The Story Behind a Beloved Pie and Other New Seasonals

Let me take you on a little journey. It starts in 1979. Dorene McTigue was busy opening Pagliacci’s first store, and — intent on building a menu around local products — she went looking for an Italian sausage worth building a pizza around. She found it at a small Ballard shop run by the Cascioppo family, loved it enough to drive over and pick it up each week, and in doing so began a vendor relationship that has endured to the present day.

Flash forward to Rome, years later. Michelle Galvin, a Pagliacci co-owner, wandered through the flower stalls in Campo de’ Fiori and slipped into Roscioli, a busy bakery that dates back to 1824. She ordered a pizza with Italian sausage and mushrooms. One bite and she knew it was remarkable. Not because Rome was doing what Rome always does, making everything feel a little more vivid, but because the pizza was built on proportion and restraint: the sausage rich but not heavy, the flavorful crust crisp at the edge and tender underneath, and the mushrooms transformed by a marinade of garlic, herbs, oil and vinegar into something bright, savory, and alive. The memory followed her home.

Simplicity is at the heart of many of the best pizzas. Michelle's Pie keeps it restrained and elegant, featuring local favorite Cascioppo’s handmade Italian sausage, marinated mushrooms, and creamy mozzarella over our seasoned tomato sauce.

Have you ever marveled at how cacio e pepe, the beloved Roman pasta, can dazzle with so little? Our seasonal Cacio e Pepe pizza works on that same quiet principle: peppery Pecorino Romano and mozzarella melting together over a Parmesan cream sauce made with heavy cream, Parmesan, and ricotta.

For those who didn’t grow up with it, Seattle Times food writer Bethany Clement called our Pesto Salad a “deeply satisfying combination…perfect for a quick lunch or supper,” and we couldn’t agree more. The legendary salad is now a seasonal—so get it while you can—featuring penne, sweet peas, thyme-roasted artichoke hearts, parmesan, and a creamy pesto dressing.

Molly Moon's Cookies & Cream is comfort with craft baked in. They make the cookies themselves: dark chocolate wafers with a creamy filling made in-house and doubled for good measure. They fold them into the ice cream so every spoonful lands somewhere between chunks and speckles of cocoa and cream cookies.

Our seasonal beer is Bizarre Brewing’s Gimme Pizza Italian-Style Pilsner, from Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood brewery known for low-ABV beers brewed with unique grains. It’s crisp and pizza-friendly, brewed with pilsner malts and kettle-hopped with Spalt Select and Hersbrucker, where floral, citrusy hops meet biscuity malt. (4.8% ABV)