Pizza man tosses east coast style pies
Published 7:00 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
You could say that Ron Mariotti lives a double life _ he’s a Mount Si High teacher by day and a pizza
man by night.
Since the beginning of the year, the second generation Italian has
been crafting East-Coast-style pizzas that have taken him more than a decade
to perfect. His inspiration came from the world-famous kitchen of Pepe’s
Pizza in Connecticut where pizza dough has been tossed since 1925.
And according to one faithful customer, Mariotti’s Pizza di Napoli
has achieved the exact flavor the entrepreneur has been aiming for.
“It’s just like East-Coast pizza with a thin crust and they use the best
ingredients for the sauce and the toppings,” said Sarah Hayne of
North Bend. “It’s just as good as Pepe’s Pizza.”
“It’s more like an authentic meal,” added Steve Hayne.
The Haynes family has been patronizing the pizza shop since
it opened and indulges in the handmade pizzas at least once a week.
They said the key to an East-Coast pizza is that it has good flavor,
less cheese, and fewer toppings that are of higher quality than most of the
pizza parlors in the area.
“We rather do quality and not quantity, so consistency is really
important,” Mariotti said, adding that he imports the meats from Italy.
Mariotti’s Pizza di Napoli is currently located at Isadora’s Cafe
in Snoqualmie and is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights after
Cris Dillon closes down her shop.
“We were just chitchatting one afternoon and I always wanted to
offer a dinner menu, but I don’t have the time or energy,” Dillon said. “So
we decided it would be a nice arrangement.”
And like the Haynes, Dillon often indulges her taste buds with
Mariotti’s pizzas on the weekends.
“It’s very good and very fresh. It leaves you feeling like you’ve had
a meal that’s not overly filling but really tasty and really fresh,” she said.
Mariotti, along with business partner and girlfriend Colleen
Connor, have been dreaming of opening their own restaurant for more than a
year. The two met while teaching at Mount Si High where Mariotti works
with special education students and Connor taught English and history.
In the restaurant, Mariotti is the master chef in the kitchen
while Connor and two high school students keep the customers happy in the front.
Working with food was a natural step for Mariotti, who said he
was raised on his mother’s homemade delicacies.
“Food is everything in my family. We grew up waking up and
asking, `What’s for dinner?'” Mariotti recalled.
“It’s part of his culture,” Connor added.
But writing down recipes wasn’t part of any Mariotti tradition, so it
took him quite a while to perfect his family’s pizza sauce. He also credits
living in Italy and learning from a family of pizza makers for his
authentic Italian-style pizza.
The enterprising couple hopes to one day expand their business to
include a bakery and restaurant, but that probably won’t be anytime soon.
For now, they are content with bringing an East-Coast favorite to the residents
of the Valley and beyond.
“Our first goal is to create the demand where we can open
more nights,” Connor said. “We don’t
want to be big.”
“When things grow it gets yucky,” Mariotti added.
Mariotti’s Pizza di Napoli is located at 8062 Railroad Ave. and
can be reached at (425) 888-7051. Business hours are Thursday, 5 p.m. to
9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
