Bonnee Klein Gilligan is a foodie who loves eating, cooking, and going to new and different restaurants in the Sedona-Verde Valley.

Bonnee's Food Corner: Pago's Pizzeria

Great places to eat and buy food in the Sedona-Verde Valley...and new recipes

The Restaurant…. down home Italian.

Pago’s Pizzeria and Italian Cuisine
6446 Hwy 179, #221
Sedona (VOC), AZ 86351
Phone: (928) 284-1939

Mom and pop, friendly, checkered tablecloths, back-East home-style Italian, that’s down right delicious.

I began dinner with a small antipasto salad with feta dressing (my choice)… smooth and creamy, crispy and savory… with slightly spicy bites. Then split a White Pizza with my friend. Hot, gratifying and simply delectable… thin, crunchy, chewy, yeasty crust, with lots of piquant, flavorsome, heady garlic and aromatic olive oil, covered with stretchy, gooey mozzarella, toothy provolone and zesty parmesan… deep throaty mmmms and yums escape from us both until every last bite is gone. Takes me back to childhood with family gathered around a big table at the small noisy, Italian restaurant around the corner, sharing white pizza, smiles and pitchers of coke. (note: after writing this article, I went to Pago's with a friend to share a white pizza and boy was I disappointed. The pizza was nothing like what I had before. It was doughy, greasy and tasteless. It had no garlic or olive oil and the addition of oregano under the mass of mozzarella cheese simply didn't work. Based on this experience either the chef was having a very bad food day or the restaurant was sold or changed management... and changed ingredients.)

For desert we split an order of Canoli… sweet, crunchy, creamy, bright and satisfying.

Lunch $4.75 to $11.00 and Dinner $10.50 to $16.95. I whole-heartedly recommend the White Pizza, Cheese Ravioli and Aglio e Olio Vermicelli.

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11am - close, Sunday 12pm - 8pm. Lunch is served till 5pm. Delivery Service is available in the Village of Oak Creek (VOC) 5pm till close.

Recipe… Peasant food, fit for a King.

Sauerkraut, kielbasa and pirogues

An easy and delicious dinner in less then 30 minutes. I whipped this up one evening after stopping at Euro Deli for pirogues and kielbasa. Servings: 3 hearty or 4 small portions

1 sliced brown onion
12 pirogues (any savory flavor, I used potato and cheese)
1 tbs. butter

1 15oz. can Bavarian style sauerkraut
˝ head of cabbage (green) sliced
˝ bottle of Oak Creek Brewing Nut Brown Ale (or any good beer)
˝ tsp. caraway seed
1 tbs. brown sugar or less to taste
1/3 pound Polish kielbasa, sliced ˝” thick

In a medium sauce pan combine can of sauerkraut, beer, cabbage, brown sugar and caraway seed. Cook on medium heat until cabbage is tender about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kielbasa cook on low about 10 minutes longer.

In the mean time on medium heat, melt butter in a 10” skillet, add onions and sauté until translucent. Add frozen pirogue, when defrosted enough, separate and sauté until lightly brown on both sides. Onions will caramelize.

Serve with hot stewed apples or applesauce if you like, and a frosty nut brown ale. You can eliminate the kielbasa and make this a delicious vegetarian meal and/or replace the beer with apple cider.

A Great Find…

Euro Deli Sedona

If you are looking for European food staples Sedona has a great place with a wonderful selection. Euro Deli has frozen, canned, packaged and deli selections including soups, teas and coffees, horseradish with or without beets, pickles, red cabbage, frozen pirogues, European style butter, kielbasa and other meats, a few cheeses, fresh salads, and more. They also offer breakfast and lunch menu items. Open 8am-5pm Monday – Friday, 9am-3pm Saturday and Sunday. Euro Deli is located at 3190 W. Hwy 89A (at the corner of Dry Creek Rd. and 89A), Sedona, AZ. Phone: 928-282-4798. Website: www.eurodelisedona.com.

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