Release 11

Welcome to the eleventh release of the Definitive Seattle Pizza Rankings. I’m sharing this update in the middle of Passover, or more appropriately the throes of my annual pizza apocalypse. To prepare, I downed My Friend Derek’s (#3 in the rankings) for my last three meals before Passover began. I couldn’t imagine a better way to start eight days without bread than those mighty fine Detroit squares. I know this is true of every waiting period ever, but I swear, time passes more slowly during Passover. While I’ve still been able to eat matzah pizza, the memory of all the pizza I ate for the last three months will have to sustain me until sundown on April 9th and luckily I ate a lot of pizza!

In this release, there’s a few updates and some new spots, but as always feel free to jump to the rankings. Also, don’t forget to check out the google map for the nearest pie or slice about town.

Updates since last time

Pizza news

I’m already late to the scoop (Seattle Times covered it a week ago!), but the owners of Starla’s, a renowned shop in Bellingham, announced last Sunday that they’re pulling a Mt. Bagel and returning to Seattle.

After running Blotto, former Tier 1 pizza shop of Capitol Hill fame, the owners decamped to Bellingham two years ago to open Starla’s. While I never made it up there, it was widely acclaimed (co-owner Jordan Koplowitz was a James Beard semifinalist for top chef in the Northwest/Pacific and notably a high school classmate of an original subscriber to these very rankings - how’s that for a connection) so I’m eagerly awaiting their reopening, in a yet to be announced location.

In case you missed out on Blotto before they left, at the time of their departure I described it as

“a high-vibe place with high-octane pizza where, much like the rest of Capitol Hill, no one is wearing any clothes”.

We’ll see whether the vibes, pies, and thighs return in their original Blotto glory.

Recent pizza roundup

I checked in on a number of spots since the last release. As mentioned earlier, I swooped into MFD’s to check out their spring menu and it was as excellent as ever. Here’s a rundown of the rest:

• I crossed the bridge to West Seattle to be reunited with West of Chicago’s (#5) richly satisfying deep dish and charming tavern pies for a birthday bowling party. They’re still churning out great pizza over there folks!

• I braved postprandial somnolence for some midday Post Alley (#33). They’re a reliable neighborhood lunchtime spot and I like their pizza, there’s just no “wow” moment where the full flavor of an entire bite comes together. I do love their sandwiches though.

• I snagged a slice quarter of a pizza at Vespucci (#15) at the Ballard Farmer’s Market. It’s a really fun pizza and their sauce is bursting with flavor. My only advice is to rip it in half before you start eating it otherwise it will quickly become a calzone.

• I met up with subscribers Isaac and Nick for some PBRs and Dino’s (#23). I really liked the Sicilian and was once again delighted by the round. The dough is a bit plain, which is what’s holding this spot back from Tier 2. As Dino says on the site (which you should visit)

  “The truth is people sometimes wanna have a good time with their friends and family. And to tell the truth, pizza and drinks can help with that! Most [Definitive Seattle Pizza Rankings substack writers] agree that Dino’s is the right place to enjoy these things.”

  Well said Dino!

• One of the qualities I most admire in another human is their capacity to pursue and persist in the pursuit of a passion, merely for their own enjoyment and not for the approval of any other person or any other motivation than their own self-determination. For this reason, I twice found myself inside a very humid and sweaty gym on Queen Anne on a Thursday evening to watch a subscriber “hoop” in his rec basketball league. There’s something inspiring watching a group of guys aged 22-60+ throw their knees on the line for nothing more than the love of the game. It was also a great excuse to bookend the two trips with stopoffs at Swing (#8). Man that place is good and it was a joy to share it with subscribers Ruby, Maria, Hadar, and MK.

  

  A Swing pizza, half pepperoni, half burrata

• I was fortunate enough to score a couple of slices of Ben’s Bread’s (#10) at a happy hour a few weeks back. I think it’s somehow gotten even better than when I last had it. If they were open even just three nights a week instead of one, I think they’d be knocking on the Tier 1 door.

• I made it over to Houlme on Orcas Island at the invitation of subscribers Kat and Ben. While I only rate pizza in Seattle, I was pleased with their pie. They’re helmed by a James Beard nominated chef and they sport a long-standing and “dialed in” sourdough pizza. It was hearty and flavorful, but I didn’t fall in love with their sauce + topping pairings. They only had three options and none really spoke to me (I did try to modify one and was politely rejected). It reminded me of a lesser version of Hilltown, from the December release. The pizza was lacking a bit of a punch, possibly because it seemed underdone for a wood-fired pie. While I liked it, their center of gravity is clearly moving away from pizza (everything else we ate was fantastic - including the whole fried chicken special which was outstanding) and as a result the pizza felt a bit like an afterthought.

New entrants

I only tried two new spots for this release and while they’re nothing to write home about, they are something to write a substack about.

53 - Manager’s Pizza

Manager’s pizza is in the U District. They serve Indian pizza. They’ve been advertising aggressively with mailers over the last year, since I live nearby, so I finally went with subscriber David. We got the Tandoori Paneer and Chicken Tikka Masala pizzas. They were nicely spiced and flavorful, but the dough and cheese let them down. I was curious about the name though, so I asked the owner. She shared that when she and her husband started the restaurant they came up with hundreds of names and couldn’t agree on one. Then, her husband suggested Manager’s Pizza, since they were both managers at a previous restaurant they worked in together, and the name stuck. Anyhow, they were super nice.

34 - Willmott’s Ghost

I went here with subscriber Sheree before seeing One Battle After Another. I liked the potato pie a lot. The calabrian chilis and almost mashed potato topping were really fascinating. The hard, overly thick dough was really just a vessel for the potato and otherwise wasn’t doing much for me. The pepperoni was also standard fare. One Battle After Another was riveting though.

The Rankings

Seattle No

Pizza you don’t really want to eat, but you feel bad saying no.

62. Zeeks

61. Magnolia Pizza and Pasta

60. Veraci*

59. Tutta Bella at Lumen Field

58. Varlamos

57. Pagliacci*

56. Castello Pizza and Pasta

55. Bambino’s

54. MOD

53. Manager’s Pizza

52. Mainstay Provisions*

51. La Roca

50. Hot Mama’s*

49. Vera’s*

48. Sunny Hill*

47. Nine Pies

46. Sacro Bosco

45. Ballard Pizza Co

44. Big Mario*

43. Nirvana Food Truck

42. Tutta Bella

Neighborhood Good

Pizza that works great as a neighborhood pizza place, but no one is traveling out of their way to eat.

41. Rocco’s*

40. Proletariat Pizza*

39. Elemental Pizza

38. Trail Bend Taproom

37. Slicebox*

36. Watershed

35. Salmonberry Goods^

34. Willmott’s Ghost

33. Post Alley*

32. Cornelly

31. Humble Pie

30. Cornuto

29. Serious Pie

28. Oxbow*

27. Good Luck Bread^

26. Jackson Street Pizza Lounge

25. Good Shape Pizza

24. Pizza by Ruffin*

23. Dino’s Tomato Pie*

22. Supreme*

21. Lupo

Tier 2

Now we’re talking! People are planning an outing around this pizza!

20. Windy City

19. Ananas

18. Bar Cotto

17. Strega

16. Mioposto

15. Vespucci*

14. Independent Pizzeria

13. Via Tribunali

12. Bar del Corso

11. Stevie’s Famous*

10. Ben’s Bread Pizza Friends

9. Ballard Beer Box

8. Swing*

7. Dantini

Tier 1

Once you start, it’s hard to stop eating this pizza, it’s that good.

6. Tivoli*

5. West of Chicago

4. Moto

3. My Friend Dereks

2. Delancey

1. A.K. Pizza

*Sells pizza by the slice ^Frozen only