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NTRODUCING STONEWORK: For our Friends in Sonoma County, and to expand some of our creative pizza ideas, we opened a new pizza and taproom in Petaluma, called Stonework Pizza & Tap. We surely couldn’t duplicate Creekside, nor was that our intent, but we wanted to share our style, flair, overall vibe, food, and we really wanted to give Sonoma County a unique locally-focused experience. Sure, there are similarities, but at Stonework, we zoomed in on a 100% Sonoma County beer and wine taproom, building a one-of-a-kind stone draft system with 28 handles to pour Exclusively Sonoma County products. Unlike Marin, Sonoma has many many breweries, and we didn’t know anybody who was featuring all of them in one location. To that end, we reached out to our brewery friends there and pitched the idea. Today, Stonework has over 20 Sonoma breweries on tap, plus Petaluma-made hard kombucha, Petaluma hard cider, and five varietals of Sonoma County wine, including a Petaluma Gap AVA chardonnay from “Luuma.”
PETALUMA: There are officially 27 pizzerias in Petaluma, plus another 20 restaurants that have pizza, several breweries (including Lagunitas, Civilization, Two Rock, Crooked Goat), cideries (yes, that’s a word), taprooms on every corner, fast food, food trucks, fine dining to chains, clubs, and popups. There’s Brewsters, Taps, The Block…all literally within a block. WHAT IN THE HELL were we thinking? This market is SATURATED. Well, that’s why we did our homework, and we found, even with population reaching 100,000 people and all this competition, there was a hole in the market; Nobody was doing gourmet craft pizzas in Petaluma, and nobody is doing 100% Sonoma County-focused taproom. Petaluma is a real foody destination, and Sonoma County is truly an international destination for wine and craft beer, so, we broke out the stone and tile saw and got busy building a Petaluma original restaurant. Stonework is open every day at 4pm, and like Creekside, we have a 4pm 7-day-a-week happy hour.
Stonework Pizza & Tap is located at 615 East Washington Street, Petaluma, next to Whole Foods and our friends at Pink Owl Coffee, just a block away from the Petaluma SMART Train depot. Open Daily from 4pm. Visit www.StoneworkPizza.com
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XCLUSIVE OFFER FOR YOU: Creekside isn’t going anywhere, but we do want to invite you to visit Stonework and share the news with your Sonoma County peeps. If you have friends in Petaluma, we’re offering a 20% off online orders for Creek-peeps. Use promo code CREEKSIDE in the “offer code” box when ordering here in the month of January 2024 to get 20% off your entire online order from Stonework Pizza & Tap. We’re also extending an offer to join the Stonework Loyalty Squad now through January 19th. This “exclusive” member club offers weekly deep discounts on Stonework midweek dining. You (and any friends you share this with) can’t get the deals if you’re not a Stonework Loyalty Squad member. Sign up today at www.StoneworkPizza.com
BACKSTORY: Co-created and owned by Laura and Pat Townsley, we knew that we’d get dragged out by a rope if we came to Petaluma swingin our “Best of Marin” chip on our shoulder. Petalumans are VERY locally focused, and their food scene is legendary; Outsiders beware! To that end, Pat has a long Sonoma history, so we did have one toe in the water to subdue the natives. Pat worked at The Mystic Theater, Steamers, was resident DJ in the 80’s at The Kazbah (Santa Rosa), Club Kognito, Club 96, River Theater (Guerneville), and overnights at FM-100 KZST for years. Pat lived in Rohnert Park while attending SRJC, studying creative writing and sound engineering. Who knew?
DIFFERENT SIMILARITIES: While Stonework generally shares our New York sourdough starter recipe, we do make it a little “tighter” so it is a little more “traditional NY style. Similar pizzas include your basic cheese, pepperoni, and meat lover (but we add chicken, because we’re in Petaluma), our combo is like Creekside’s Perfect Storm, but with the addition of black olives, and Stonework’s Ring of Fire is like the Backdraft. The similarities pretty much stop there; that, and we continue with some of our fun, locally-focused and movie-themed names. We also are doing a bit of an international pizza thing, with an Indian pizza, a Vodka-sauce pizza, a south of the boarder flatbread called Desperado, a Canadian pizza, a Greek pizza, and soon launching an Asian-inspired pizza. Our Hawaiian uses slow cooked pulled pork instead of Canadian bacon, and we have pulled pork sliders. Our sliders are on our housemade focaccia bread, which we also sell as an appetizer. Meatballs are similar, but with Laura’s seasoning recipe and served in a oven-hot cast iron dish. We have a New York pizza (also movie-themed named)… with a block Avorio block mozzarella, and our “The Farm and the Fig” fig jam and prosciutto pizza was so popular, we tweaked our “Alto Adige” at Creekside to mirror the Farm and Fig (so the door swings both ways). Cauliflower gluten free crust, Miyoko’s vegan cheese; several veg/vegan pizza options. We do a Greek salad, and a chopped Caesar, and a Wedge… of which we started chopping the Creekside Caesar, and we added a Wedge at Creekside. The benefits lift us both. Stonework is only 1200 square feet total, featuring custom stonework, literally, and only has about 40 seats. Creekside is 2400 square feet and holds 70 people, plus the reboot on our backroom at Creekside, now called The Gallery (formerly known as The Annex, which became floor-to-ceiling storage during Covid). Stonework has more chicken pizzas with our house dry rub, bbq, or Indian-inspired rub. Gourmet pizzas “pushed out” on stone, cooked on stone, fresh, locally focused, with an international flair. Happy Hour at 4pm every day at Stonework.
Anyway, as always, I thank you for encouraging our behavior. We built Creekside with a vision, passion, and 100% support from our Community. Test, learn, shift, anticipate, pay if forward, give-back, be humble, work hard, play hard, be nice. Now we’re spreading the joy and experience. Come rock with us a Stonework Pizza & Tap. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and please join the Stonework Loyalty Squad. Thank you for sharing the news of Stonework to your friends, family, and circle of influence. Beautiful gourmet pizzas and Sonoma County craft beer on tap. Don’t forget so use the promo code CREEKSIDE on the Stonework online ordering page for 20% off your entire order here in the month of January at StoneworkPizza.com
- CLICK HERE to join the Stonework Loyalty Squad
- CLICK HERE for Stonework on Instagram
- CLICK HERE for Stonework on Facebook
Thanks for sharing the word. Cheers! PT