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Capitol Hill food+drink | Macrina Bakery and Pagliacci Pizza working on a new venture on E Pike

DSC04706Screen Shot 2016-06-06 at 11.38.13 AMAfter 16 years of making its dough and tomato sauce from an E Pike commercial kitchen, Pagliacci Pizza is moving its pizza base of operations to Kent.

To replace it, two of Seattle’s most established dough-based businesses are exploring a Capitol Hill venture that may include a new Pagliacci restaurant and Macrina Bakery Cafe at E Pike and Crawford Pl.

Nearly a decade after joining forces behind the scenes, Pagliacci and Macrina owners say they are in the early stages of finding a new use for Pagliacci’s soon-to-be vacated “commissary.”

“We’re trying to figure out what it would look like,” said Pagliacci co-owner Matt Galvin. One option would be to open separate Macrina and Pagliacci locations within the space, Galvin said. Whatever the new venture is, Galvin said it would not open until next year. Macrina CEO Scott France told CHS the first Capitol Hill cafe would likely be modeled off the bakery’s existing Queen Anne shop, which includes fresh baked goods and coffee.

“Capitol Hill is obviously a robust part of the city and we think a cafe would do really well there,” France said.

Plans for a new cafe and restaurant were set in motion this year when Macrina and Pagliacci decided to move their commercial kitchen operations under one roof in Kent. Macrina’s current base of operations is in SODO. Pagliacci’s E Pike commissary currently serves as the pizza sauce and dough supplier for its 24 restaurants across Seattle and the Eastside.

Before the sun is up, our Commissary is a hive of activity. Cooks buzz over steaming pots of our signature marinara sauce, pizza dough whirls around dough hooks in its dedicated room, and delivery drivers back large trucks into the loading dock, ready to whisk essential ingredients for our pizzas to Pagliacci locations around town.

Pagliacci will keep its administrative headquarters and call-center next door while opening up interior access between the two buildings as part of the project.  CHS wrote here in 2013 about Pagliacci’s 30 years on Broadway and the company’s E Pike mission control center.

While remaining two separate companies, Macrina and Pagliacci combined their ownership structures in 2007 when bakery owner Leslie Mackie wanted to streamline her business. While none of Macrina’s existing three cafes are on Capitol Hill, its baked goods are stocked in restaurant kitchens and cafe counters throughout the neighborhood.

It would appear Capitol Hill has still not reached peak pizza in 2016. Pagliacci opened a new slice bar in May at its 10th and E Miller location, which had been a delivery-only kitchen since opening in 1992. After much anticipation, Dino’s Tomato Pie opened in March followed by Sizzle Pie a month later.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes by jseattle

  • unnamed (13)Optimism is marking June’s wave of LGBTQ celebration with a new beer — Pride:
    In honor of Gay Pride month, Optimism Brewing on Capitol Hill is releasing a new beer named Pride with $1 of each pint going to Gay City, a neighboring non-profit that supports the local LBGTQ community. Pride is a light, fruity saison that’s available starting June 11th. The donation will go towards Gay City’s mission to promote holistic wellness among the many facets of Seattle’s LGBTQ community, which includes free and anonymous HIV testing, supporting queer arts and artists and connecting people to the services they need.
  • Meanwhile, though it wasn’t first and isn’t the only one on the Hill, Optimism’s forward-looking potty set-up has received a lot of attention. The bathroom received passing mention when we first visited Optimism back in 2015.

    (Image: CHS)

    (Image: CHS)

  • Ethan and Angela Stowell, the owners of Ethan Stowell Restaurants in Seattle, have been selected by Restaurant Hospitality as the 2016 recipients of the Richard Melman Innovator of the Year Award.”
  • Nope. No idea why Bay Area-based Vietnamese concern Thanh Tam II lists an E Pike address in same building where Stowell’s new Capitol Hill Tavolata is moving in.
  • The Art Inn boutique hotel coming to the Central District will also have an Italian-style cafe and bakery.
  • Mamnoon has cut lunch:
    Take away and grab-and-go items including mamnoon’s loved Mana’eesh, or house made flatbreads with toppings such as za’atar spice, lahm bi ajine lamb/Aleppo chilli pepper spread and jibneh, a soft, white Middle Eastern cheese, Mezze (shamandar or beet salad, hummus, baba ghanoush and labneh) accompanied by mamnoon’s freshly baked Arabic bread will continue to be available at the Street Window from 11:30 a.m. to close, Monday through Friday and 3 p.m. to close Saturday and Sunday.
  • Sheri LaVigne, owner of shuttered Culture Club and Calf and Kid, jumped into the CHS comments to say more about the closures.
  • Three stars for Upper Bar Ferdinand.
  • “Beyond Coffee & Bikes: Seattle’s Métier Is A Cafe & Cycling Paradise
  • Everything is for sale. Even Vostok Dumpling House.Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 9.46.59 AM
  • We missed this. Amante’s overhaul is complete.
  • 50 Places in Seattle That You’re Taking for Granted” includes Ristorante Machiavelli, Pony, The Hideout, In the Bowl, Highline, Wildrose, Cafe Selam, and, yes, Mediterranean Express.
  • Chef Isaac Hutchins is in at Marjorie:Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 10.08.27 AM
  • June 14th at Omega Ouzeri, $90 gets you on the list for a “winemakers dinner”
    Join Omega Ouzeri for a five course signature tasting menu with wine pairings showcasing selected creations from two of the most prominent wineries of Northern Greece, the organic Chatzivariti winery of Gourmenissa and the pioneering Oenogenesis winery of Drama. The tasting will be led by winemakers Evangelo Chatzivaritis and Bakis Tsalkos.
  • This apparently fictional account of the Capitol Hill food and drink scene is… fascinating:

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cloey
cloey
7 years ago

HURRY UP HERE MACRINA! Wish it was closer to North Capitol Hill but I will go there. It’s about time we had another great bakery up here.

MarciaX
MarciaX
7 years ago

Delicious! Having Macrina in that location would go a long way toward making up for the loss of the Bauhaus. (Btw, isn’t their current cafe in Belltown?)