Good pizza and beer: take me there

Doug Tabbert

Oggi’s Pizza and Brewing Co. has been pumping out hot pies and

locally made micro-brews in the Seacliff shopping plaza for two

years. The restaurant is constantly accommodating parties for

Huntington Beach High School teams and community sports programs,

while catering to young professionals who dine in private booths

along the wall and mingle in the sleek bar area. Sports fans will

inevitably gravitate toward at least one of the 28 televisions, many

with large screens.

Dinners reap the benefits of a kitchen that keeps it simple. They

make everything. The salad dressing, pasta, sauces and pizza dough

are all made on location. Oggi’s makes seven types of beer and you

can sample them all for $6.95, before, or instead of, deciding on

pint.

Last fall the arts center voted Oggi’s “Sweet Spot Hefe” as the

best Hefeweizen in their annual beer-tasting contest and the strong,

crisp “California Gold” blond ale, earned a gold medal in 2000 at the

Great American Beer Festival.

If you want to opt for a lean repast, the balsamic chicken salad

is a popular choice. With the rich Gorgonzola cheese and candied

walnuts nestled among the cool mixed greens and grilled chicken

breast you won’t feel left out of the indulgence.

This evening, I opted for the grilled shrimp salad that comes with

mixed greens, bell peppers, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and their honey

mustard dressing. It would have been more appropriate to enjoy this

zesty salad sitting under an umbrella on Oggi’s sunny porch with an

iced tea. Better still, go for the Longboard pizza with its garlic

olive oil sauce and rock shrimp.

The thick-crusted Oggi special is a smart classic call. The red

onions, red sauce and fresh red tomatoes meld exquisitely with the

pepperoni, sausage and mozzarella cheese atop the

still-baking-when-its-served dough.

Thin crust is available, but the magic for me began when I bit

into that ample, warm, Chicago-style crust that had just emerged from

the 525-degree oven. The flour, yeast and oil is dropped into a

5-foot-high industrial Hobart mixer and emits balls of dough the

night before and the yeast is activated by lunch the next day. Any

fresher and you’d have a stomachache.

High on the walls of Oggi’s main dining room are televisions --

26 inside and two on the outdoor porch -- it can resemble a sports

book in Las Vegas when you first walk in the triangular restaurant

with its tall, unfinished ceilings. It isn’t excessive during

football season, explained owner Terry Shindle, who spends up to 40

minutes on some Sundays cueing the various sets.

Oggi’s, unlike other do-it-all places, maintains good food,

service and atmosphere while doing plenty. There are 14 Oggi’s

speckled throughout Southern California.