Farm to Pizza Seasonals

Emily Lewontin, an associate manager at our Magnolia location, has been on the Pagliacci food committee since 2018. This is the group tasked with coming up with all of our new pizzas. Creativity and testing are essential.

For the last couple of months, Emily and the team have honed in on Za’atar, the bright Middle Eastern spice mix featuring sesame seeds, sumac, spices and salt. When they added it to summer squash, they knew they were on to something.

“In season, we’ve been highlighting local organic summer squash for a long time, and it was a natural jumping-off point to create something new and exciting,” says Emily. “Za’atar is such a flavor bomb that it doesn't need much else, so it's a fun challenge to find the right topping combination to highlight the za'atar and not overpower it with a bunch of heavy flavors.”

Emily combed local farmers markets in search of complementary flavors. “I wanted to lean into summery flavors, thus cherry tomatoes and mint,” Emily says. “I had been trying to put sliced lemons on pizza for months with limited success, so deciding to roast them was just another experiment.”

It worked spectacularly and proved to be the component that pulled the other flavors together. After months of testing, they’d created something greater than the sum of its parts. We named it after its creator.

Emily’s Pie starts with a base of olive oil and za’atar. Next, we thinly slice local, zucchini from Mosby Farms and layer it with roasted Meyer lemons, halved cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and crumbled ricotta salata. We finish the pizza with a sprinkle of mint.

Our other seasonal pie—a tribute to Washington state peaches—also celebrates the best of local farms. The Peachza Primo is salty, peachy, tangy, and meaty. We slice tender, juicy peaches from Eastern Washington and layer them with savory roasted pork loin over mozzarella on an olive oil base. Out of the oven, we top the pie with fresh peppery arugula and a tangy drizzle of balsamic reduction to balance the peaches' sweetness.

And if you love peaches, you’ll love our seasonal offering from Gelatiamo. The family-run Tonnemaker Organic Farms near Royal City, Washington, grows some of the best peaches in the state. If there’s a better way to enjoy their fruit than straight off the tree, Gelatiamo’s peach sorbet is it. Fresh and light, this sorbet is the essence of juicy farm stand peaches—the perfect way to cool down on a hot August day.