How Mike Easton Just Improved the Pies at His Upcoming Pizzeria Gabbiano

By Seattle Mag June 3, 2014

gabbiano-final

!–paging_filter–pIn addition to running his ridiculously popular lunch spotnbsp;stronga href=”http://ilcorvopasta.com/” target=”_blank”Il Corvo/a/strong, Mike Easton is doing rapid-fire work on his upcoming Roman-style pizzeria, stronga href=”http://pizzeriagabbiano.com/” target=”_blank”Gabbiano/a, /strongwhich he hopes to open in Pioneer Square sometime in July./p
pThe original fir floors have been uncovered (remaining wood will be used to build a 25-seat communal table), the chandelier has been hung, and the bar has been assembled using old doors found in the basement of the Pacific Commercial Bank where Gabbiano calls home. The idea, says Easton, is to create a classic, timeless space that looks like it’s been around for a century./p
pThe pizzas themselves? They’ve also been polished./p
p“We kind of changed our plan a little bit,” Easton told me yesterday during a short break between painting sessions. “Originally, we were going to do pizzas you cooked directly on stone and they were long and skinny. While we were in Rome, we kind of had a full-on epiphany. We tasted a lot of pizza.”/p
pHe found that the best pizzas came from special pans — pans he just ordered from Italy./p
p“They’re carbon-steel sheet pans that are a little bigger than a regular sheet pan and have perfect right angles on them. And because they’re carbon steel, they’re naturally non-stick and you can heat them to 650-degrees and it doesn’t hurt them. So, the pizza that produces has that beautiful, crunchy, olive oil kind of fried crust on the bottom and giant air bubbles.”/p
pHe made some recently for friends. The photo above (bottom right) is post-destruction. Apparently, people loved them./p
p“It’s all about a really delicious bread that has amazing toppings on it. I would say it’s half-way between a really good ciabatta and a focaccia — really big air bubbles, fluffy.”nbsp;/p
pThe pizzas will either be sold by weight or by the slice. “We’re still deciding on that.”/p
pIt will be absolutely the opposite of what everyone else in town is doing, which is pretty exciting./p
pLike Il Corvo, Pizzeria Gabbiano will be open for lunch only. Easton talked about offering pizzas to-go until 7 p.m. once things get settled./p
pYou can find more progress photos on thenbsp;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pizzeria-Gabbiano/229471760589637” target=”_blank”Gabbiano Facebook page/anbsp;and a href=”http://pizzeriagabbiano.com/” target=”_blank”website/a./p

 

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