"Oh, there's a surprise," lunch pal Tom said, pointing to one of the TV screens at Johnny Garlic's.

That must have been sarcasm, because on the screen was Santa Rosa-based celebrity chef Guy Fieri (né: Guy Ramsey Ferry), chopping and stirring for one of his three Food Network series.

Johnny Garlic's is a three-store chain owned by Fieri, along with three Tex Wasabi restaurants. The spiky-haired, saggy shorts-wearin' Fieri gets around: Recently published was the book spinoff of one of his shows, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" (William Morrow, $19.95, 256 pages).

"If it was my restaurant, I'd want my TV shows played all the time, too," lunch pal Vicki observed. Makes sense.

We were in a booth in the recently opened dining room, classy with abstract art and granite-topped counters and tables.

The menu is long and creative, encompassing appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches, grilled and specialty items (Cuban pork chop, mojito chicken), pasta and six pizzas. Prices range from $3.50 to $18.95.

We ordered Key lime calamari (which came with halves of green Persian limes, not yellow West Indian limes, which are what Key limes are; $8.95); "Brick in the Wall" bird (named after Pink Floyd's 1979 album "The Wall"? we wondered; $9.95); sloppy Joe sliders ($9.50); Mediterranean pizza ($13.95); and a frozen slice of chocolate-heavy mint pie, hiding Junior Mints inside ice cream ($4.95).

This was a fine spread, with bold flavors, interesting textures and fresh ingredients. The sliders were startlingly spicy, the sauced ground beef (on buttered potato rolls) topped with onion straws and accompanied by crisp, house-made garlic potato chips with rich onion dip on the side.

Three cheeses topped the pizza, along with hummus, roasted red peppers, basil, tangy Kalamata olives and artichoke hearts. The thin crust was quite foldable, making it easy to take no-drip bites of the luscious pie.

The "Brick in the Wall" was a plate of excellent chicken wings, teamed with a cup of cilantro-pesto dipping sauce. Later, I asked executive chef Davin Vculek to expound: "We rub the wings with spices and oven-roast them. When there's an order, we sauté them in a very hot pan and put a weight on top of them to compress them and get a crisp skin."

Would that weight be a brick? "No, it's a heavy sauté pan."

We agreed the fried calamari was a miss – missing flavor and missing the right texture.

"This could be fried anything," Vicki said.

We wondered why it was served with an everyday marinara when the kitchen is so adept at making sauces that make statements.

A 'Throwdown!' invasion

In the Food Network show "Throwdown!," celebrity chef Bobby Flay travels the country to challenge restaurant chefs to cook-offs of their signature dishes. Flay and company invaded Phil's Fish Market & Eatery in Moss Landing not long ago. He threw the gauntlet at Phil DiGirolamo's house specialty, cioppino, which originated in Phil's grandmother's kitchen in the 1940s.

"Bobby's cioppino had a slight anise accent to it," DiGirolamo said. "It's more like a bouillabaisse."

So, who won the challenge? "People ask me that," DiGirolamo said. "I tell them, 'Win, lose or draw, I won because I had the privilege of cooking next to Bobby Flay on national television.' "

That's a politic way of saying: Watch the show, scheduled for 9 p.m. Jan. 28 on the Food Network.

Call The Bee's Allen Pierleoni, (916) 321-1128.