Wednesday February 29^th is Leap Day, and we wanted to celebrate it by rolling prices back to one of our favorite leap years, 1984. Back then, we only had 2 pizzerias, and you could get a slice of our Original Cheese for $.90 and a slice of our Primo for $1.35. Our first pizzeria in the U-district was a great place to stop in and grab a quick bite before heading to Peaches Records to get the new Van Halen LP, 1984. Their tour that year was the first concert I ever went to. (My mom and I had a great time.) 1984 also saw the debut album from Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin’s first appearance with Menudo.

I also vividly remember the haircut I was sporting at the time. I knew it as a Bi-Level, but we know it today as The Mullet. My friends who listened to New Wave favored a more, shall we say, asymmetrical haircut. Rattails were in, and everyone one I knew had a bad experience with Sun In hair lightener. Girls had bangs that reached heights that they have not seen since.

One thing to love about clothes during the 80’s was their functionality.  With all the neon that everyone was wearing, it’s a wonder that anyone ever got lost. Thanks to leg-warmers, nobody was ever cold, and it seemed like everywhere you looked people were wearing shoulder pads.

The Ave Pizzeria was also a great place to eat before taking the quick walk down the block to see Greystoke – The Legend of Tarzan, The Cotton Club, Ghostbusters or Amadeus at the Neptune Theatre. It was also a good place to get a slice after seeing The Terminator, Bachelor Party, Beat Street, or Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom at the Varsity a bit further down the street.

Our Pizzeria on Broadway had opened the year before and the adventurous residents of “the Hill” had a new favorite place for a quick bite or a lingering night out.

Regardless of which pizzeria you visited, you could be assured of getting a great slice of pizza.  Sadly, the days of pleather pants and mesh shirts are gone, (Yes, I wore both…together) but you can meet up with friends and remember the old days this coming Wednesday when we roll back our slice prices.  It will be Totally Rad to the Absolute Max!

Any guesses on the translation of the title?

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and (master of the segue that I am,) I thought I would take on a question that is heard in many of our locations: “So, just what is the story with the Italian movie posters, anyway?”

When our founder, Dorene Centioli-McTigue opened up our first pizzeria in the University District, she thought that the walls were, well, a bit bare.

Originally, she hung some photos she had taken of uncooked pasta.  After a couple of years she felt that they just didn’t really fit in the restaurant anymore, and started to look around to see what she could replace them with.  During a trip to Los Angeles she saw some Italian movie posters in a shop. She really liked them, but they were pretty expensive, so she thought that she would look for some the next time she went to Italy.  While visiting Rome, she did not have a lot of luck getting posters from any of the theaters, but she was directed to a video shop near Campo Fiori, not too far from the Piazza Navona. The owner, Marco, was a real fan of Hollywood and had quite a bit of movie memorabilia.  Dorene explained what she was looking for and he agreed to start collecting them for her. She would pick them up and bring them back on subsequent trips. It just kind of grew from there.

They are quite the conversation starter, that is for sure! It is always fun to try to figure out how different the American title is from the Italian one. Enjoy the Oscars!

This month’s new art at the Broadway Pizzeria comes to us from Frank Khrounek. The Chicago native has been practicing art ever since he can remember. He credits his parents with fostering his creativity and encouraging him. As a kid, trips to the art store with his dad were one of the highlights of his week. Frank took a break from art to pursue his other interest, culinary school. He was compelled to take up his brushes again in 2006 after a trip to Italy. The beautiful paintings in Rome and the picturesque Amalfi Coast inspired him to start painting again in earnest.  The seasons have a big influence on Frank’s art. Spring is a very creative time for him, and is when he does most of his painting. He draws a lot of inspiration from music. All of his art is very personal to him, as he does it for no other reason than he loves painting and enjoys the creative release that it offers him.  The show at Broadway features his first time working with layering canvases, and he hopes to explore this technique in more depth in the future. You can get contact information and see more of Frank’s art at his website.

If you are interested in showing your art at the Broadway Pizzeria, please email broadway@pagliacci.com

Get your order in early!

Pagliacci is really excited for this Sunday.  The annual championship game between 2 major football franchises that are not soccer and can’t be referenced by its true name without threat of trademark violation will be taking place. Isn’t that SUPER? This year’s game involves a team of large men that are of uncommon strength, statue and girth. Their opponents are known for their steadfast fidelity to their area of origin in the United States and their fanatical willingness to defend it. This annual event regularly BOWLs people over with the extravagant sums of money that are spent on advertising during the game. This year’s teaser ad for a well known German car company featuring a chorus of dogs barking John William’s symphonic music theme made famous by a series of movies depicting a War in the Stars is sure to rank as one of the favorite ads of the game.

And, to help you tackle your meal plans for this massively televised event we will be opening at 2pm for delivery. We are giving away limited edition Pagliacci t-shirts to the first 400 deliveries. Have a SUPER day!

Everyone loves traditions, especially when they involve free food, dancing and prizes, and we are not any different here at Pagliacci. Our annual Holiday Party for our crew always draws a big crowd, and this year was no exception. In years past, our crew has bobbed for smelt, raced Green Machines, and carved Spam.  (No, there aren’t any plans to add Spam as a topping, thanks for asking.)

This year we celebrated the season with a Festive Holiday Wear Contest at The Crocodile. Whether they wore sweaters that pushed the limits of style or costumes that reflected the season, even the scrooges had an opportunity to get into the holiday spirit with the plethora of fake antlers that were available to wear. Extra raffle tickets for some great prizes were awarded to those who really embraced the holiday theme. With an Xbox 360, Seahawks tickets, a Kindle e-reader and a Blu-Ray player up for grabs, the people handing out the raffle tickets attracted a small crowd wherever they went up until the drawings. Our friends at Macrina made some delicious hors d’oeuvres, Reverend of Rock from London Loves kept the music going all night and Airpocalypse from “America’s Got Talent” made a special appearance as well. Chris Bunger, GM from Juanita took the top prize for his costume, Tony Schaffer from Crossroads popped and locked his way to the coveted King of the Dance Floor title, and Queen Anne ran away with the prize for Most Store Spirit. If you are interested in seeing some of the fine folks who make, bake, and deliver your pizzas, check out the location pages on our website. Store photos will be up soon!

Many people can name the classics of Italian cinema, such as The Bicycle Thief, La Dolce Vita and Nights of Cabiria. SIFF presents an opportunity to say “Buongiorno” to contemporary Italian film at their Annual Italian Film Festival.  Pagliacci is proud to be a sponsor of this event, now in its third year. This year’s festival features ten films exhibiting the best of modern Italian cinema including Terraferma, which is Italy’s official Academy Award submission. You can also see the winner of the Italian Critics Award for Best Film, Habemus Papem. The festival, held at the newly renovated Uptown Theater, runs Wednesday through Sunday.  In conjunction with the festival, enjoy Taste of Italy Nov. 19 – 20 for a sampling of Italian food, wine, art and more. Ticket information and show times can be found at SIFF’s website.

This year’s 4th of July promised great weather and it delivered! It’s our custom to take a break from the kitchens and celebrate the holiday with our crew at our annual company picnic.

After grilling up burgers, veggie burgers, chicken, sausage and hot dogs for over 350 crewmembers, friends and family it was time for them to show off in our annual Pizzalympics. The games included Fastest Box Folding, Fastest Toss (to 17”), Biggest Dough (tossed in 30 seconds), Pizza Relay Race and Tug-of-War. And the winners were:

Box Folding – Emory Liu from Miller Delivery Kitchen (two years in a row)
Fastest Toss – Luis Bibiano-Lopez from Sand Point Delivery Kitchen
Biggest Dough – Sam Kosola from 145th Street Delivery Kitchen
Relay Race – 145th Street Delivery Kitchen
Tug-of-War – University Pizzeria

Click for bigger images.

We have many memories of Pride weekend at our Broadway Pizzeria over the years. As the event has evolved, we’ve always enjoyed being a part of the celebration.

When our Broadway managers started planning what to do at the store for Pride this year, there were a lot of ideas. While they’ve come up with some fun activities for everyone to take part in, perhaps their best idea was to team up with Lambert House. The haven for GLBTQ youth offers support groups, counselors, computer lab, dinners and all sorts of activities from art classes to movie nights. All of the profits from the Broadway location this weekend will be donated to Lambert House.

And while you are supporting a neighborhood non-profit, you can also enjoy our in-store events on Saturday. Most of our fun begins at 3 pm. Looking forward to seeing you at the pizzeria!

It turns out we are really, really good at utilizing peeps (or is it PEEPS) to make interesting artwork. This fact has been proven out year after year when we have our annual peeps contest. Each of the locations is given a few boxes of peeps and asked to submit something interesting.

As these pictures clearly demonstrate, the results are extraordinary. Van Peeps? Really? A peeps version of our Bridle Trails’ location. A portrait of Luigi (or is it Mario) that is only evident when you look at from a distance. It is our own pointillist artist that would make Seurat proud!

I am still trying to figure out if these were done “on the clock.” So far, no one is fessing up either way! Enjoy.

It’s been difficult watching the news unfold about the events happening in Japan. One tragic episode after another with videos and photos to capture it all. Of course we wanted to do our part to help aid in relief efforts. As we were contemplating what to do, our friends at Suzuki Chou Communimedia contacted us about Red White Unite. We are honored to join many Seattle area restaurants in this fundraising effort. 10% of all sales from today will be donated to Peace Winds America in support of their Japan relief efforts. 100% of the funds raised by the restaurant community today will directly benefit the victims of the earthquakes and tsunami in northeastern Japan. Follow PWA in their emergency relief efforts.