Starting this Thursday: Two Seattle Classics, One Pizza

This spring we made a pizza with Uwajimaya, and The Waji turned out to be one of the most popular pies we’ve put out all year. Our test kitchen, meanwhile, had already been tinkering with a Mexican-inspired seasonal. It didn’t take long for the two ideas to find each other. We called our friends at Taco Time Northwest.

What followed was a lot of back-and-forth between our food team and theirs, all of it aimed at one question: How do you get the flavor of Taco Time NW onto a pizza that is still, unmistakably, a Pagliacci pie? After more than a few tries, we got there.

What do Taco Time NW and Pagliacci have in common? More than you’d think. We are both independently owned Seattle-area companies, and we run our kitchens the same way: fresh ingredients, prepped that morning, the hard way, because it tastes better. We both source close to home, and we both compost. At both companies, people stay for years, get promoted from within, and often make a career of it. Add it up, and the two of us have been feeding the greater Seattle area and beyond for a combined 111 years.

Here’s what that looks like on a weekday morning.

At 7 a.m., the lights are on at Taco Time NW and the doors are locked. The first customer is three hours away. The pinto beans, from Quincy out in the Columbia Basin, are already simmering in small batches. The pico de gallo, the guacamole, the ranch, and the salsas get made from scratch. The cheddar comes from Sunnyside, in the Yakima Valley, and is grated by hand. The tortillas come from La Mexicana Bakery in Renton, a partner since 1978. By the time the doors open at 10, that kitchen has already put in a shift. The work doesn’t end there. The beef is cooked in five-pound batches, all day long. Same again tomorrow.

Our mornings look about the same. We’re chopping vegetables, cutting up fresh pineapple, grating mozzarella and Ferndale Farmstead’s kasseri cheese, and making dough. Edgar Bobadilla has made our dough for more than forty years, the way our founder, Dorene Centioli-McTigue, taught him: four ingredients, live yeast, a three-day rise. Dorene opened the first Pagliacci on University Way in 1979 with one goal: to make the best pizza possible. Forty-seven years and twenty-seven shops later, the recipe hasn’t changed. Our managers have been with us more than fourteen years, on average.

Robby Tonkin, co-president of Taco Time NW, has noticed.

“We are huge fans of Pagliacci. We love their food, their people, and their purpose. When a brand that shares so many of our values asks to build a pizza around our food, the answer comes easy. In our 64 years, the Taco Time name has never been on another restaurant’s menu. We’re proud Pagliacci is the first, and we’re blown away by how good this pizza tastes.”

If you moved here recently: Taco Time NW has seventy-four restaurants throughout Washington. The Tonkin family has owned and operated it since the first restaurant opened in White Center in 1962. The original is still there. Sixty-four years on, it's the fourth generation, Robby and Chris Tonkin, running the company.

Matt Galvin, one of our co-owners, didn’t need any of it explained.

“I’m super excited about this pizza. Taco Time is a Seattle icon. I grew up going there and loving it as a kid. My first job, I sold them products, and I was so impressed by how the matriarch, Beckie Tonkin, treated me — with such care and respect, not that I’d earned it. Getting to know Robby, Chris, and the rest of the Taco Time group has only strengthened my admiration for their family-owned business.”

Enough about us. What’s on the pizza?

Taco Time Pizza

Two Seattle favorites, one primo collaboration. Our Taco Time Pizza features Taco Time NW’s seasoned, PNW-raised ground beef, crispy Tater Fries, and 60-day-aged cheddar. We pair them with our own mozzarella and onion over a base of Taco Time’s original Hot Sauce, then add our house-made pico de gallo — Roma tomatoes, Anaheim peppers, red onion, and cilantro with a squeeze of lime. Out of the oven, it’s finished with a drizzle of creamy Taco Time Ranch and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

The Taco Time Pizza isn’t the only new thing on the menu this month

Mushroom Primo

This primo pie features an umami-rich blend of golden chanterelles, brown shimeji, and meaty king oyster mushrooms from Foraged and Found Edibles. We roast the mushrooms and pair them with onions and a blend of provolone, mozzarella, and Parmesan over an olive oil base. Out of the oven, it’s finished with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Molly Moon’s Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

Made with pumpkins from Stahlbush Island Farms in Corvallis, Oregon — roasted, puréed, and spiced with organic cane sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and clove. This fall flavor gets its earthy sweetness and complexity from the pumpkin itself, cooked until it reaches the rich, velvety consistency of classic pumpkin pie filling. If you think you’re over pumpkin spice, a scoop of this may change your mind.

They’re only here through October 27, so get them while you can.