FAMILY OWNED PZA RISES IN MENIFEE
By Tony Reverditto
PZA: Oven Fired Goodness is a family owned pizzeria and operated by the dynamic husband and wife duo, Joseph and Shannon Luna. With over 25 years of combined experience cooking in the finest restaurants, they met as Sous Chefs at Dodger Stadium and married 3 months later. Prior to PZA, Chef Joseph worked as Executive Chef at Mount Palomar in Temecula and Chef Shannon having been a chef at Orange Hill and various restaurants in LA. She was head chef at Snooze in Orange when the pandemic hit and was furloughed. She applied at The Next Pour and was hired as head chef on the spot and shockingly a month and a half later they decided to close their doors. When she received the call, Joseph was in the room and told her to ask them how much they want for the restaurant. The rest is history and PZA officially opened its doors on 4th of July and they have been successfully building a following ever since.
In the center of the kitchen is a beautiful brick oven with a spacious dining room which at the time of our visit was not available for indoor dining. So they have set up outdoor dining to comply with the current CDC regulations. Hopefully by the time this goes to print, Riverside County will be off the watch list and they can reopen the dining room. Either way, these restaurants really need the communities support during these tough times. This is exclusively a family operated business and Josephs brother Phillip and his wife, Meredith are part of the business as well as fellow LLC member, Trinidad Mosqueda.
They source many of their ingredients from the Canyon Lake Farmer's Market and make most everything from scratch. They are strong believers in local supporting local, which leads me to their menu, it is just the right size and has an interesting array of choices. The menu has a category called “For the Table” which includes Big Butte Meatballs, Buttercup Bruschetta (vegetarian), and Appaloosa Artichoke Dip. I was intrigued with the Sierra Truffle Fries sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and drizzled with truffle oil and they were incredible.
They have a lovely selection of salads consisting of Castle Caesar Salad, Fair Weather Antipasto Salad, Little Creek Spinach and a Canyon Lake Caprese. Sandwiches are also on the menu, Big Range Italian, Canyon Lake Caprese, Mustang Meatball and Pyramid Pulled Pork with Glutten Free Bread upon request.
Their pizzas are prepared in their brick oven offering traditional and unique combinations. My guest ordered the Green Pine Pesto Pizza, Grilled chicken, spinach, artichoke, mozzarella cheese, pesto sauce and he loved the thin house made crispy crust. I wanted a custom BYOP Build Your Own Pizza and went for pepperoni, mushroom and artichoke. The pizzas come in medium and large and are reasonably priced and phenomenal.
The entrées we ordered On Pointe Chicken Parmesan, Chicken breast, parmesan cheese, penne pasta, red sauce and Skipjack Spaghetti & Meatballs, Spaghetti, marinara sauce, meatballs and the meatballs were divine and simply melted in my mouth and the homemade sauce was hearty and zesty. Other entrées include Ketch Carbonara, Pretty Penne and Greenbrook Eggplant Parmesan. Specials available on the weekends.
Finally, the dessert menu was quite impressive; Lighthouse Chocolate Lava Cake served with a side of vanilla ice cream and caramel, Strawberry Cheesecake, Caliente Apple Crisp and one of my all-time favorites Swan Point Crème Brulee.
PZA: Oven Fired Goodness, 31574 Railroad Canyon Rd. Unit A, Canyon Lake. Menu and reservations: 951.430.1004 or www.thepza.com.
