Surprising new fusion flavors—bulgogi broccolini! Moroccan pizza!—at Giorgio's Italian in Salinas.

Moroccan-spiced pizzas, bulgogi broccolini, Szechaun green beans and pasilla pepper tamales are not what I expected to see on the menu when I stopped by Giorgio’s Italian (800-7573) for a media lunch last week.

But there they were. 

Here's where they came from.

Giorgio's roared into existence after a prolonged and delayed buildout at 201 Main Street in Oldtown Salinas with superb hand-crafted pastas and worthy pizzas borrowing inspiration from the same Florence, Italy depicted in the big, beautiful mural above the bar. 

The flavors came close enough to matching the scale of the sweeping 225-seat setting that I named number three on my Top 10 New Monterey County Restaurants of 2014.

Now it appears the powers that be, while slow-playing the opening of the upstairs wine bar and the neighboring tapas restaurant—and super slow-playing the debut of the nightclub downstairs—are giving Italian native and Giorgio's Executive Chef Alessio Giannuzzi more creative leash.

The most hypnotic expression of that freedom: the Moroccan potato pizza, with thin-sliced Yukon Gold spuds laced with cumin, sumac and other North African effects, ripe tomato and mozzarella ($14). Superb. 

The harmony of the ingredients, char and crispness of the crust and overall novelty, plus the comforting heirloom potato pizza with bacon béchamel ($12) from Patria (424-5555) across the street, mean suddenly the World Capital for Potato Pizza, remarkably enough, is Main Street Salinas.

The new grilled chicken-bacon-artichoke pizza with creamy garlic sauce ($14) was also tasty.

The pollo al mattone isn't a new plate, but it remains a top seller, and the object of Weekly food critic Daniel DeCamp's breathless affection—because of the juiciness it retains from the hot-brick-topped cooking process. 

The tamal proves tasty, and a nice alternative to more traditional polenta alongside the Chianti-braised short rib (it also pairs with the bulgogi broccolini, which we didn't get to try).

The new braised Cuban pork, after eight hours of braising ($24), is delicious but at least slightly overpriced.

The salmone al granchio ($25)—grilled Atlantic stuffed with blue crab and kissed with a lobster cream sauce and a sweet corn "risotto"—sounded sublime. But the crab got a little lost at sea and the corn was more creamed than anything. The shrimp "stuffed" into the baby artichoke hearts ($11) was similarly lost.

Three major highlights hail from the seafood side of the antipasti menu:

1. Oysters Rockefeller ($12, available Fridays and Saturdays during dinner only).

2. The ahi tuna and swordfish carpaccio ($15, with an impressive Gran Marnier smoke on the swordfish and a citrus finish).

3. The lobster ravioli ($24, with a indulgent truffle butter depth and head-turning tenderness).

The gregarious Giannuzzi seems to be enjoying both training his staff and flexing a little creative license.

"It's fun to do a little more fusion," he says. "I'm Italian myself but I like to go out and try different cuisines. As eating habits change, it's nice to be able to get a little of this, a little of that."

Sommelier Elias Cuevas, as he seems to do every time I see him in action, raised my expectations for the wine program and hope for Oldtown wine palates with three wines including a sparkling Cava (aka Spanish Champagne) to cut the richness of dishes like the bacon mac and cheese and lobster ravioli and a versatile French Morgon that worked well with both the salmon and the pork.