Angela and Joe Walley had been to Oceanside before 20 years ago in the military at Camp Pendleton. In fact, that's where the couple met. But she said “I did not remember its being so nice.” “So we decided to put some roots down,” Angela Walley said as she sat in the comfortable settees in the front of her and Joe's new establishment, Pizzeria Venti Wine Bar and Grill, at 215 N. Coast Highway.
The site, in a 1920s-era building, most recently was the Beachside Grill, closed for several months now. But many will remember its longer tenure as The Normandy, a nightclub that once featured local songstress Barbara Mandel. Previous to that, it was the Normandy Hotel and even before that, the Palace Hotel, according to Kirsti Hawthorne, president of the Oceanside Historical Society.
Pizzeria Venti is a national chain with about 60 locations, according to its president, Frank Contaldo, here for the opening of the Walleys' restaurant April 22. Contaldo said the business was founded in Chicago in 2000 but left because customers had the mistaken notion they were getting a certain style of “Chicago pizza.” It is now headquartered in Atlanta. There is no Pizzeria Venti closer than Lakeside, Ariz. There had been one in Temecula, and the Walleys looked into acquiring it when it closed due to the death of the owner's husband, but they decided on Oceanside instead.
Angela Walley said the couple never operated a restaurant before, “We're learning the job as we go,” she said, and they chose a franchise “because of the great support” offered by the corporation. “We find great people in great communities,” Contaldo said. “These are great people.” They are aware that several other nearby restaurants serve pizza, but, she said, “our product blows them away.” “It's all about the (imported Italian) water,” she said. And, she said, “there was something about the location – where it was. We could not walk away from it – the ocean to the back of it, and lots of foot traffic (the Sunshine Brooks Theatre is next door).”
Also, Walley said “we're a full-service Italian restaurant with pasta, salads and sandwiches, not just pizza.” There are desserts on the menu as well. They are open for lunch and dinner – from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and open until 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. They have a couple dozen employees, mostly part-time, to help.
“Venti,” as in the name of the place, means 20 in Italian, and Walley said that's the number of different kinds of pizza offered. The menu shows choices ranging from the traditional Margherita of mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil and olive oil, to the “mia Sofia, “a zesty combination of blue cheese and feta topped with toasted walnuts and drizzled with honey. “Summer in Sorrento,” one of eight salads offered, features a ripe melon topped with a feta cheese square, arugula, mission figs and Sicilian olives and served with pine nuts and Vidalia onion dressing.
The Walleys are not Italian, but they have been to Italy, visiting Rome and Venice two years ago on vacation. She selected the photos of Italian sites that decorate the walls. They inherited the solid wooden bar, but they've updated the mirror and wine racks. And she chose the background music, sometimes Italian and sometimes not, but always in a certain style, like the 1960s tunes of Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin.
Following their military service – she as a supply clerk originally from Corpus Christi (and he as an ordnance officer, they worked for the North Richland Hills Police Department – she in the administrative section and he as a police sergeant. The town lies between Dallas and Fort Worth. They came back to Oceanside after his retirement, and he wanted to open his own business. “When we got to Oceanside, we're not leaving,” she said.
Pizzeria Venti
215 N. Coast Highway
760-433-8420
www.pvoceanside.com
Story by Lola Sherman. Photos by Lola Sherman and Pizzeria Venti.
