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PIZZA? In Los Gallardos? Are we mad? Has the world lost all coherence?

Los Gallardos is a rich village. A smart village. A clean village, and an orderly one. But it is not the cuisine centre of the world,  it is a village where peanut butter is viewed as suspicious foreign muck. Pizza is something that -like sushi- is fine when one is abroad -say, Turre- but not to be considered when decent, local food such as sesos or tripas a la anchoa are at hand.

Yet LG’s latest innovative restaurant, Pizzeria Sam’z, is taking the place by storm.

In part, this is because of the high altitude chimney which belches the rich stench of cooking pizza dough from the traditional Italian gas pizza oven over the village. Nobody who passes by the village can fail to be attracted by the smell. It is rumoured that people passing by on the motorway with the window open get off at exit 525 to double back to trace the smell and purchase a fresh pizza.

The chef is a young lad called Fran, who doubles in his spare time as one of the city councillors and can be found most mornings in the townhall dispensing advice and paperwork. In front is a smart lad called Oliver, and another efficient fellow called Afonso. Oliver speaks 5 languages, including Serbo-Croat. Crikey.

The main menu is a model of efficiency. Some 8 basic pizzas are there, encompassing the entire range of human desire. For those who wish more, additional ingredients can be added or removed. Prices range from 7 to 9 euros.

If you decide to take away your pizza, if you order two, you get a free bottle of pop – or beer. Mmmmmm…. beer!

Mssrs Ben & Jerry provide the puddings.

Fran also makes what are possibly the best homemade burgers in the Levante. Huge. Crisp. Tasty. Made to order and fresh. Cheese optional.

Pizzas are big, fresh and made to order. You go in, say “I want a pizza with [xxx ingredients]” and a few minutes later a fresh one is delivered. Simple!

A TV will provide football on request (Canal +) and lots of beer -including John Smith’s- is on tap. Not many tapas, but you get some delicious mini-pizza tapas with your beer or wine, which go down a treat.

A smart restaurant inside allows you to eat there, with comfy tables. A patio upstairs will open soon.

Weekends it’s packed. We went on a Wednesday and it was packed. Mainly locals, 99% Spaniards. A stream of people entering and leaving with takeaway pizzas that put me in mind of a trail of ants. Crikey.

Pizzeria Sam’z.
C/ Mayor 41, Los Gallardos
(Main street, past the doctors house on the main entrance to Los Gallardos up towards the Unicaja and townhall)
950398981

Closed Mondays

I’ve been having a chat with Paco from Tito Paco’s, in Turre.

Readers will remember that his landlady appeared on “España Directo” (I’ve been on España Directo!) saying that he refuses to pay any rent and is driving them to the poor house (story here). A story that was published on ED’s website as being “in Murcia”.

Paco -and he seems a nice chap- claims otherwise. He says the only monies he’s refused to pay were two months over a dispute about who should pay for a damaged water pipe in the kitchen, and that all utility bills / rent are now paid up.

He also put paid to the rumour that he owes some cash to the owners of his previous restaurant. Doesn’t owe them a cent, as I found out after being a “proper” journalist and asking them direct.

Paco is currently awaiting a response from the España Direct people about whether or not they will run a correction. If not, he promises me he’ll pursue this to “the highest court in the land”.

For those of you who wonder why he doesn’t just give up, give the restaurant back to the landlord and allow them to insert their relative in as cook, he says it’s because he’s built up a good reputation there, has the rent until 2012 and doesn’t want somebody else to take advantadge of his hard work. Fair enough. Good luck, and let’s see where this takes him.

Feeling peckish, bored and cramped we walked into Turre to have a look around and maybe get a bite to eat. While not having great expectations of the place, I suggested trying out Pizza da Marco, the new pizzeria that’s opened up on the main street (just past the crossroads). It’s got a strange sign outside and during the day you have to navigate through a number of plastic tables to reach the entrance.

Imagine our surprise when we entered and found a real Italian inside! Marco is the son of the owner of Pinata, another fine Italian restaurant in Garrucha, and has been involved in a number of -ah hem- mainly short lived ventures in the area.

But, he makes a damn fine pizza.

The menu is short and to the point. It’s pizza. Couple of salads. Couple of home made desserts. The kitchen is an extension of the bar – Marco pulls the ingredients out of the vitrina, makes the base in front of you and cooks it. Served piping hot. I don’t recommend the anchovies, unless you enjoy having the taste of anchovies in your mouth for the next few days. Everything else is tip top.

Eat in, or to take away. It’s cheap (6-9€ for a big pizza) and the desserts are home made. He’s closed Mondays, otherwise 12-16 and 19-23 hours daily.

Pizza da Marco

Italian pizzeria restaurant Turre, Almeria. Tlf 950 618 903.

Chili Pizzeria & Curry

The opening of “Restaurant Chili Pizzeria” was anticipated with much wonder and excitement by my brother, who loves both Chilli and Pizza. As yet, no word back on how he found the Jalfrezi Pizza.

It´s a mainly takeaway joint, on your right as you enter Turre from the Mojacar entrance. Parking is difficult, and I would advise you not to double park as the Locales do seem to be cruising around there looking for something to do – indeed, we escaped with our takeaway seconds before the notebook came out, leaving a half drunk beer and some tire marks behind. The Locales seem to have something against Indian restaurants – my brother was once fined 60E for parking on the yellow line outside Taj.

The owner cum manager of Chili is the ex chef (the first one) of the Indian restaurant Taj, and seems to be running it along with his family. It´s a spotless place, albeit quite small, consisting of the kitchen, a passageway with a couple of tables and a small bar where you can have a tapa and a beer while waiting for the takeaway.

Take aways are where the Taj has always fallen down. Their food is still (currently) excellent, but their takeaway policy has always been difficult to live with. The Chili, meanwhile, being solely a takeaway joint, and being open from 13:00 to 23:30, fills this gap wonderfully.

Prices are very good, pizzas ranging from 3.95 to 5.90, and curry ranging from 5.80 to 7.50. It´s quite an extensive menu, and they seem to be able to adjust to your tastes.

Phone in orders can present a problem, as each time we´ve called in we´ve had a person who doesn´t seem to know anything about their menu. In fact, both times we had to point out just where a dish was on their menu before they knew they had it! Still, adds to the entertainment.

The pizza bit seems to be mainly pizza with chilli on top, and as yet I have not had the pluck to taste it.

Anyway, there´s certainly a market for good curry houses that don´t try to sue their customers, and while there is no news back as to whether or not they will start doing home deliveries, I´m sure that if they both keep their standards up, Turre can accommodate both eat in and takeaway without problems.

NB: Drat, forgot to ask if they charge extra for mango chutney.

Original comments copied from original website:

Lenox (lenox.n.a.pier@usa.net)said (08:44:42 @ ’04-Sep-07):

Hi David – I disappeared into the back room for dinner. Very good stuff my goodness me yes. No, really – excellent dinner – waddled out with a smile and a warm belch for the staff.