The Hawaiian

Let’s face it, that particular subgenre of pizza known as “The Hawaiian” (or alternatively, Canadian Bacon and Pineapple, CBP, or my personal favorite, the Swine and Pine) inspires either love or loathing. Pizza purists (particularly folks from the East Coast) regularly come through our pizzeria slice bars and proclaim (often loudly) that “FRUIT DOES NOT BELONG ON PIZZA!” Putting aside the fact that tomatoes are, indeed, taxonomically a fruit, many people think that the combination of the slightly smoky Canadian bacon and the sweetness of the pineapple taste rather great together. Phone Center General Manager Jun Kenney (aka the Voice of Pagliacci) confirms that sales of The Hawaiian are “Huge. Easily one of the top 3 pizzas that are ordered every day.” We’ve built upon that sweet, fruity and slightly salty pairing with our Pear Primo and Prosciutto Fig seasonal pies.

Given the name, you would think that The Hawaiian was invented in Hawaii, or at least on the West Coast. There are some pizza places that even call the combination “The West Coaster.” Surprisingly, the origins of The Hawaiian are actually closer to the East Coast than you might think. According to a 2010 article in the Chatham Daily News, The Hawaiian was born in the city of Chatham in the Canadian province of Ontario. A restaurateur named Sam Panopoulos came up with the combination at his Family Circle Restaurant in 1962.

Chatham is a mere 67 miles from Cleveland, Ohio. As the crow flies, it is less than 550 miles away from the birthplace of pizza in the US, New York City. By way of comparison, it is 2,396 miles from Chatham to Seattle. So the next time someone says that they’re from the East Coast and no one in that part of the country would EVER put fruit on a pizza, you can just grin, share your knowledge of The Hawaiian’s origin, and remind them that Chatham, Canada is a lot closer to New York City then Seattle is!

Miller Delivery Kitchen General Manager Jeff Maneval, Darryl Smith, Cindy Harmon, her daughter Reese and Vice President of Operations Jeff Woodruff enjoy a moment at the Miller Delivery Kitchen.

Jeff Maneval, the General Manager of the Miller Delivery Kitchen, always chuckles when he tells the story of the impetus behind our latest limited offering pizza, Uncle D’s BBQ Chicken Primo. One of his long-time customers always asked if we had a BBQ chicken pizza. As this (very regular) customer approached 500 orders, he told Jeff that if we did not have a BBQ chicken pizza by the time he reached his 500th order, he would stop calling us. When he reached 499, he stayed true to his word. However, after going through Pagliacci withdrawals, he eventually started calling from another phone number. He still asked about a BBQ chicken pizza, and we’re happy to finally tell him that he can start using his old phone number again and hit that 500-order mark! We’ve developed a BBQ Chicken pizza that we think was worth the wait.

Our Uncle D’s BBQ Chicken Primo features Darryl Smith’s Uncle D’s BBQ Sauce as the pizza’s foundation. Darryl, his daughter, Cindy Harmon and granddaughter Reese recently joined Jeff and Vice President of Operations Jeff Woodruff to talk about the sauce and make the pizza. Darryl was inspired to create his own sauce by the memories of a BBQ sauce that he enjoyed growing up in California’s Bay Area. He thought, “What the heck…it can’t be that hard! They all have pretty much the same ingredients anyway!” He’ll be the first to tell you that it’s not as easy as he thought. After making gallons of sauce that didn’t quite meet his standards, he finally hit upon a recipe that he knew was the one. His first batches were made in 110-gallon vats that were so big that he had to use an oar to stir the sauce. His sauce is available at QFC and Whole Foods Markets. Darryl has expanded the recipe and now offers his sauce in mild, medium (the original) and hot.

Be sure to try our Uncle D’s BBQ Chicken Primo before summer ends!

Vrooooom!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages!  Racing season is back! Get ready to rev your engines for the return of the Zucchini 500!

Every year, the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance holds its annual Zucchini 500 races at a few Farmers Markets around the city and we are proud to sponsor this year’s event. On race days, a veritable mountain of local zucchini awaits children of all ages. They can take as long as they like to make their own custom-built zucchini racers to compete against each other on the Market’s track.  The Market provides the zucchini, wheels and decorations. According to Claire Leamy from the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance, the first Zucchini 500 was held at the Columbia City Farmers Market sometime before 2002 (no one can remember quite when) to celebrate the bounty of the local zucchini crop. It has since become a highly anticipated and very popular part of the summer market season.

We’re very excited to be sponsors of this fun event. We’ll be joining the races with a hands-on tossing demonstration.  You will have an opportunity to learn how to toss pizza dough like our cooks do. It’s great fun for kids young and old! After you build your Zucchini 500, why not try one of ours? We’ve created a special pizza to celebrate the races. Our Zucchini 500 Primo is only available for a limited time.

This year’s races will be held at the Lake City Farmers Market on Thursday, August 16^th from 3 pm to 6pm, the Magnolia Farmers Market on Saturday, August 25^th from 10 am to 1 pm, the Columbia City Farmers Market on Wednesday, September 12^th from 3 pm to 6 pm and the West Seattle Farmers Market on Sunday, September 16^th from 10 am to 1 pm. We’ll see you there!

The lunch line at Salumi is legendary, quickly growing into a wait of 30 minutes or more. By now, just about everyone knows that if it is a quick bite that you are after, you had best get there as early as possible. Try a few minutes before they open otherwise you risk them running out of your favorite salami. Rain or shine, the prospect of having to wait does not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds that queue up for their favorite sandwich. Maybe they are there for the Coppa, pork shoulder cured in sugar and spices, or for the house Salumi Salame.  However, Salumi offers some unique salamis that you wouldn’t find in a typical salumeria.

Gina Batali from Salumi is proud to say that their Mole Salami is one of the products that sets them apart.  They refer to it as a “Salumi innovation – uniquely spiced with chocolate, cinnamon, ancho and chipotle peppers.”

Salumi founder Armandino Batali developed this salami after a conversation with a friend who makes chocolate. He was inspired to incorporate the taste of chocolate into his salamis. With its flavors of chocolate, chilies and spices, mole sprang to mind. After perfecting a recipe, he introduced it 9 years ago and it proved to be an immediate hit. It’s so popular that their mole and mozzarella sandwich is one of their top 3 best selling cold sandwiches.

We think it is certainly unique and like nothing we’ve ever tasted before. We feature it on our latest Salumi Special, the Mole Primo. It will be available for a limited time.

Much like its cousin the truffle, morels are some of the most elusive mushrooms around.  They have never been successfully cultivated and their short growing season means that when they’re gone, they’re gone, so they can fetch a high price at area Farmer’s Markets.  However, mushroom lovers prize their musky, loamy taste no matter what the cost.

It is true that sometimes you can find them in great quantities. For some unknown reason, they grow very well in areas that have recently been affected by forest fires. However, many times novice mushroom hunters can be standing in the middle of a morel gold mine and not realize it.  It’s not hard to see why. It takes a practiced eye to spot them among the roots, rocks and other plants out in the woods. John Cage, one of the most influential American composers of the 20^th Century was once asked how he would go about foraging for morels.  His advice was to “Go into the woods and look, and if you don’t find any, don’t worry.”

Fortunately, our friends at Foraged & Found Edibles have their own secret spots where they collect the delicious ‘shrooms. After they bring us the rewards of their hunt, we roast them with a bit of olive oil and some spices. We pair them with the delicious chicken sausage made by Isernio’s here in Seattle. This light, fresh sausage perfectly complements the rich, earthy mushroom.  After you taste it, you will see why people spend hours out in the woods hunting for them.  We’ve made it easy, though. Just give us a call and we’ll deliver this treasure of the forest to you. No foraging required!

OK…we admit it. We jumped on the Seattle World’s Fair bandwagon like everyone else.  But then, it’s not often that an entire city gets to celebrate the Golden Anniversary of one of its iconic structures. And, while putting our Spring/Summer Newsletter together, we found out some interesting things about the area around Seattle Center.  Would it surprise you to know that our Queen Anne Pizzeria resides where a pre-Space Needle landmark used to be? We also remembered what an amazing year 1962 was for cinema. Check out our latest issue for a flash back to the 60’s and find out our latest news.

Shameless

Did you know that black olives hide their natural beauty behind the veil of an additive called Ferrous Gluconate? This water-soluble iron salt artificially sets a black color in the olive. It doesn’t change the olive’s flavor, just its color. It is still the same amazing vegetable that people love to enjoy on their pizza. But somewhere in its history, cloaking its brownish, purply black flesh beneath a black veil became all the rage.

Well, it’s time to let the olives disrobe and not shy away from their true selves. We have switched to an olive that is proudly au naturel. Unnecessary additives have been stripped away. The olives are simply clad in plain water and sea salt before exhibiting on our pizza.

Why the switch? When we found out about this natural olive, there was no question that it fit our desire to get, um, closer to nature. Granted, Ferrous Gluconate does have a cosmetic effect people love. However, given the choice, we prefer as few additives as possible.

They are the same great tasting olives that we had before, except now they’re just naked.

Rosmarino at DeLaurenti's

Like many Seattleites, we’ve developed an affinity for Salumi Artisan Cured Meats. We patiently waited with bated breath for them to receive their USDA certification. The moment that happened in 2005 we could barely contain our excitement and built a seasonal around their Finocchiona salami.

Consequently, we have been looking for an excuse to feature more of their products. We are overjoyed to announce that we are starting Salumi specials that will spotlight a rotating Salumi product throughout the year. It is similar to our seasonal offerings, but will be available for a longer period of time. We have started with a favorite, the Salame Picante, which features their rosmarino salami.

You don’t hear much about their rosmarino salami. That’s because back in 2007 DeLaurenti’s Pat McCarthy contacted Armandino Batali asking Salumi to develop an exclusive DeLaurenti product. They batted around a couple of ideas, and then Pat hit upon the thought of a rosemary salami. Armandino found a fresh rosemary source that he liked from Vashon Island. The rest, as they say, is history. Pat is extremely proud to say that DeLaurenti remains the only place where you can buy Salumi’s Rosmarino salami. You can’t even buy it at Salumi. The only exception is on our Salame Picante. It will be available through the spring, or until we run out of it!

We are still working out what will be featured next. Early indicators point towards Salumi’s mole salami. We’ll keep you posted!

Let’s face it…just about everyone loves bacon. Many people have called it “the gateway meat” and its salty, smoky charm can even turn some vegetarians back into carnivores.  The demand for the Bacon Leek pizza that won our recipe contest last year proved so strong that we knew we had to bring it back.  This year we are using an all-natural uncured bacon from Hempler’s Food Group, just up I-5 a stretch in Ferndale.

Hans Hempler and his wife Emmy bought a small meat and sausage shop in Bellingham in 1934 and, using techniques that Hans had learned in his native Germany, started to produce their own unique brand of sausages, bacons, and hams. From this little shop they have expanded and Hempler’s now operates out of a 30,000 square foot facility in Ferndale.

The bacon that we are using this year is free of nitrates, nitrites or any other preservatives, and is as minimally processed as possible. That means no antibiotics or hormones, either. The ingredients are simply pork, honey from Oregon, and sea salt. Their pigs (somewhat ironically) are fed a vegan diet. Hempler’s likes to say that they make the “Leanest Bacon on the Planet Earth”, so that there is less fat and more delicious porky goodness in their bacon.

We are proud to be using their bacon on our pizza, and hope that you enjoy it as much as we do! Bacon is also available as a pizza topping while the Bacon Leek is on the menu, so if there is a combination that you have wanted to try, now is the time!

Enjoy!

Mama's Meatball Combo

Occasionally, a topping that we love fails to do as well as we think it should.  Such was the case with our Meatballs.  We had wanted to offer meatballs as a topping for quite awhile, and thanks to CasCioppo Brothers in Ballard we finally found a meatball that we felt suited our pizzas.  We thought we had a sure winner, and it did have its fans.  But they never really took off like we hoped they would. So, we took them off of our year-round menu, much to the lament of meatball lovers. Now they are back for a limited time. We are featuring them on this month’s crew pie, the Mama’s Meatball Combo. They join Mama Lil’s Peppers and ricotta on top of our whole milk mozzarella and seasoned pizza sauce.  You can also create your own meatball masterpiece. Be sure to satisfy your meatball cravings before they disappear on the 27^th.  Who knows when they will reappear.