delancey

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hi there.  it sure feels good to be back here today. i had a pretty awful week last week, one that i’d prefer to forget about immediately.

and what better way to forget about an unpleasant week than to talk about my trip to delancey when i was visiting seattle?

the phrase “labor of love” keeps popping into my head whenever i think about molly and brandon’s place. it’s a little cliché, yes. but i think it’s because i know how hard they worked to make this restaurant a reality, and how hard they still work to make it the place that it is. writing about it is tough; i wish i had molly’s way with words to aptly describe how i feel about it. but i will say this: to see 2 people follow their dream so completely, and to make something that is so utterly theirs … well, it’s one of the most inspiring things i know of. when i first heard that they were opening a pizza restaurant, i had a vision in my head about what it would be like. i imagined it would feel as if you were in their kitchen, chatting over a bottle of wine with some cheese and pickled veg. and you know what? that’s exactly what it feels like to me after visiting a few weeks ago.

and the food! oh my, the food. i had dinner with some new friends, anna, alexandria and jon.  what a fun dinner we had. we started off with a special starter that night – the wood oven-roasted clams with garlic, shallots and parsley. they were perfectly sweet and briny. earlier that day, upon hearing that brandon had found shishito peppers at the market, i told molly how much i love the way a certain NYC restaurant prepares them – tossed with olive oil, blistered in the oven and then topped with a sprinkle of lemon juice and sea salt. well, brandon made my night by suprising us with a plate of perfectly-blistered peppers. i’m smiling right now as i think about it.

and then: the pizza. brandon has really done something special here — it’s one of the best pies i’ve ever had, hands down. we ordered the margherita and the padron. the crust is a revelation – perfectly chewy and blistered, with a flavor that made me say to my dinner companions, “this is what pizza crust should taste like.”

finally, we split molly’s bittersweet chocolate chip cookies with grey sea salt. i was in heaven …. just perfect.

the space is warm and inviting, and it was wonderful to be able to meet their good friend sam after we had exchanged emails about photography earlier this year (he was filling in as host that night). after saying our goodbyes, we walked out and looked back at the glow of happy people through the windows. and i got goosebumps looking at that scene — brandon carefully watching each pizza going in and out of the oven; molly calmly working in the kitchen and smiling warmly at people as they came through the door.

congratulations molly + brandon. and thank you for the most memorable meal i’ve had in a long, long time.