Seriously, Delicious.

Food Confession: I'm not really a big pizza fan. I know a lot of people love it and great debates are waged over crust and sauce - but it just doesn't do the trick for me. I grew up with a brother who always worked in pizza restaurants (and now runs four of them!) and we had pizza several times a week. Maybe I'm just immune to the charms of pizza after consuming so much of it in my teens. So, when Seattle Metropolitan magazine named a pizza place on their 10 Best Restaurants list I was surprised and intrigued. Last weekend we finally made plans to check out the culinary delights at this award winning pizza joint - Serious Pie.

I had read many reviews that mentioned the very long wait times (no reservations are taken) so we planned to get there early, get our name on the list and then hit up one of the nearby bars for a drink while we waited. My husband scoffed at me when I insisted on leaving the house by 6:05 pm so when we met our friends at 7:30 the wiat wouldn't be too much longer. "What if there's no wait? What if we get right in?" All I could think was how much I was going to enjoy being right about this one.

We arrived at the restaurant at 6:2o pm only to be met with a 2 hour wait. 2 HOURS! What could be worth waiting two hours for? Certainly not pizza, right? But wait we did. We actually got lucky and got a call (the hostesses very graciously offered to call one of our cell phones when a table was ready) only 90 minutes or so after we'd put our name in. We downed our drinks, paid our bills and trudged back over to the restaurant.

Be aware before you go - the tables are communal. If there are only 2-4 people in your group you'll have other diners at your table. We had a total of six people with us so we got a table to ourselves. After settling in we finally got a glimpse of the menu - some delicious sounding salads and appetizers and a handful of pizza options. Not a ton of selection. There is, however, an extensive wine and beer list. We all ordered an appetizer or salad of some sort as well as some drinks and then proceeded to try and decide on pizzas. After much debate we ordered three different pizzas, figuring a 1/2 pizza per person was plenty of food.

Our appetizers arrived and they were outstanding. I ordered 'Last Summer's Beans with Bortega and Sardines', a delicate little plate of exactly what the title describes. It was simple and delicious. Other appetizers we tried were the 'Baby Lettuces with Radishes and Muscatel Vinaigrette', a pate' appetizer special, and 'Brandied Peaches, Speck and Pine Nuts'. All the appetizers were well balanced and delicious but the 'Brandied Peaches' were by far the standout. The textures and tastes in combination with one in other just knocked me off my socks. I grudgingly agreed to let Dan eat most of it.

Finally the big moment arrived - three rustic looking pies were placed on our table. We decided to try the Buffalo Mozzarella and San Marzano Tomato, the House Salumi - Caramelized Onion and Sardegna and finally the Penn Cove Clams, House Pancetta and Lemon Thyme pizzas. To say we were blown away would be an understatement. Serious Pie nails it. The toppings are flavorful and used sparingly so as not to overwhelm the Super Star of this pizza - The Crust. Good lord I could wax poetic about the crust for days. Bubbly and chewy, lightly sprinkled with something on top that I could never figure out - salt and pepper? garlic salt? Not sure exactly but it was delicious. I think all three pizzas were gone within about six minutes. Leaving us to sit there and stare at each other and decide which one of us was going to be the first to suggest we order one more. Finally our friend Jay said "I could eat another piece...." and we all piped in that we could too. Conveniently enough, each pie is cut into six pieces so we all had one more slice and left fat and happy. For the record, the fourth pizza we ordered was the Buffalo Mozzarello and San Marzano Tomato because most of the table thought that was the standout. I personally liked the House Salumi pizza the best because of the variety of flavors on it - but was very happy to eat more of whichever pizza was put in front of me.

One final thought - while we were eating my friend Sara said "the crust tastes like it has extra gluten, that's what makes it so great". As I walked back to our table from the restroom I noticed many large bags or flour stacked in a corner with the words "High Gluten Flour" stamped on them. So, props to you Sara for being such a smarty!