Wood-fired pizza oven, specialty coffee provide Italian experience at restaurant

Gary Stelzer/Staff photographer The wood-fired sausage and roasted pepper pizza at Matera Caffe' in Franklin.

Matera Caffe' in Franklin uses only coffee directly imported from Honduras in all their coffee drinks, including this cappuccino.

Gary Stelzer/Staff photographer Matera Caffe' in Franklin uses only coffee directly imported from Honduras in all their coffee drinks, including this cappuccino.

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By Teri Horsley, Contributing writer Updated 3:29 PM Saturday, December 18, 2010

FRANKLIN — It started with a dream.

After deciding to open a restaurant in Franklin, Mary Rowland kept dreaming about Matera, Italy. Strangely, Matera is where “The Passion of the Christ” was filmed, and Mary had a plan to use a portion of her profits for Christian missions work.

Keeping her goals and her dream in mind, she decided to move forward with her plans, and since opening in July, Matera Caffe’ has quickly become a hot spot for local diners.

“Mary and her husband did missions work in Honduras and they hope to send money there as the restaurant becomes more profitable. While in Honduras they fell in love with the coffee, and that is one of the many specialties that we serve here,” said General Manager Heather Denham.

Pizzas are another specialty, and a large wood-fired pizza oven takes up much of the kitchen area. Diners can watch as their dough is rolled out, and then topped and baked, and while the choices are extensive, the Giardiniera is a must for veggie lovers. It’s loaded with mushrooms, artichokes, calamata olives, roasted red peppers and zucchini. While I decided to leave off the latter, the blend of herbs and cheeses combined with the vegetables and a mild red sauce made the pizza delectable, although the crust was slightly burned. Huge sandwiches and paninis are also a menu staple, with a variety of fresh Boar’s head meats to choose from. Soups and salads continue the Meditteranean feel with side or entree sized portions of the classic Caesar, Chopped Vegetable, and Citrus Roasted Walnut and Gorgonzola being made available. Several daily dinner specials are offered for those who like comfort food with the meatloaf, roasted chicken and fish and chips being among the customer favorites.

“We are all about taste, quality and health here, and everything is made fresh, and we even mill our own flour in our onsite mill,” Denham said.

While you’ll usually see a crowd at Matera Caffe’ one of the busiest times of day is during the breakfast rush. Specialties like the Strawberry Mascarpone Cheese Stuffed French Toast, Garden Fresh Omelettes and Belgian Waffles with Eggs, keep the regulars coming back for more and the variety of espressos, lattes and mochas offer the perfect start to any day.

All menu items except the dinner specials are available for carry out and reservations are accepted. The café is small inside seating only 50, but the limited seating and wood burning fireplace gives it a coziness that ties in nicely with the overall theme. A special holiday celebration will take place at Matera Caffe tomorrow, December 11. Live music and a variety of food specials will be offered from 5 to 7 p.m.

how to go

WHAT: Matera Caffe’

WHERE: 1219 E. Second St., Franklin

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Breakfast is served 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Daily dinner specials are available after 5 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.

COST: Wood-fired pizzas range from $7.95 to $10.75, sandwiches $6.25 to $7.95. Entree salads are $7.50 and side portions are $3.99. Breakfast meals are $5.95 to $8.95.

MORE INFO: (937) 550-9565; www.materacaffe.com.

CRITICS CHOICE: Giardiniera pizza with extra calamata olives and minus the zucchini.

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