Sonoma Mountain Pizza Slices Out a Niche on the Eastside

The Eastside of Petaluma has always been the side of town with more corporate storefronts and eateries compared to the Westside. But more and more locally owned eateries have started cropping up, including Sonoma Mountain Pizza, which opened this May in the G&G Shopping Center.

Owned by Joey and Katie Prather, the pizzeria features organic ingredients (as well as a gluten free crust available upon request).

“We wanted to have a super friendly atmosphere and keep our ethics about food in place," says Katie Prather. "We believe in choosing foods without chemicals for ourselves, and we wanted to bring that to our store. At the same time, we didn't want our food to be extremely expensive, so we had to find a balance."

The Prathers do this by using organic tomatoes in their sauce, organic salad greens and pepperoni from Zoe's, a Petaluma company.

The pizzeria is a clean and friendly little nook, cleverly located next to the ever-popular Yogurt World USA. It offers a variety of pies, wine, beer and slices for just $3.50.

The most popular menu item is “The Dune,” a pizza with sausage, onions, and goat cheese, which gets sprinkled with fresh basil after it bakes. Another popular item is “The Big Dipper,” a huge breadstick served with your choice of dipping sauce.

When he's not making pizzas, Joey Prather works as a music composer for ads and television shows and his flexible schedule fits well with the newly opened business. Katie Prather has been a stay at home mom for her children (ages 5 and 3 with a new arrival due this fall) after becoming a cook in college.

Although friends were nervous but excited for the Prathers to open their pizzeria, Katie says the couple really adhered to the DIY approach to save money.

“Some people thought we were crazy (to be starting a business), some people really encouraged us," she said. "We did as much as we could ourselves in order to save money. We received some pretty incredible quotes for some of the work and equipment we needed, but we didn't give up until we found ways to make our budget work.”

While some may wince at the term “organic,” since it typically means more expensive, Katie says they do their best to make their food healthy and affordable.

“Unfortunately being "organic" is expensive, so we try to focus on eliminating as many chemicals as we can from our food when possible. Instead of buying a salad dressing that has a laundry list of preservatives and chemicals, we just make it with olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and dijon. We chose the organic tomatoes because we support the fact that they don't have pesticides, but they also tasted much better to us.”

Business has been steady since May and Sonoma Mountain Pizza hopes to add a catering menu soon. They also deliver to the Eastside of Petaluma (94954 zip code) and feature $6.95 all-you-can-eat lunch special seven days a week. 

Sonoma Mountain Pizza is located at 701 Sonoma Mountain Parkway.