The Calabrian Firecracker from Bill & Bali's Pizza and Pints, a new restaurant in Walnut Creek, is made with salami, mushrooms, Calabrian peppers, Mike's Hot Honey, mozzarella cheese and parsley. (Courtesy Bill & Bali's Pizza and Pints)
Last week, cousins Baldeep and Gurpreet Sangha opened the doors of a pizza and beer restaurant in Walnut Creek named after their fathers: Bill and Bali’s Pizza and Pints.
The restaurant’s namesakes are brothers who immigrated to the U.S. from India’s Punjab region, landing first in Yuba City before moving to the Bay Area in the 1980s. Along the way, they discovered pizza, chowing down on pies by Bay Area-founded chains like Straw Hat and Round Table.
Bali’s son, Baldeep, and Bill’s son, Gurpreet, grew up in the East Bay and now live in Oakland and Fairfield, respectively. About five years ago, the cousins opened Walnut Creek’s Hops & Scotch, a taproom and whiskey bar with 47 beer taps and some 1,100 whiskeys, one of the biggest whiskey selections in the Bay Area.
When a restaurant space opened up around the corner, they decided to open a pizzeria to honor their fathers’ memories. The new spot has a family-friendly atmosphere and eight TVs, perfect for watching their favorite team, the Warriors, play, Baldeep says.
Bill & Bali’s Pizza & Pints serves rectangular Roman-style pizzas, with light, 96-hour cold-fermented crusts, and toppings that deliver a Burrata Love Affair ($26), for example, with prosciutto, burrata, arugula and a balsamic glaze. There’s also a Calabrian Firecracker ($24) made with salami, Calabrian peppers, Mike’s Hot Honey, mushrooms and mozzarella; and a garlicky vegetarian Popeye’s Passion ($22), featuring artichokes, mushrooms and, of course, spinach. Salads, wings, mozzarella sticks and desserts — think créme brûlée cheesecake ($12) and tiramisu ($14) — round out the menu, alongside an extensive wine, beer, cider and seltzer selection.
Details: Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (opens at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays during football season) at 7011 Sunne Lane, Suite 120, in Walnut Creek; billandbalis.com.
Originally published at Kate Bradshaw