“A nickel’s worth of goulash beats a five dollar can of vitamins.”
— Martin H. Fischer
Fountain Grill and Catering
When I was talking with Alma Zildzo at Crepe Town Café, she mentioned that a friend of hers had recently opened Fountain Grill and Catering at Creekside Place, the quaint center at 451 Main St. in Placerville.
I stopped there late one morning, hoping to beat the lunch rush, but they were already busy making salads and sandwiches for a number of customers and several call-ins.
“We like phone orders,” said Tom Rosa, who with chef Monika Geczy opened Fountain Grill. “They are much easier for us and our customers since they don’t have to stand in line at the door waiting to order.”
Geczy is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Sacramento and has worked for individuals, families and corporations as a personal chef, catered parties up to 200 people and worked for various catering companies around the Bay Area. She grew up in Europe and her passion for cooking is inspired by fresh ingredients and the creative process of making new recipes. Nothing satisfies her more than cooking delicious healthy food and sharing it with others.
Rosa is a retired sheet metal worker who used his working knowledge to redesign the restaurant to make it better for both Geczy and the customers. When asked if he did any of the cooking, he replied with a smile, “My area is outside of the kitchen. I take in the money and wash the dishes.”
Geczy and Rosa were looking around for a place for their catering business when they found this space for sale. “I have a lot of confidence in Monika,” said Rosa, “and this was the opportunity we were looking for.”
“We are open from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.,” said Rosa. “We had planned on being open earlier for breakfast, but when we got here early in the morning, we found the street was vacant, so we changed our hours.”
The menu is small, but full of delicious looking dishes. “Our soups are home made,” said Geczy. “I try to have one for each day of the week, so people who loved one of our soups know which day it is available.” The two salads, fresh spinach, with seasonal fruits, feta cheese, toasted walnuts and a champagne vinaigrette dressing, and mixed green with Panko-almond crusted goat cheese, tomato, grapes and apples with a balsamic vinaigrette, are both very popular, especially with added chicken.”
The large gourmet burritos each come folded with rice, guacamole, bean puree and salsa. The beef burrito has grilled steak and chimichurri sauce, the chicken burrito has grilled chicken breast and a red pepper aioli. “I like to add a bit of an European taste to my dishes,” said Geczy.
I should mention here that around noon of the day I was talking with them, four young men in shirt and tie showed up for lunch. One of them said, “Have the burritos, I had one last week and it was great.” They each did.
The sandwiches all sound outstanding and include Tuscan style turkey, grilled chicken, corned beef Reuben, grilled flank steak and grilled portabella. The first two are served on focaccia bread, the last two on ciabatta bread. The Ruben, which is filled with corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, is uniquely served on marbled rye bread with her own Russian dressing. To speed up your sandwich order they have printed forms you can fill out in advance.
For dessert Geczy makes several kinds of sweet French crepes, including: walnut cream filling with rum chocolate sauce, farmer’s cheese with lemon sauce, hazelnut banana and apple.
As I mentioned at the start, catering is their main business and they can provide catering needs for parties, events, intimate dinners, corporate lunches and more. Ask for a list of the many items they can prepare to make your event one to remember.
Fountain Grill and Catering is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and closed on Monday. For more information call 530-626-7966.