Tag Archives: pizza

Capitol Hill’s new Roma Roma by-the-cut pizza joint (and the super Brunton brothers) preparing for January debut

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Forrest, Renee, and Colin (Image: Roma Roma)

The Cherry & Burrata (Image: Roma Roma)

Powered by the super Brunton brothers, Capitol Hill will begin 2026 with a new chef driven, by the slice pizza joint.

Roma Roma is taking shape this fall along with Chef Forrest Brunton’s mustache as a food and drink idea they say his brother Colin Brunton first pushed 20 years ago after studying in Rome:

At Roma Roma, guests will experience elevated counter service where ordering is done at a long display case showcasing whole pizzas. Each guest will indicate the size of the piece of pizza(s) that they’d like, and the “pizza monger” will cut from the large rectangular pizzas. Each pizza order will be sold by the weight of the selected piece, a hallmark of Roman street-style pizza. Servers will deliver orders to the tables, with the option for takeout pizza or dine-in.

Colin’s stache is also apparently in excellent form as the brothers have set about building out the new restaurant and shaping their “playful, craftsmanship approach to Roman-style pizza” in time for a January debut. Continue reading →

Roma Roma — with Roman pizza ‘by the cut’ — coming to Capitol Hill’s 12th Ave

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It will be “a Roman holiday every day” as a familiar face in the long ago Linda Derschang Capitol Hill food and drink empire returns to Seattle for his triumphant pizza return.

Roma Roma is currently under construction in the former Rachel’s Ginger Beer space below the 12th Ave Arts building.

The new project is taking shape as chef Forrest Brunton returns to the city and neighborhood where he formerly held down the kitchens at various Derschang-era joints including Oddfellows and Smith. Continue reading →

A Capitol Hill closure to add: Ian’s Pizza on the Hill leaves Broadway

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(Image: CHS)

We have an addition to the roster of 2024 Capitol Hill food and drink subtractions to make.

The Broadway closure of Ian’s Pizza is permanent.

A person familiar with details of the shuttering tells CHS the closure comes at the end of the shop’s 10-year lease as the small chain has chosen to focus on its Fremont location.

CHS reported here in 2015 as Ian’s moved onto the Hill after building its pie business slowly with origins in Wisconsin and Colorado. The Mac n’ Cheese pizza was a fun introduction for a pizza joint some argued served the Hill’s best slices. The exit leaves a hole in the tenant mix in the Broadway Building neighboring Blick Art, FOB Poke Bar, and its new sibling Old Street Malatang.

Some will add Ian’s to the flurry of closures to start 2025 as the city’s tip credit for its smallest businesses expired. Its arrival ten years ago in Seattle also came amid minimum wage tensions. Ian’s replaced a location of the Zpizza chain that shuttered after its ownership blamed the new wage laws. “It feels more like the right thing to do to respect service workers and what they do,” Ian’s owner told CHS about the new minimum wage at the time.

 

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Landlord says shuttered Capitol Hill pizza joint left behind thousands in unpaid rent

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An unsatisfied customer’s contribution in Google Reviews

After three years of bizarre hours and arguably some of the worst slices ever sold on Capitol Hill, Fat Tomato has closed for good, leaving behind around $100,000 in unpaid rent, according to court filings and a notice posted at the shuttered 12th and Pine restaurant.

Court records show Equity Residential Management suing the restaurant’s ownership for nine months of unpaid rent — $96,815.18 as of September.

Photos of the complaint taped to the closed restaurant’s door make up some of the latest Fat Tomato photos posted to social media along with a rogue’s gallery of customers showing off some of the questionable pie they’ve been served over recent years at the corner pizza shop. Continue reading →

Chef Shota’s Capitol Hill pizza pop-up KĹŤbo ending two-year run on E Pike

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A pizza pop-up so good it lasted through two years and a major beer industry takeover is wrapping up its run on Capitol Hill just as its celebrity chef owner is ready to dig in on expanding his neighborhood presence.

Chef Shota Nakajima announced his KĹŤbo pizza joint inside the Redhook Brewlab on E Pike will close October 31st.

“This partnership lasted much longer than originally planned, and has been nothing short of incredible,” Nakajima’s announcement reads. “We got to make some seriously dope pizza and connect with all of you in the community. A huge thank you to each and every one of you who stopped by, supported us, and shared in the love of good food.”

Nakajima said to stay tuned for new “exciting local projects in 2025.”

His KĹŤbo goodbye video posted to Instagram shows the chef exploring the woods presumably on a local mushroom hunting trip. KĹŤbo final special pizza will be the Wandering Forager. Continue reading →

‘Madrid, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Lisbon, Rome or Naples’ — Capitale Pizzeria ready to add its global take on pizza to Broadway

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Capitale Pizzeria hopes to offer the chance to travel the world via pizza, right on Broadway. The new pizzeria is set to open this month, debuting a menu that features unique combinations of flavors from around the globe coming together in a classic form we all know and love: pizza.

Capitale plans to bring inventive pies, made with high-quality ingredients that are carefully selected. “We want our creativity to surprise everyone,” said Rodrigo Parisi, managing partner of Capitale Pizzeria.

CHS first reported on the project here this summer.

Capitale is the Italian word for “capital,” which reflects the international innovation of the food they will serve. “All of our pizzas are named after the cities or regions that influenced that combination of ingredients, the reason for its existence, such as Madrid, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Lisbon, Rome or Naples,” said Parisi. Continue reading →

Owner of Taurus Ox opening Ananas Pizzeria bringing Lao pizza and dive bar classics to First Hill

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(Image: Ananas Pizzeria)

The flavors of a classic pizzeria and Lao cuisine are set to marry in Ananas Pizzeria, a pizza dive bar reintroducing classics while putting a spin on the classic pie from Seattle restaurateur Khampaeng Panyathong.

The pizza joint on 8th Ave is a new name returning to an old spot. The location was once filled by Primo Pizza Parlor, a favorite in the neighborhood. Taurus Ox and Ananas Pizzeria chef/owner Panyathong champions staying true to the roots of the local culture. The building has over 100 years of history within its walls and a new business is incoming.

“As soon as I walked in I was able to feel this energy and see beyond the rundown nature of the building,”  Panyathong said. “I was just envisioning the possibilities of what this space could become.”

Panyathong plans to open the new pizza joint this month.

Despite the Lao influence, Panyathong sees Ananas Pizzeria as a separate entity from Taurus Ox and its sibling Ox Burger. CHS reported here on the reshuffling of Taurus Ox and Ox Burger. Taurus Ox on 19th Ave E hosts a menu of traditional Lao cuisine, a mile southwest of the original Taurus Ox location, now Ox Burger. Panyathong says there are a few connections between his projects.

“I couldn’t miss this opportunity to do a Lao pizza,” Panyathong said. “We’re really close to figuring it out.” Continue reading →

Where Starbucks fears to tread, Papa Johns comes to Capitol Hill

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Only a few national restaurant chains have been tough enough to last around Capitol Hill and the Central District but a new player has entered the arena along E Madison.

Pizza chain Papa Johns is now open in the Avant Apartments across from fhe Central District Safeway at the fuzzy dividing line between the neighborhoods.

The pre-pandemic development has slowly been filling its ground floor retail spaces. The new fast food pizza shop joins local handroll bar Uminori that took over the space where this upscale Japanese binchotan charcoal concept never caught on and plans for a new Indian grocery to fill the Avant commercial footprint.

The arrival of the built on “conservative values” chain is probably less interesting than it might have been a few years ago before a racist conference call forced company founder and face of the corporation John Schnatter out of power. Continue reading →

Lark is rebooting its 12th Ave pizza joint — as Cora, a 12th Ave pizza joint

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The Lark food and drink family is staying in the pizza business with a reboot in the restaurant’s original 12th Ave space.

Cora Pizza and Plates is set to debut this week in the original home of Lark where John Sundstrom, Kelly Ronan, and JM Enos opened the boxing themed Southpaw wood-fired pizza joint in late 2016. Southpaw was praised for its pizza but led a rather quiet existence in the space until Lark closed it down last year with ownership looking for a new concept for the address.

It turns out, apparently, that a new take on pizza made the most sense. Continue reading →

With condolences to 29th and Jackson regulars, Central Pizza is changing hands

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29th and Jackson, where Frink Park meets the Central District, isn’t the first place you think of in Seattle’s food and drink scene but Ellie Rose says the neighborhood’s regulars made it the best even as the challenges of running a Seattle restaurant have added up:

I will miss everyone so much and have been so grateful to meet so many amazing people and be apart of your lives. Watching children grow up, seeing people get married, divorced, remarried. Witnessing young couples starting families. Being there for people who lost loved ones. Surviving a pandemic together. My heart is heavy and I feel so lucky to be apart of everyone’s life and a part of this community. I wish I could do it forever but it’s taking a toll on me and I need to start a new chapter.

Rose is ready to move on and Central Pizza is changing hands. After a decade of Central District and Leschi pizza business, new owners are taking over. Pizza will possibly stay on the menu. But the rest is up in the air. Continue reading →