Old-fashioned appeal Old-fashioned appeal (January 27, 2006)

Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill follows up fried fare with a mean tiramisu

By Elaine M. Rowland

Sports fans go to sports bars whenever a game is on, heading there instinctively like homing pigeons. But it's often hard to lure non-fans into a such places because, let's face it, sports bars are rarely known for their cuisine. They specialize in don't-have-to-think-too-hard menu favorites from the grill and deep fryer, like burgers and onion rings. As long as no one gets punished by the kitchen, the food is secondary to the TV.

Apparently, Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill has been working on this problem, and its solution is tiramisu. While it offers instantly familiar foods which are generally decent, its tiramisu ($3.50) is creamy, moist, and excellent. In fact it was better than the same dessert at many Italian restaurants. So instead of trying to persuade non-sports fans to go watch the game, they might be convinced by, "I know a place that serves great tiramisu."

Kapp's isn't bad looking, either. The three levels in the voluminous Mockbee Building, at the corner of Castro and Villa Streets, offer a huge bar, banquet area, booths and tables. With the dark-wood bar, the old plate glass window storefront from its first days as Parkinson Hardware in 1906, and the walls of memorabilia, Kapp's has an airy, old-fashioned appeal.

Another fine reason to visit Kapp's is its Wild West pizza ($12.95 for a 10-inch small), a BBQ chicken pie with smoky chunks of chicken breast, BBQ sauce, green peppers, sauteed onions and cheeses. Normally, BBQ pizza isn't my first choice, but the chicken on this pizza was top-notch, and made the pie.

The Wild West is one of several specialty pizzas, but you can create your own, or go by the slice ($3 to $4). The second pizza we tried was the John L. ($10.95 for a small), heaped with black olives and mushrooms and a smattering of pepperoni. I'd like more pepperoni, since it was sliced so thin I could hardly taste the meat. Still, the crust was nice on both pizzas -- the thick and chewy kind that's crunchy on the outside.

If you like pizza inside-out, Kapp's serves calzones and other types of stuffed sandwiches. I ordered the non-traditional calzone caliente ($6.75), and got a giant, football-looking sandwich with a rubbery pickle slice on the side. I wish I'd seen the fine print that says, "extra sauce available on request" when I first visited. Although the calzone was juicy, and had a properly crunchy skin, the extra sauce might have tempered the enthusiastic use of jalapenos within the beef chorizo, pepperoncini, red onion, cheeses, and tomato stuffing. A "mild" caliente is available, for the pain-averse. If you like chorizo, this is for you, because you can really taste it. If you don't, there's a more traditional calzone on the menu.

Kapp's offers a handful of appetizers, about half of which originate in the deep fryer, including fries, mozzarella sticks, onion rings and jalapeno poppers ($5.25). The jalapenos were breaded, filled with cream cheese and served with a ranch dip, and weren't caliente. I thought they went well with a beer like Anchor Steam ($2.50 for a half pint, $4 for a pint, and $15 for a pitcher), which helped cut the super creaminess of the dish. The garlic bread plate ($3.50) had about eight hearty fingers of toasted bread, laden with butter, garlic and some herby bits (with cheese, $3.95). There's soups and salads as well, such as the dinner salad ($3.25) of crunchy iceberg lettuce, tomato, croutons, radish, and garbanzos -- a nice change from the fried and baked breads and breading.

As for burgers, you can choose from three kinds of burgers to dress up with various cheeses and sides. The Kapp's Burger ($6.75) is a Grade A patty on a fresh bun (unless you order the "dieter's plate," with no bun). It was juicy and tasted good, but was overcooked, and came with limp tomatoes and pickles. I don't mind well-done burgers if I know there's no medium-rare option, but why ask how we want our burgers done if it's not up to us?

Afterwards, we did as the menu says and asked about desserts. The New York cheesecake ($3.50) was not the riotous success the tiramisu had been. It tasted stale and firm atop its thin graham cracker crust and decorative chocolate swirls. Go for the tiramisu.

When I visited, the bar wasn't very noisy, from patrons or TVs, and there was no music. In fact, you could go there to get some work done, since Kapp's is one of two trial locations of Google's no-cost WiFi (using Google's downloadable Secure Access client). I wish I'd brought a laptop the evening our waiter was very busy and left us for long stretches. But he was pleasant, and on other evenings the service was faster, so don't give up hope.

There's plenty to look at while waiting -- Kapp's is lined with sports pictures and equipment because its co-founder is Joe Kapp, former Minnesota Vikings quarterback and 1980s Cal Berkeley coach. Though Joe and his brother Larry sold the restaurant in 2004 to Huberto Acevedo, there's still Kappabilia around: an autographed photo from "The Longest Yard," in which Joe Kapp played a prison guard opposite Burt Reynolds, and a trombone over the bar, recalling the 1982 Big Game (a.k.a. "The Play") in which Cal beat Stanford with an amazing five-lateral kickoff return as the clock ran out. (The touchdown involved trampling a Stanford trombonist who'd prematurely stepped onto the field.)

Though you have to go to Indiana's College Football Hall of Fame to see the actual trombone, I can't say much for the tiramisu out there.

Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill 191 Castro Street, Mountain View (650) 961-1491
www.kappspizza.com
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m.

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