insiderseattle
John Sundstrom and his partners at Lark, Kelly Ronan, and JM Enos, are excited to announce that their pizza place, Southpaw, officially opens today. It is located in the original Lark space at 926 12th Avenue in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The name is a nod to doing things a little differently—in this case, rather than boxing left-handed, it’s making pizzas that fall in a happy spot somewhere between Neapolitan and New York style, completed with familiar toppings as well as some more novel additions like padrón peppers and red wine-braised oxtail.
The space has been updated with bright hits of orange on the chairs and lacquered plywood tables, plus punchy graphic art on the walls. Guests will order at what used to be the bar, from menus pasted up on a signboard. There is seating for 49 at a mix of tables, booths, and seats at the window bar. Robert Cipollone of Cipollone Creative came up with the design concept for the space—he also designed the beautiful new Lark space on Seneca Street, and Sundstrom was happy to work with him again.
The pizzas are made with a special wheat blend custom milled by Smalls Family Farms in Walla Walla. The 16” pizzas will be tender but chewy, cooked quickly in a wood fired oven. Pies are $22, or $6 for a quarter (their version of a slice, when available.) Toppings are mostly vegetarian, with a list of optional meat add-ons. Here are a few of the pies planned for the initial lineup:
Uppercut: Bianco DiNapoli organic tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, Grana Padano
On the Ropes: padrone peppers, cotija, chorizo, Alvarez guajillo pepper, tomato
Title Fight: wild mushrooms, lardo, roasted garlic, thyme, arugula
Contender: green chickpea pesto, feta cheese, za’atar, roasted garlic, cumin
Add-ons include guanciale, anchovy, crispy chicken skin, burrata, fennel sausage, and a fried egg, among other treats.
In addition to pizza, there is a garden section of the menu with dishes like romanesco bagna cauda with pine nuts, roasted potatoes with chile butter and ‘nduja, sugar pie pumpkin salad with pecans, blue cheese, dates and sherry vinegar, and a local greens salad with candy striped beets, arugula, mint, and smoked pine nut tahini. Much of the produce comes from Lark’s rooftop garden, less than half a mile north on 12th Avenue. There is also a rotating selection of cheese and charcuterie.
Desserts are simple: there are JM’s famous salted chocolate chip cookies, zeppole with blackberry jam, and soft serve in two flavors—one adventurous and one a little more standard, but they’ll always go together, for those that prefer the swirl. Look out for salted caramel toffee and Mexican chocolate (plus walnut wedding cookie crumbles for a topping) and Meyer lemon and alpine huckleberry (with vanilla bean candied cranberry compote as a topping.)
As for drinks, everything is on tap—no bottles at all. To start, there’s one red wine, one white wine, two beers, three cocktails, and one shrub and soda available—more offerings, including cold brew coffee, will follow.
Southpaw is open from 11am to 11pm daily. Delivery will be available soon. For more information, visit www.southpawpizza.com or call 206.323.5278.
Southpaw
926 12th Avenue
Seattle, Washington.