Last night I was chatting with some friends about pizza, and there were many harsh words directed at Pizza Hut and its ilk. In principle, I wanted to agree.

In practice, however, I would gladly debate the merits of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana rules while eating a Supreme Personal Pan Pizza that has been sitting in the warmer for two hours. I don’t say this as a boast or a *mea culpa*, but I’m glad that I’ve maintained the ability to enjoy low-road pizza while exploring high-road pizza, a trend that is just beginning to take root in Seattle.

My favorite pizza in Seattle–my favorite pizza ever, in fact–is indeed a high-road pie, made at Via Tribunali on Pike Street. Via Tribunali is an über-Neapolitan place. They import their flour and their pizzaiolos from Italy, their menu is printed only in Italian, and at one point they were strongly implying that they were injecting minerals into their water supply to better approximate the hard water of Naples.

In his book American Pie, Peter Reinhart argues that the best American pizzerias don’t try to ape any particular style or chase a certification, but use tradition as an inspiration. Obviously, Via Tribunali is exactly the kind of ape Reinhart is talking about, and when it debuted it garnered reams of bad notices on the food discussion boards: the knives are dull (pizzas at Via Trib are unsliced); the center of the pie is soggy; the mushrooms are canned; the crust is underdone; you set my hair on fire; etc. As a friend of mine wrote, “Via Tribunali reminds me of an Italian motorcycle that I once owned: beautiful, but deeply flawed.”

I went in with low expectations. And indeed, Via Trib’s salami pie is greasy and unexceptional. Luckily, we also tried the Primavera. Crust, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella. When the pizza emerges from the wood-burning oven, it is topped with a handful of arugula and crumbles of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Any greasiness from the cheese is balanced by the peppery bite of the greens. This is a single-serving pie (it’s fairly large, but the crust is very thin and made without oil), and I’m already thinking about when I can next ditch the family and get over to the bar at Via Trib for a Primavera and a glass of wine. As much as I liked having dinner with Laurie there, this is the perfect solo Seattle dinner. (Also, VT is not at all kid-friendly.)

If you’re wondering what the pies at VT look like, I found a photo of a couple (though sadly not the Primavera) on Flickr.

So, I’m looking forward to seeing how the pizza scene in Seattle matures. In the meantime, I’m equally thrilled with the Primavera and with Pagliacci‘s Works Primo, available every other Sunday at the Broadway location. The Works features pepperoni, sausage, onions, green peppers, and olives–better known as a Supreme, and it’s supremely good.