Team Building with Microsoft

On Thursday May 8Th Mad Pizza had the privilege to be a part of a team building event for 100 Microsoft employees. The idea was, they would break into 20 teams and each team would compete for the most creative and best tasting pizza.

This is how it worked: each team had a few minutes to strategize on what their pizza's would look like - our team had the toppings perfectly portioned out and on display for each team to pour over. Once they had their list they had to return to their table to sauce and cheese their pizza skins (hand tossed by some of our brightest Restaurant General Manager's, right there in front of the contestants). Once that was done their team captains only had a few minutes to race to the pizza topping area and get their toppings, but if they weren't quick that perfectly planned pizza could turn into an all mushroom extravaganza!

A good time was had by all, the contestants were very savvy and creative in the way they constructed their pies... one team constructed the space needle on their pie and some even found a way to mix it up by taking some toppings from the Daniel's Hors 'd orderves table! Can we please get a ruling from the judges on that? All the contestants were great sports and a pleasure to work with we look forward to seeing them as custoemers on our resturants.

Our great thanks to our new friends at Daniel's for putting a great spread out for these folks as well as a bite for us at the end of the event. Yes they got pizza, check out the pie with the Daniel's Logo.

I also want to thank Jodi and her team at the Zella company for getting us involved and putting on such a great event. Nothing says team building like constructing the perfect pie.

Lastly I want to thank my team headed up by Norm from our First Hill location - they did us proud and were true "Mad Performers", great job Norm, Greg, and Nick!

A Weekend of Food in Seattle

I spent the weekend with my good friends Ted and Sara of Berkeley, Aana of West Seattle and my loves Anita and Sam eating our way around Seattle. Tilth on Friday night, an incredible meal with Jeff and Jenny Long on Saturday cooked by Chez Ted from ingredients picked up at the U District Farmers Market and the fish shop in Fishermans' Terminal; oysters at Chinooks; Cafe Campagne for brunch on Sunday; a slice of cheese pizza at Starfire Mad Pizza before the Sounders' game, and, post-Sounders victory, a late dinner at How to Cook a Wolf.
The highlights for me were:
- the fried basil leave on top of a seared scallop by Ted.
- the surf clam ceviche topped with finely diced serrano peppers at How to Cook a Wolf.
- Ouefs en Meurette at Campagne.
- the good times that seem to happen with good food and wine and friends.
It was one of those weekends in Seattle that makes tourists want to move here: U District street fair, Cheese Festival in Pike Place Market; Norwegian heritage parade in Ballard.
As Mad Pizza moves forward, we need to reinforce the localness of who we are; the ingredients available to us is stunning at times, and we will find a way as we move forward to utilize them in more special ways.
Blooming arugula anyone?

Mad Fun in Madison Park

I stopped in our Madison Park location for lunch yesterday and while I always expect to have a good experience, I was impressed that that good experience quickly turned into a great experience. I had some fun too - "Mad Fun".

I walked through the door, the music was providing just the right vibe, and our team was particularly good about adding to that by being what I like to call "Mad Performers" with their guests. You can't beat the feeling you get when you can see that your guests are really enjoying the experience they are having in one of your restaurants.

The great smell and taste of a freshly baked hand tossed pie is always expected, but I was proud of our team for adding to what was already becoming a great experience by really going the extra mile to get their guests to smile. It is always my hope that our guests who come into the restaurants get this kind of experience each and every time, but if they don't we have a place that they can go to get our attention - http://www.tellmadpizza.com/ We all need to be "Mad Performers" and have some "Mad Fun"

A great week

We had a great week at Mad Pizza last week. From a sales perspective, we were able to have a nice increase. From an organizational perspective, we launched on-line sales at two locations and our new website. Thank you to Chris and team for the detailed work at making this new channel fully functional. And a great big Thank you! to our Starfire Staff for their awesome weekend. It is great to see how much value we provide to customers in that environment, and how appreciated we are.

Italian hot spot in Tacoma

Living in the shadow of Seattle, Tacoma has had a hard time convincing people that it has some great eateries. This last year however, it has seen a rebirth as a formidable city for great food and wine.

Recently I had dinner at IL Fiasco, a charming little Italian Bistro located in the 6th ave business district, just a stones throw from my house in the near North end. It was the best Italian I have had in the Northwest. I prefer my Italian food to be simple, but robust. While I could have had the roasted duck breast with a current and port reduction, I opted for the very simple and full flavored Rigatoni Boulognaise - freshly made and cooked to order rigatoni pasta with a sweet Italian sausage ragout. While the sauce was delicious, it was the hotness of the rigatoni noodle that caught my attention. It was piping hot, but still aldente! I had the house greens with this dish which consisted of the perfect ration of dressing to fresh greens. One of my friends had the braciola di cinghiale, wild boar rib chop with marsala and wild mushroom demi-glace - let me just suggest to you that we were wild about!

Paired with two great bottles of wine, a 2001 Costello Di Bossi Chianti Classico and a 2005 Cloudy Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, our meals were pallet satisfying. But beyond the food, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, which lent itself as the perfect setting for my friends and I to have a very intimate evening in the midst of a host of other diners, yet still we felt like the only ones there.

If you have a sweet tooth, might I suggest the canoli with a little espresso - the perfect end to a perfect meal.

Literally translated IL Fiasco means The Fiasco - it was anything but.

Piacere! (Enjoy)

Lunch at Skillet

I enjoyed lunch today at the roving lunch truck named Skillet. Today it was in SoDo, so I took in the excitement. Lemongrass Pork Sandwich with fries. The Lemongrass Pork was very good. I liked the set-up, though I have to say that Skillet has chosen the most industrial spot in the city of Seattle for its SoDo locatoins. Lots of recycling going on down there. But lots of fun.

Long time no post

Time flies when you are working hard. Chris, Justin and the RGM's have begun to utilize the restaurant performance report; Customerville is giving us great feedback; we are preparing for Soccer Season at Starfire with the UEFA cup games. And more to come.