Serious Pie

[Billy Bob]

Hounds,

We took our maiden voyage to Serious Pie Saturday night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Four of us split two pies, a Buffalo Mozarrella/San Marzano Tomato and a Chanterelle and Truffle Cheese. They were awesome. The toppings were fresh and spectacular and everyone of us raved about the crust. We also had a delicous Brussel Sprouts and Pork Belly starter and the dessert Cannolis.

Price was very reasonable as well. Tab cam to about $65 bucks and all four of us were satisfied and full!

We will certainly be going back many times.

Billy Bob

www.taoofchow.wordpress.com

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Serious Pie
316 Virginia St, Seattle, WA 98101

[balabanian]

We just spent a week in Seattle and ate at Serious Pie twice. I'm interested in the discussion about the crust, I suppose it's somewhat a matter of personal preference, but I loved it- the best i've ever had- so feathery and moist but also crispy. We had the margherita pizza as well as the sausage/pepper, i liked the margherita the best by far. The salad was also delicious, great wine & beer, and very good service. Also, we were there with our 4 year old and 8 month old and they were very accommodating- provided a booster seat (screwed onto the tall table) and crayons/coloring books.

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Serious Pie
316 Virginia St, Seattle, WA 98101

[lavaca]

I felt sort of ripped off when I ate at Serious Pie. The fancy pizzas are almost certainly worth the price, but the more basic pizzas are several dollars more than what you'd pay for the same thing at somewhere like Tutta Bella without necessarily being any better.

Surely I am partially to blame for this (since I'm the one to have ordered the $16 cherry bomb pepper and fennel sausage pizza), but I still think it's sort of silly for it to work out this way.

[The Chowhound Team]

Just a reminder, folks, to focus the discussion here on Serious PIe or other favorites in the Seattle area. The general properties of pizza crust is best discussed on the General Chowhounding board. Thanks!

[Tom Armitage]

Understood, Team, but the point was to compare the crust at Serious Pie with a "classic" pizza crust, and it's pretty hard to do that without defining what I mean by "classic crust."

[Tom Armitage]

Serious Pie and other "nouvelle" pizza places raise an interesting question: Where is the line between "pizza" and "flatbread"? The crust at Serious Pie, whether you like it or not, is certainly not a classic pizza crust. I'm not one who thinks we shouldn't stray from the classics, and I suppose that getting hung up on semantics isn't all that important. The ultimate question when it comes to food is, "Is it good?" I also like Ethiopian pizza (aka "injera").

[Lauren]

What do you consider 'classic'? The crust I had at SP was closer to what I consider 'classic' than, say Olympia pizza (the only non 'nouvelle' I could think of off the top of my head). When I think of classic crust, I think thin, yeasty, slightly stretchy, crisp on the edges but sags in the middle.

[Tom Armitage]

To me, “classic” pizza crust is a Neapolitan-style crust made only of flour, water, yeast, and salt. The crust tapers from a puffy edge or lip (called a “cornichone”) to a very thin center (around 1/8”). The rules for authentic Neapolitan pizza are set forth by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. http://verapizzanapoletana.org/vpn_frames-index.htm. I use the term “Neapolitan-style” crust because I think you can make a good classic pizza crust without slavishly following the VPN rules, for example as to the type of flour used. New York pizza uses essentially the same recipe for the crust but is bigger in diameter than the traditional Neapolitan pizza (10”). Of course, there are other types of pizza as well, such as Roman-style pizza which has a rimless, thin, dry, almost cracker-like crust and Sicilian pizza which has a thick bread-like crust. What I refer to as “nouvelle” pizza crusts, like those of Serious Pie, and also Mozza in Los Angeles, include other ingredients in their pizza crusts like cornmeal, olive oil, and cheese. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a purist or putting down any kind of flatbread that tastes good. I do confess, however, to loving a well-made Neapolitan-style pizza crust – with its charred bottom and cornichone and chewy, spongy texture. Yum! For a similar discussion, see “Mozza’s Pizza is NOT Pizza! at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/344648. There was also an interesting recent article in the New York Times by John T. Edge on the ubiquitous use of the term “teriyaki” in Seattle. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/din....

[Bethwick]

Serious pie or serious rip off? . l have eaten there 3 times since they opened, Never been impressed or satisfied. I had to post, because a year ago we took my son and his friend home from the east coast for winter break there to eat there. Spent quite a bit of money ordering different food that no one was impressed with and at the end they were amazed at how much we had spent considering the food we got. If I want to spend that much money I will go elsewhere.

If you want great pizza in the NW go to Portland and eat at Appizza Scholls.

[CriticalEater]

Serious rip off all the way. I think I've been 3 or 4 times since they opened back in Sept or Oct of '06. Really want to like it, but it's overpriced for what you get and many of the combinations just don't work. Glad to hear they have a happy hour, but it only goes until 5. Great if you're unemployed....

[laurahutch]

And just an FYI in case you were aware, they now have a happy hour, 3 - 5 pm, with pizzas for $5 and wine and beer specials as well. We went before Christmas with three adults and two kids and ordered one of everything and it was DIVINE!! I'm not sure that they have all the varieties on the HH menu but there were at least a half dozen choices and it was greta fun to try them all out. Just a tip!

[maybelle]

I don't know what took me so long to get to Serious Pie, but boy, did I like it! I loved the chanterelle pizza too, but my sister thought it was too sweet.

The sprouts and pork belly starter sounds great. I love both of those items! I will have to try it next time I am there.

[Billy Bob]

Maybelle,

You will love the Sprouts and Pork Belly starter. What was cool is the preparation method for the Brussel Sprouts. They weren't boiled or steamed to mush, instead it looked like they were peeled apart leaf by leaf and possibly quick fried. They were still firm, but cooked. Very delish!

Billy Bob

[eight_inch_pestle]

I could eat that little chanterelle/truffle number every week.

[VPippin]

I ate at Serious Pie two different times and thought the pizza was good although slightly greasy crust. The blue cheese, delicata squash was great but I wasn't impressed with the other 3 pizza's I tried.

[Billy Bob]

VP,

Wow, a lot different crust experience for us. Ours was not greasy, a very good combination of light and airy with just the right crispiness. I think I could have eaten a whole basket of crust pieces and been happy!

Billy Bob

[Bento Beast]

Chanterelles + Pizza is amazing