Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar, Santa Rosa
At the entry, a bar with a large flat-screen TV shows European soccer, and the loud music ranges from “Super Freak” to Rat Pack oldies. You’ll also find a selection of high-style magazines plus crayons for the kids. To say that “everyone” goes here is accurate, and the long waits for a table will prove it.

Think rustic Italian food, for stellar salumi, antipasti, salads, piadine (salad-topped flatbread), and nightly specials like oven-roasted Dungeness crab or risotto. Another showstopper comes in the mozzarella made with real Italian water buffalo milk, which makes a lovely snack paired with an excellent chopped Caesar decorated in mild Gorgonzola, fresh anchovy, and thick lemony dressing spiked with hot Calabrian chile paste.

But what everyone really comes for is the pizza, in crisp crust baked in the wood-burning oven to a puffy-edged finish, with toppings such as McEvoy Ranch EVOO, and Sonoma-grown greens and eggs.
Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar
53 Montgomery Drive (in Creekside Center), Santa Rosa, 707-544-3221