NY pizza via Venice Beach from Fat Tomato Pizza (Image: Fat Tomato)

The guys behind Capitol Hill’s now permanently closed Poke Bar have more food and drink concepts where that came from.

Their latest is now resident of the Packard Building’s 12th and Pine corner where a few new signs and some small changes behind the counter have set the stage for the appearance of Capitol Hill’s latest pizza joint — Fat Tomato.

The sudden and mostly unheralded arrival of the Southern California pizza chain in Seattle is part of the busy, ever shifting world of the guys behind a string of franchises born out of Northridge, California’s Yanagi Sushi.

The company still has Poke Bar locations along with its collection of Fat Tomato locations. It also has dabbled with concepts like Katsu Bar along the way.

(Image: Fat Tomato)

While the shift from raw fish to melted cheese might be a little abrupt, Fat Tomato’s turnaround on 12th Ave has been a quick one.

The restaurant space was previously home to Gnocchi Bar from Lisa Nakamura and, before that, was a Capitol Hill location of  D’Ambrosio Gelateria Artigianale.

Its first tenant, Italian lounge concept Varro flamed out owing thousands in rent after only a few months of business on 12th Ave.

Neighboring debutante Eltana is still going strong in Capitol Hill’s golden age of bagels.

As for the pies, well, Fat Tomato appears to play it straight with “New York Style Pizza” by way of Venice Beach.

Meanwhile, it will always be the golden age of pizza on Capitol Hill. The next new addition to the Hill’s offerings is set to open soon on northern Broadway where the owners of the street’s Mirch Masala are opening a second venture — a franchise location of the Pizza Twist family of restaurants and its creations with Indian-flavored ingredients and influences.

Fat Tomato Pizza is located at 1542 12th Ave. You can learn more at gofattomato.com.

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