Cox: Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill and Wine Bar

Sausage pizza at Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill and Wine Bar. (Jeff Kan Lee/ The Press Democrat)

The very talented Cindy Pawlcyn has made a career out of starting some of the best restaurants in the Bay Area, especially in the Napa Valley where she currently runs Mustards in Yountville and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. But she accepted a tough challenge when she took over the facility at 641 Main St. in St. Helena, where a number of restaurants had sputtered out, starting with the overblown Pinot Blanc back in the mid 1990s.

Chef Pawlcyn’s first try was a fish house called Go Fish. The food was great but Go Fish soon went fishin’ and never came back. Her next restaurant in that space was Brassica, named for the cabbage family of vegetables. It didn’t work out for the long haul.

Pawlcyn is no dummy, and the third time’s the charm. She knows what people really want: pizza! Now the space has reopened as Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill and Wine Bar. This time I believe she’s got it right, because here is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten, and I don’t say that lightly.

Photo Gallery: Cindy Pawlcyn’s Wood Grill and Wine Bar

Pizza can be a lot of things. At Mombo’s in Santa Rosa, it’s a big, floppy, sloppy, cheesy pie like you get in New York. At The Villa in Santa Rosa, it’s a thin and fastidious sort of pie. At the Red Grape in Sonoma, you get New Haven style pizza. In a more classic Italian vein, there’s Diavola in Geyserville, Campo Fina and Pizzando in Healdsburg and Jackson’s in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square, and all are excellent. But for sheer beauty and good eating, Pawlcyn’s pie stands alone.

Its secret is simplicity. When you order the Sausage Pizza ($16 ****), it’s an unassuming pie that comes piping hot to the table. The crust is inviting looking, with a very light sheen of olive oil glistening on its thin edge. You know how, when you’re served a big honking pizza, you accumulate the crusty edges because they’re so doughy you don’t want to finish them? Not here. The crusts are slender and crunchy, yet still have some give to the tooth. You will eat them all and love them.

Nothing about this pizza forces itself on you. The tomato sauce is just a thin whisper. The cheese is sprinkled on with restraint, and it melts into thin, sunny puddles. The sausage is house made, delicately seasoned, fresh-tasting. A few sprays of broccoli raab add a touch of green. If you want full-bore, mouth-kicking pizza, go elsewhere. But if you want seductive pizza that lures you with its siren scent and perfect palate, here’s your pie.

You can accompany your pie with just about any wine you can think of, as the wine list is monumental and inclusive, with selections from here to around the world. There’s a nice 2009 Argentinian Malbec for $29. The superb 2009 Villa Ragazzi Sangiovese for $66 is one of the few great California Sangioveses. And yes, Napa Valley cult cabernets haunt the list, too. Corkage is $15, waived if you buy a bottle from the house. If you buy a bottle to take out, you get “uncorkage” — a discount of 25 percent.

Eggplant Fries

But there’s more to Cindy’s Wood Grill than pizza. A pureed Butternut Squash Soup ($8 ***) was redolent of sweet, earthy squash. Both Beer-Battered Onion Rings ($6 **) and Eggplant Fries ($6 **) were heavy on the cooking oil, although the creative eggplant fries were nicely touched with thyme and paired with a spiced yogurt.