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Apparently no one in Redding had ever heard the phrase, “Location, location, location” when the old Ramona’s Mexican Restaurant opened. Or maybe it’s just that the edge-of-downtown location was pretty good way back when. There was a lively, uh, bar scene and, robust, uh, personal entertainment industry. And of course there was no Mt. Shasta Mall or much of anything in Enterprise, so most people lived and shopped and dined out downtown, or close to it.

After Ramona’s closed – sometime in the late 1970s, M. de Joie thinks – it became a steak house called Grady’s, which did Okay (the Joe Clubs incident aside) and there may have been another similar steak house after that. In 2002 Jim and Penny Gironda opened their eponymous Italian restaurant, which was bought by Deja Vu’s Karline Niver last year.

Niver has brought back lunch service,- making sense in West Redding, which has a lot of white-collar professionals but not so many sit-down lunch spots. The interior design is sleeker and more polished, while the menu has undergone a slight revamping. Service is friendly and helpful, though once in a while it seems as though not all waitstaff has their signals straight about who is waiting on which table – not enough to be problematic, but slightly confusing.

Crispy calamari appetizer, $11.99

Femme de Joie loves calamari but has to admit that most of the time one restaurant’s version is indistinguishable from another’s. Amico del Signore has always been blasé at best about it. But the extra-crunchy calamari accompanied by a spicy roasted tomato cream sauce is much better than most, with crisp breading and just enough heat to elevate this above the average. It made a fan out of A. Del Signore.

House salad, $4.99

You never know if a simple green salad will just be poured out of a giant Costco bag with some bottled dressing. Gironda’s salad is something to look forward to, with house-made dressings and a nice mix of fresh vegetables and greens. We would gladly order a giant bowl of this if it was on the menu.

Roasted apple pizza, small $15.99, large $18.99,

Apple and arugula on a pizza? Why not? Pizza is a suitable vehicle for all kinds of toppings, and it works well here. Enhanced with gorgonzola (a great accompaniment to apples and arugula), salty proscuitto and sweet caramelized onions and roasted garlic, this is a winning combination of flavors and textures on a crisp crust. Warning: one dedicated eater can finish an entire large pizza with ease. Just so you know.

Catch of the day, shrimp picatta on linguine, $24.99

Femme de Joie loved the sharp lemony caper sauce on the shrimp and the pasta. Both were cooked perfectly and were a nice change from overly-buttery scampi presentations. The carrots were not quite cooked and not quite raw, so picking them up to eat seemed like the only possible solution.

Pasta special, $19.99 – Beef Stroganoff with smoked Gouda sauce and New York steak slices on linguine

Smoked cheeses are one of those food that always sound tempting but which M. de Joie usually finds disappointing, a cheap way to cover up bland cheese. However, the judicious use of smoked Gouda in this fanciful version of Stroganoff was the right touch to give the creamy sauce a little oomph and character. The beefy taste of tender strips of New York steak were a good match for the slight smokiness.

Catch of the day, Salmon on fettucine, $21.99

The waitress thought the salmon was a 6-ounce cut but it was more like a 4-ounce cut when it arrived. Moist and flaky, it could have done without the bit of cheese on top, but was still enjoyable with garlicky fettucine. Simply cooked fresh green beans were a pleasant side vegetable.

Femme de Joie likes what the new owner is doing at Gironda’s, from the pared-down, sophisticated decor to the updated wine list. Overall service has been good to exemplary; the food is very good and becoming more innovative while still holding on to the classics. While it isn’t quite a white-tablecloth sort of place, Gironda’s is nevertheless a good place to take a date while casual enough to be comfortable and relaxed. If you haven’t been in a few years, check it out.

Gironda’s Restaurant and Bar, 1100 Center Street at Trinity, Redding CA 96001. 530-244-7663. Open Monday through Thursday, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Friday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM; Saturday 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM, Sunday 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Parking lot. Full bar. Cash and cards; no checks. Vegetarian and vegan options. Website at www.girondasitalian.com or follow them on Facebook.

Femme de Joie came late to the less-is-more approach to pizza. For years she enjoyed goopy pile-it-all-on combinations with pounds of cheese, layers of salty meats, a token mushroom to make it healthy, and thick bready crust. Heart attack on a pizza pan. Gradually her tastes changes and she now seeks out minimalist pizza - perfectly made thin crust with a smear of sauce, flecks of oregano, scatterlings of cheese, perhaps one or two other tidbits accenting but not obscuring the purity and simple goodness. That kind of pizza is pretty darn hard to find in Redding. But it turns out that Fasolini's makes New York style pizza - the kind you can fold in half and walk with.

Llocated at the east end of that odd little breezeway between downtown Shasta College and Pine Street, Fasolini is facing an alley. Splashy with bright red paint, sharp black and white tiles, and racing car motifs, it's clean, bright, and pleasant inside with tables and booths. Order and pay at the window; they'll bring your food to you.

Fasolini's has one of those serve-yourself all-you-can-eat lunch deals: pizza, salad, soft drink for $6.95, and it seems like a pretty good deal. The salad bar is fairly extensive for a pizza place, with not any too fresh iceberg lettuce and assorted toppings - beets, baby corn, peas, etc. with fresh chopped tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber, egg, and the standard dressings. On the day M. de Joie visited, there were 4 slices of sausage and pepperoni pizza left on the warmer. After taking one slice, she watched other patrons take the rest. By her watch it was 15 minutes before more pizza appeared - quite a wait considering there were numerous lunch deal customers staring at the warmer like coyotes circling a tethered sheep.

Fasolini's Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza

The sausage and pepperoni pizza had good flavor but was excessively salty. Bit floppy, too. There was a doughy taste to the crust, which explains the cooper's droop. It needed to be baked longer.

Fasolini's Cheese Pizza

Cheese pizza was the second to appear. It was much less salty, with sauce tasting of actual tomatoes and a pleasant herby oregano seasoning.

Fasolini's Hot Pastrami Sandwich

Fasolini's serves sandwiches and pasta in addition to pizza, and the hot pastrami was surprisingly good, a smear of mustard on a crusty roll with hot juicy pastrami atop. Normally sandwiches come with a side of pasta salad, but this day they were out so it came with the salad bar.

Fasolini's Ziti Chicken Alfredo

Ziti with alfredo sauce and chicken was a special pasta of the day for $7.69, drink and salad bar included. Actually it should have been spaghetti with alfredo sauce, but Fasolini's was out of spaghetti. The ziti was cooked perfectly and the diced chicken atop was excellent with a toasty browned crust and juicy interior. Unfortunately the alfredo sauce reminded M. de Joie of a deadful morning after back in the intemperate 1980s when she and a friend, nursing savage hangovers, made pasta for breakfast and poured much too much salt in it, rendering it virtually inedible.There was no other taste in this alfredo sauce but salt though there were visible flecks of red pepper and a sprinkling of grated cheese. M. de Joie gave up after half a portion.

Though there are noticable flaws in the cooking, Fasolini's is on the right track. While not authentically New York, their pizza is good though it needs more baking time to firm up the crust. The pasta and chicken was cooked beautifully, as was the sandwich. But food is being sent out without anyone checking seasonings, and you could spend much of your lunch hour waiting for pizza to appear on the lunch special. A little more care in the kitchen could work wonders here.

NOTE: Fasolini's has moved next to their old location.

Fasolini's Pizza and Espresso, 1419 Market Street, Redding, CA 96001, (530) 243-8892. Open 7:00 am - 6:30 pm, Monday-Friday; also open Saturdays (but call first to check). Cards, no checks. Mall parking. Vegetarian and vegan options.

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Where to Eat in Redding and Shasta County, California

Entries tagged with italian

Gironda’s Blooms Under New Ownership

New York Style Pizza (& More) at Redding’s Fasolini’s

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