Rosati's was hopping Thursday night.
That's not unusual as Rosati's has carved out a certain Thursday-night niche as the transplanted Chicago pizzeria offered live music on Thursday nights for long while until last fall. Why did they stop? Apparently it had something to do with cover bands and licensing. As ridiculous as its sounds, if a cover band plays, let's say "Satisfaction" then the restaurant would owe royalty money to the Rolling Stones.
Nevertheless, Rosati's still draws a good Thursday night crowd and did especially well this past Thursday as Valley Mills Vineyards offered a free wine tasting.
I was aware of the wine tasting as I had spotted a reference to it on the Waco Tribune-Herald's Order Up! food blog. However, that's not why I found myself at Rosati's this week. I was celebrating with a group of friends as one of our friends had finally completed three months of a health-issue-related diet which forbade her from eating grains, starches and dairy. Naturally she wanted pizza. And I skipped the wine tasting because I prefer to drink Peroni beer at Rosati's.
However, I spoke with vineyard representative Bill Peper. In between serving complementary glasses of wine, he told me that the vineyard is planning a $3 million facility they're hoping to build between Waco and Valley Mills. For now, Central Texas wine connoisseurs can taste and purchase Valley Mills Vineyards wines at their current location at the intersection of Highway 6 and FM 185 near China Spring.
It's a credit in the savoir faire column for local pizza and wine enthusiasts that this event seemed to be a hit. When I drove into the parking lot at 6:30 Thursday evening it was packed. I thought I was going to have to park closer to Wal-Mart than Rosati's but eventually found a spot way down by Chase bank. Inside the dining room was maxed out and full of jovial patrons.
Way to go, Waco.
