Veraci Pizza Moving to Non-Mobile Spot in Ballard

This jalopy gives good pie. Image: veracipizza.com

If you're a regular Ballard farmers market shopper, no doubt you've tasted the wares emerging from Veraci Pizza's mobile, wood-fired, thousand degree oven. Whether you select a simple (yet enormous) slice of pepperoni, or a piece topped with roasted veggies, pesto and olives, this thin-crust, Neapolitan-style pizza is good eating.

Well, their traveling, dome-shaped clay oven is certainly a sight to be seen, parked on the patch of grass adjacent to Ballard Ave. But sometimes you just want to sit with your slice before it spills its contents. And a beer would be nice, too.

This family-run, mobile catering company is ready to settle down, and offer — in addition to great pizza — chairs, a roof, and eventually, some local beer to go with. But they've got a lot of work to do, as they've just got the lease signed (not even two weeks ago) and they have to build the oven.

Veraci is moving into a space that used to be a Domino's, and was more recently occupied by another pizza joint, Paradise Pizza, which closed not too long ago. It seems this location (at 500 N.W. Market Street in Ballard) is going through a pizza upgrade.

Veraci Pizza plans to open in July.

But until then, check out their calendar, for where to find these purveyors of a great slice. They'll even come to you.

Topics: Openings

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A taste of Molly Moon's

No one seems to have told Mother Nature, but it's the beginning of ice cream season.

I just had a chance to taste the ice creams at Molly Moon's, the new artisanal, locavore ice cream shop opening Saturday on Wallingford's main drag.

It was indeed the manna we hoped for, but I had two major complaints. One was that it was just a tasting, so I didn't feel right shoveling in cone after cone of the flavors I liked most: salted caramel, honey-lavender, and "scout" mint. (The latter cooled the place in my heart that's been burning since Girl Scout cookie season ended.) The second was that all the seats (giant, non-tippy wooden blocks) at the slate-covered tables were taken by children under six, so I couldn't grab some chalk and start drawing.

I'd expected the ice cream to be great, but the sauces took me off guard. Owner Molly Neitzel has teamed up with Veil pastry chef Dana Cree, so instead of run-of-the-mill scoop wetters, you get toppings worth eating alone, like bu-bu-buttery vanilla bean butterscotch and a sweet (seasonal!) orange-rhubarb compote that screams to slide down a mountain of the strawberry-balsamic ice cream. (Put that stuff in a jar!)

Molly Moon's is hosting a Grand Opening on Saturday at 3 p.m., with Eric Johnson (The Shins, Fruit Bats) deejaying.

Molly Moon's Ice Cream, 1622 � N, 45th St., 618-4934, WALLINGFORD.

Sweet On You, an ice cream shop in Greenwood whose owner calls it a "modern soda fountain," also opens Friday. There will be gelato for the first week or so, followed by the full menu, including traditional American ice cream, Pinkberry-style frozen yogurt, juices, and supplements.

Sweet On You, 8416 Greenwood Ave., GREENWOOD. Open 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. daily (for now).

Topics: Openings

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El Greco reborn: Table 219 opens today

Last week, Gary Snyder and Stacey Hettinger, owners of Capitol Hill's El Greco, closed their doors. The restaurant reopens today as Table 219.

“We’ve made some fun changes, putting high banquets and bistro tables in the front of the restaurant, new lighting, revamping the bar, that kind of stuff,”� said Hettinger. “We want Table 219 to be cozy.”�

The brunch menu will stay the same (which is good news for El Greco fans), but dinner will take a more creative twist, with items like duck confit nachos, zucchini fries, and a grilled hangar steak with smoked bone marrow butter. All menu items are between $5 and $14.

Table 219, 219 Broadway Ave. E, 328-4604, CAPITOL HILL.
Open for brunch Fri. to Sun., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; for dinner Tues. to Sat., 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Topics: Openings

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Anita's Crepes, for reals

Anita's Crepes, the sweet-smelling snack stand popular at local farmers' markets (and responsible for most of the Nutella stains on my clothing), is growing permanent roots in Ballard. Anita Ross, the CIA-trained pastry chef behind the griddles, envisions her new Leary Avenue spot as something like a coffee shop in the morning, with BOSCO espresso and a Frenchie market mood (lots of fresh flowers, zinc countertops, etc.). The breakfast and lunch menus will be akin to what she offers at markets now, plus perhaps some beignets. She'll have a full liquor license for dinner service, when she'll use that French Laundry training (and hire a dinner chef) to do something a little less crepe-centric and a little more "haute." (She mentioned foie gras.)

The place will be tiny, just a little slot of a spot squeezed between The Dish and a new bar by the guys behind The Great Nabob. She'll start with 9 tables, plus a few more outside.

But no worries. She'll still be at the markets.

Anita's Crepes, 4350 NW Leary Ave., BALLARD. Opening early summer.

Topics: Openings

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Bringing the French Quarter to Queen Anne

Brian Hutmacher, the man behind Lower Queen Anne's favorite place to eat off a hangover, Peso's, is taking over Choy's space and the dry cleaner next door to open a New Orleans-themed eatery likely to be called Toulouse Petite—or maybe just Toulouse. "I haven't decided yet," he says.

Hutmacher filed for a liquor license yesterday but has to wait on the dry cleaning business to vacate before construction can begin. He hopes to open for business on Oct. 1, but expects it may be closer to the end of the year.

Topics: Openings

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New on Phinney: Picnic

Co-owners Jenny and Anson Klock are about to start the build-out on a "food and wine boutique" called Picnic, slated to open in late summer 2008. Located on Phinney Ridge, Jenny says their upscale prepared foods will be a take-out alternative to the sort of wholesome, mostly-organic fare found nearby at Stumbling Goat and Oliver's Twist. They'll have everything you'd need for a picnic, of course (cheese, salumi, olives, and wine from boutique regional vintners), as well as a case full of dinner options like fresh pasta, entrees, and side dishes.

Anson, who cooked at now-defunct Cassis on Capitol Hill, and then for two years under Jason Wilson when the latter first launched Crush, will focus on housemade charcuterie, turning out fresh pates, rilettes, and sausages for folks to take home.

If all goes well, Jenny said they may do communal dinners, as well.

Picnic will anchor the northeast corner of the new Fini condos on Phinney Ridge. There will also be a coffee/dessert shop in the building, which (judging by the signs on the windows) will offer Frenchie favorites like clafoutis, madeleines, and Grand Marnier souffles. Anyone have a name?

Topics: Openings

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Zippy's Gets Ready to Grind the Beef

There's a new burger place, Zippy's, set to open on 16th and Holden in West Seattle's Highland Park neighborhood, kitty corner to the 7-11, across the street from the fire station, and next to Sea Mart where a teriyaki place once was. I popped into Sea Mart the other day to buy a two liter bottle of Coke, and asked the owner what was going on next door. He said that Zippy's planned on opening by the end of April, but that deadline could push into May, and that the new burger joint will not use frozen patties — i.e., all handcrafted burgers. Sounds great, most notably since West Seattle, for all its culinary virtues (especially when White Center is annexed, for convenience sake), doesn't have anything resembling a Red Mill, Dick's, or Kidd Valley, although Smokey's Char-Broiled on 128th and 1st never disappoints those willing to head a bit further south.

Topics: Openings

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The Virginia Inn is Back Open

And there's a cheeseburger on the menu! The Inn's been closed since shortly after the New Year to expand and build a kitchen. I haven't had a post-remodel meal yet. I just noticed today that it's back open for business. But, from the view through the window, the place looks great.

Virginia Inn
1937 First Avenue
www.virginiainnseattle.com

Topics: Openings

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Portage Bay Cafe To Open a Second Location in SLU

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Set to open on May first on the corner of Terry Avenue and Harrison Street, Portage Bay Cafe's second breakfast and lunch spot —at a grand 6000 square feet —will be twice the size of their current U District location.

Thankfully: more space for their uber generous bank of whipped cream, locally-sourced berries, and organic maple syrup with which to top your brunch indulgence of choice.

Sounds like a perfect excuse to take the S.L.U.T. for your fill of sinful —and green—waffle and pancake toppings.

Topics: Openings

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Fran's on First

I try to keep up, I really do. But I can have a one track mind sometimes (track=booze), so I didn't find out until last week, when looking through new applicants for liquor licenses, that Fran's Chocolates will commandeer one of the two, coveted retail spaces in the new Four Seasons hotel at First & Union downtown (The PI broke it in February). The liquor license is what caught my eye. The store will sell port that pairs with it's chocolates. (I must admit I went giddy at first, thinking Fran might be opening a chocolate cafe & bar.)

If you would like a preview of the magic that is the dark sea salt caramel and 20 year tawny port, Fran herself will play host alongside Todd Cromwell of Wineworth Importers at a port and chocolate benefit at the Columbia Tower Club. The event is Thursday, May 1st at 6:30pm, and cost is $250/person, with all proceeds going to Safe Crossings Foundation, a grief counseling program for children and families dealing with the terminal illness of a loved one. (Register here.)

The retail outlet will be the third for Fran's, which also has stores in U-Village and Bellevue. The store will be approximately the same size as the other retail outlets. The Four Seasons is slated to open early this fall, hopefully just after tourist season so we can have the it all to ourselves. And if the Four Seasons doesn't include some of Fran's truffles in their turn down service, well I'd cry foul, if I could afford a room at the Four Seasons that is.

Topics: Openings

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