We all decided to get together for dinner at Bigalora Cucina in Royal Oak.  The crowd has met at several of the different locations of this local pizzeria chain over the years, because they can accommodate our crowd.  I think that we had twenty-two show up, which is a great showing.  Two were AWOL who went to see the Michigan State football game (alumni and son).  Also, two spouses of the next generation skipped the festivities as well.  I think that the restaurant had hoped that we would take over the second-floor loft, but the steps were too difficult for a couple of our crowd.  This chain and a couple of other restaurants are owned and managed by a talented chef, that my Bride and I discovered when we first got married, as his first place was near our home.  We basically ate there every Saturday night, as our date night, with the same table and the same waiter.  We still continue going to his other restaurants as well, but they are a bit more dear, compared to the original venue, but life goes on.

Biga, if you do crossword puzzles, refers to the pizza dough.  The chef went to Italy and researched plenty of local pizzerias and small eateries to find the dough that he wanted.  His quest was to find a dough that would not be heavy on the stomach as some could be, he wanted one that would be easily digested.  After trial and error, as he has a complete kitchen in his headquarters, where he can experiment with new dishes or tweak older classics.  The pizzas are perfect for two, or for one hungry individual.  The other caveat is that he feels that the dough, because of its texture should only have a couple of toppings on each pizza.  The other secret ingredient, which is right out in the open in each of his pizzerias is a large wood-fired oven for intense heat and flavor, this oven is so important that he has the same oven installed on two travelling busses that he rents out for parties.  Down at our end of the table, a Pinot Noir was requested to start with.  We had a bottle of Nielson Wines Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County 2021, which originally was called Byron Winery.  Nielson Wines pays homage to Uriel J. Nielson, who in 1964 planted the first commercial vineyard in Santa Barbara County, against the common collective that the region was too cold for grapes; fifty years later, there are about a hundred wineries and thousands of acres of vineyards there.  The vineyard is located eighteen miles from the ocean and is one of the first districts that witness the fog burn-off each morning.  The winery is Certified Sustainable and they use small-lot techniques, such as hand-pruning, block by block harvesting, barrel fermentations and aging on the lees.  A garnet-colored wine that offered notes of red fruit, and a touch of tea leaf.  On the palate tones of red fruit permeate, with a bit of sweet caramel and a soft finish of terroir.      

As we were looking at the menu, my Bride heard that they had a Butternut Squash soup, so that was how she wanted to start off.  I got us a plate of Prosciutto di Parma, Grana Padana, arugula, and Focaccia bread, that we shared.  We then shared a Pepperoni Pizza with House-blend Mozzarella, House-made tomato sauce and Oregano.  There was no “doggie bag” for us.  As we were getting closer to food time, I switched the wine over to something Italian.  We had a bottle of Marramiero Dama Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC 2020.  The winery was begun by Dante Marramiero in the early 20^th Century and followed by his son Enrico on land from Gran Sasso through the hills of Rosciano to the sea planted with vineyards and olive groves.  The wine is pure Montepulciano, basically from the Rosciano vineyards which are deep, rich, and basically clay.  The first year of production for this wine was in 1994.  Fermentation begins in Stainless Steel vats with a long maceration, the wine goes from Stainless Steel to barriques an then in bottle for a total of eighteen months of aging before being released.  A deep purple wine that offers notes of black fruit, spices, and licorice.  On the palate there were tones of black cherry, oak, soft tannins, and plenty of spiciness with a decent finish of fruit and some leather.