Seattle Mag Explores Pub Grub; The Stranger Pans Pizza

Seattle Magazine is dedicating its next issue to beer, which is why Washington Beer Blog's Kendall Jones has been in the mag's spotlight recently (more pub grub, Ballard brews). But now, its critic Allison Austin Scheff's turn to suggest some of the best pub grub in Seattle. On her short list: Gastropod ("Hop onto a bar stool inside the snug space, carved into a warehouse on an otherwise quiet block, and order chef Travis Kukull's casually brilliant food"), Schooner Exact ("Probably the tastiest—and most surprising—plate is the bratwurst ($10), popping with juice and served a variety of seasonal ways, including on a mound of sherry-vinegar- and mustard-dressed potato salad"), Pine Box ("If you're smart, you'll order the capicola pizza ($12), chewy crust and spicy meat, with a big, runny duck egg and a sprinkling of arugula spread over the top") and Quinn's ("It's better than ever," "...it'd be a worthy destination for dinner just for the food").

The Stranger, meanwhile, gets full on their own beer pairing: pizza.

Humble Pie in the Central District and The Masonry on lower Queen Anne (both new) go crust-to-crust in Bethany Jean Clement's review this week. Which is the better pie? Of the former, BJC says the pizzas are just "pretty good":

In general, the toppings are fresh and plentiful and tasty; it's the crust that leaves something to be desired. For wood-fired pizzas, the three I've tried ($8 to $12) were sadly lacking in any char, their bottoms pale, the texture spongy, the taste neutral—no saltiness or toasty-yeastiness, no air bubbles or elastic pull for rewarding chewing.

But she had her socks nearly knocked off by The Masonry.

The pizza at the Masonry is up there with the best in the city. Lucas Neve runs the kitchen; he (and a few other staff members) came from Cafe Lago in Montlake, which had been making wood-fired pizza for approximately 117 years when this recent, most welcome trend began.

BJC notes that The Masonry is open all afternoon, "but from two to five o'clock, they use the oven for prep, meaning no pizza."

· Pub Grub Grows Up [Seattle Mag]
· Pie Versus Pie [The Stranger]
· All Week in Reviews Coverage [~ESEA~]