Off the Eaten Path: Cafe Galleria 

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Café Galleria is situated in and around a 110-year-old house; there’s abundant seating indoors, and lots more outside. Patio tables and furniture surround the house, and in warm weather patrons can eat, literally, on the lawn. There’s also a small bandstand set up in one corner of the yard for live music. Inside, there’s photographic art—pictures from Italy—by Lance Duvall, the owner’s son, along with Heber City Cowboy Poetry posters. It feels like being in Boulder or Portland. But enough about ambiance, you want to know about the pizza.

These are traditional, thin-crust, Italian-style pies, baked in a wood-fired oven (they use cherry wood) at around 600 to 650 degrees Fahrenheit. Think Settebello. Think Vinto. Think Sea Salt. Think Zucca. Except don’t, because these pizzas aren’t quite the same as you find at those eateries. Yes, the sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes, as it should be. And, yes, the dough is made using 00 Caputo flour, from Italy. The difference in Café Galleria’s pizza is the cheese. I was stunned at the rich flavors of the cheese on the pizza, until I learned that the owner, Cecil Duvall, is also a founding partner of the award-winning artisan cheese producers: Gold Creek Farms, located near Kamas.

The mixture of housemade mozzarella and Parmesan that Duvall tops his pies with is so decadently delicious it seems like it ought to be a controlled substance. The 12-inch crust is perfect: just slightly crisp and crunchy, with small bits of wonderful burnt cheese on the edges. The simple, straightforward San Marzano sauce also gets an A+. And then, the pie—we’re talking about a Margherita pizza here—is graced simply with a few leaves of fresh basil. That’s it: pizza perfection in Midway.