Brixx a hidden Petaluma gem

A restaurant that has been in business for nearly a decade in a relatively obscure, hidden location, must be doing a lot of things right. That is the case with Brixx, owned by Noel and Jennifer Milo.

Brixx is located at 16 Kentucky St., but it is really located inside the Lan Mark Building, which runs between Kentucky and Petaluma Boulevard.

Brixx has two dining spaces. The bar is on the main floor, and a secondary area is up a flight of stairs. Sometimes they rent out the upstairs for private parties, so the downstairs can get really packed. Because this is a popular place, go early or be prepared for a bit of a wait. Happy hour, which is from 4-6 p.m., features great pricing on their excellent appetizers, beer and house wine.

The restaurant serves thin crust pizza with a broad variety of toppings - there are 24 specialty pizzas on the menu, along with the basic cheese or pepperoni, or choice of topping pizzas. Pizzas have clever names like “fun guy,” a three-mushroom pizza with white truffle oil and caramelized onions and mozzarella, and “4th rock from the sun,” a pie with sausage, roasted red peppers, purple onion, mozzarella and goat cheese.

We started off with the baked formaggio appetizer ($6/$9.75), the meatball appetizer ($6/$9.75), highly touted by our server, and the spicy garlic prawn appetizer ($7/$10.75), which was true to its name. All three of these were available on the happy hour menu which is why you see two prices listed here - the first is the happy hour price, and the second is the regular menu price.

All three appetizers were well-prepared and tasty, but the baked formaggio was the table favorite. It is soft goat cheese baked in marinara and pesto sauces, and topped with fresh basil and pine nuts. It is served with lightly toasted Italian bread to spread it on. It reminded me of a childhood favorite - sauce on bread, that my Italian grandmother would make as an after school snack, so it had a great comfort food vibe.

The spicy garlic prawns included six nice-sized prawns with a lot of olive oil and spicy pan sauce for sopping up with the bread that was provided. All of their appetizers are perfect for sharing.

We tried several salads, including the “miXXed” greens ($8) with balsamic vinaigrette, Pt. Reyes blue cheese and Kalamata olives. The dressing was nicely balanced, and the overall taste was just right.

The Caesar ($8), strongly suggested by our server, was good, but the William Tell salad ($9.50) had much more to like. It consisted of arugula, endive, granny Smith apples, Pt. Reyes blue cheese, candied walnuts and bacon. Everything was cold and fresh, and nicely dressed.

We tried four of the 24 pizzas. My favorite was the Smartichoke ($14), which besides having a great name was very tasty and well put together. The topping of fresh artichokes, smoked ham, sweet red peppers and mozzarella was pronounced “just right” by everyone at our table.

The Bada Bing ($14), which consisted of Italian sausage, sweet and hot peppers, mozzarella and their house seasoning. Spicy was definitely the right adjective to describe the overall flavor profile.

The pizza called DaClub ($14) was as mild as the Bada Bing pizza was spicy. Chicken breast, bacon, onion, fresh tomato and mozzarella were the key ingredients. If a mild-mannered, fully-loaded pizza is what you want, this would be a great choice.

We also tried the Soppressata ($14), which carried more than its abundant namesake Italian dry salami. The salami joined by caramelized balsamic onions, garlic and mozzarella, finished with some fresh cilantro, made for a very tasty pizza with an unusual flavor profile.

I ordered the Sweet Heater sandwich ($10.75), which came with a choice of house, or Caesar salad. A ciabatta roll was filled with cooked chicken breast, gouda cheese, bacon, fresh jalapenos, barbecue and tomato sauces and mozzarella, and then oven-toasted until everything was hot and melted. It was a delicious chicken sandwich to remember.

You will usually find Jennifer and Noel there at the restaurant, with Jennifer presiding over the bar, and keeping an eye on the service at the same time, and Noel presiding over the kitchen. In the classic Petaluma style, if you need to let them know about anything, they want to hear from you while you are there, as they are very concerned about how their customers enjoy their time at Brixx.