We are busting the buttons off of our shirts and blouses, as my Bride’s God-daughter is now a PHD. I wrote earlier about how we went to observe her defense of her doctorate thesis and I said it was all Greek to me, but it made perfect sense to her and the people that understood it. We went to see her get her award and her “hooding.” The afternoon was full of pomp and circumstance from the moment they all entered the arena preceded by a marching bagpipe procession. The ceremony was for the Masters and Doctorate graduates. There were twelve of us there to witness the honor and we got there very early to block out our seats right in the front two rows.

There were even more that came out to celebrate afterwards at the newest location of Bigalora Cucina in Rochester. We have been to several of the Bigalora locations and the food is very good in a lively casual atmosphere. As the place settings state the fast terms of their secret success is “72 hours, 900 degrees, 90 seconds.” The pizza dough requires 72 hours before being used, the wood burning ovens are set at 900 degrees and the pizza bakes for 90 seconds; all to deliver the lightest pizza crust that you have ever had. As all of the guests arrived and before we went to where our party was going to be, we all sat in the bar area, munching on focaccia bread and fried Shishito peppers with sea salt. Afterwards we all sat down for family style servings of salad, endless supply of three different pizzas of Pepperoni, Margherita and Funghi. There were also platters of Rigatoni with both Marinara and Bolognese sauces. The meal was finished with Frittelle, fried Bigalora dough with house made chocolate hazelnut spread and a strawberry compote. There was also a large sheet cake with the proper salutations on it.

While we were in the bar the guest of honor tried one of the house wines. This house wine is not only featured at Bigalora Cucina, but also at Bacco Ristorante. The Baia Estate Rosé 2016 had a beautiful color and nose, but alas, I can find no information about it, other than it is being produced in the Leelanau County area of Michigan and made to Old World standards. My Bride and I started with some Spanish Coffees and then we got a bottle of wine. We had the Feudi di San Gregoria Greco di Tufo DOCG 2014. The Feudi di San Gregoria winery is a young winery established in 1986 in one of the oldest wine regions of Italy, namely Campagnia. Campagnia’s most famous white wine is Greco di Tufo, which as the name suggests is a clone of Greco Bianco brought over to Italy by the Greeks centuries ago, and there are only eight villages that are allowed to use this DOCG designation. The Tufo refers to the tough volcanic soil which imparts its terroir in the form of minerals that blend easily with the acidity of the grapes. By law this wine must be eighty-five percent Greco di Tufo, but the rest may be another old resident grape of the area Coda di Volpe Bianco. I think that it was fitting that the doctoral thesis and the wine varietal were both Greek to me, but we couldn’t be happier with our new Doctor.