vic-Sunnyvale

* There are a number of good GF pizza recipes for home-made pizza, and one of

the best is from Gourmet Magazine featuring lise ' recipe:

It may be hard to believe but Ragu makes a good pizza sauce as does Trader Joe,

but Trader Joe needs a bit more sauce. The marinara sauce from Trader Joe is

also quite good for pizza, and it does not need added spice.

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