(Image: Zaw)

Give Zaw credit. It wouldn’t have been the first regional chain to flame out on Capitol Hill. But the new era pizza concept has persevered through years of slower than expected business at 15th and Pine and is moving forward with a new spin on things.

Zaw Baked quietly reopened at the top of Pike/Pine earlier this month:

We’re back! – but with a bit of a twist on our concept. In our new space, still on 15th and Pine, we have created a place to sit down, relax, and try a baked pizza (along with your favorite beer or wine).

With its Capitol Hill location opening back in 2008, the u-bake pizza start-up created by entrepreneurs Greg Waring and Greg Scott grew to 11 locations but never really caught on at the level the investors expected. An attempt to defray costs and jazz things up with an ice cream partner didn’t fly, either.

Now they’re giving it another go with Zaw Baked.

“Particularly in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, we had a lot of requests for a baked product on site,” a company spokesperson tells CHS. “And that particular space was so large that at one point we debated not renewing our lease, but we worked with the landlord to utilize the space for the new ‘Baked’ concept.”

You can now walk out of the 15th/Pine Zaw with a $12 whole or $7 half already baked pizza. Capitol Hill’s Zaw has also added seating including a 16-seat “community table” to provide “a sort of ‘third place’ for the neighborhood to sit down, enjoy a baked pizza with a cold beer or glass of wine and enjoy time with their friends.” You willl also find a TV just in case your friends alone won’t cut it. Meanwhile, u-bake-style pizzas will still be part of the offerings going back to the original Zaw concept.

The overhaul joins a project from the Still Liquor folks down on the other end of Pike/Pine in the CHS Capitol Hill pizza news file.

We’ll see if the changes can help Zaw stick around on not necessarily chain friendly Capitol Hill. You can learn more at zaw.com.