For the third edition of this month’s “Pizza Parlor Friday Holler” feature, I went down the hill to Lower Queen Anne to visit the new Seattle location of The Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits.
The Rock opened its first pizza restaurant in Tacoma in 1995, and now boasts locations in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and even Red Deer, Alberta. With interiors featuring broken brick and an industrial warehouse feel, The Rock is a lively place for pizza.
If classic rock whets your appetite, this is where you want to be, as you’ll find musical art on the walls, concert lighting above, and Aerosmith to Zeppelin out of the speakers. The pizza playlist is also interesting, as many of the pies are named after song or album titles. (Many of those titles are listed on the bold booth seatback cushions.)
These are American-style pizzas (between a thin and a thick crust) cooked in an almond wood-fed oven at temperatures approaching 600 degrees. If you’re looking for the delicateness of Neapolitan-style pizza, look elsewhere, like the previously discussed pies at Queen Margherita. What The Rock offers is a fun atmosphere with a wide slate of white sauce and red sauce pizzas, loaded with toppings—or the ability to customize your own pizza in a choice of three sizes.
Those not partaking in pizza can choose from an assortment of pasta dishes, burgers, chicken sandwiches, or other sandwiches and wraps. There are also appetizers and salads that are good starters, such as this basic garden salad that helped balance my pizza sampling:
As for the pizzas, here are four I sampled in their nine-inch glory:
Flirtin’ with Disaster: hot Italian sausage, andouille sausage, caramelized onions, fresh crushed garlic, tomato sauce, and red chili flakes.
Crazy Little Thing: tomato sauce with white onions, green pepper, sliced mushrooms, crushed garlic, and black olives.
Satisfaction: garlic butter, mozzarella, kalamata olives, sauteed spinach, red onions, roasted garlic, prosciutto, feta cheese, and drizzled Italian dressing.
Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy: tomato sauce topped wtih pepperoni, sweet sausage, peppered bacon, meatballs, ham, and extra mozzarella.
Note: Photo of bar courtesy of Dave Baker, Art Director, The Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits
You forgot to mention the brown sugar garlic mozzarella bread…so you must not have tried it. A shame!
I DID miss that. Sounds like an interesting blend of sweet and savory.
Crazy Train is my all time fav and so excited to have the Queen Anne Location when we are hanging out on the boat this summer in S Lake Union!