Neapolitan pizza on Bainbridge Island
Chef Brendan McGill is excited to announce that Bruciato opens today at 4pm. The Neapolitan pizza restaurant is situated in the renovated Winslow Hardware building on Bainbridge Island at 236 Winslow Way East.
The restaurant seats about 75 at a combination of banquettes, high-top tables, a long communal table, and bar seats. Exposed beams and steel recall the building’s long history as an anchor in downtown Winslow, and the large space will occasionally hosts bands or other lively events.
Bruciato is the realization of a longtime Monday night pop-up at Hitchcock, McGill’s first restaurant. McGill and Brandon Thompson, the pizzaiolo, are both dedicated to the tradition of wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, and excited to bring it to the island.
The menu ranges from classic Neapolitan pizze to playful, modern pies. Think: a Margherita or the Datteri e lonza with Shady Acres Mangalitsa cured pork loin, dates, basil, mozzarella, and balsamico. The dough is made with Tipo 00 flour, water, salt, and a wild yeast starter—and a long fermentation makes for perfectly puffy dough with just a touch of sourness and patina of crunch. Tomatoes come from Italy’s San Marzano region, but many of the toppings are cured by Hitchcock Deli or harvested in the region.
In addition to pizza, there are items cooked in the wood-fire oven like octopus, tripe, clams, and vegetable sides, as well as salads and antipasti like preserved albacore with radicchio, potato, Castelvetrano olives, and almonds. Don’t forget dessert—the tartufo affogato is a showstopper: gelato rolled in nuts with a chocolate magic shell, served in a chilled cappuccino cup with a shot of espresso poured over the top tableside.
The bar is stocked with amari, grappe, apertivi, and digestivi—plus more familiar American spirits. There is a great beer and wine selection, plus Peroni on tap. The wine list will be primarily Italian, with the addition of domestic producers growing Italian varietals. There will be a focus on naturally made wine from exciting, small wineries, as well as bottles from classic producers from Sicily to the Alto Adige.
The restaurant is open Tuesday to Saturday from 4pm to 10pm, and tillmidnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Lunchtime hours, a morning coffee and pastry service complete with breakfast pizzas and decadent cornetti, as well as service seven days a week will be added soon. For more information call, 206.201.3462 or visit www.pizzeriabruciato.com
About Brendan McGill
Brendan McGill hails from Fairbanks, Alaska, where his love of cooking, fishing, and farming were cultivated from an early age. What started there as an aspiring cook’s passion has grown into a collection of highly-acclaimed restaurants and delis located in Seattle and on nearby Bainbridge Island, just a 35-minute ferry ride from the city.
After graduating with a culinary degree from the Art Institute of Seattle, McGill spent time traveling and cooking through Spain, South America, and Italy. In Seattle, he cooked at local favorites Harvest Vine and Il Bistro before opening Hitchcock on Bainbridge Island to rave reviews in 2010.
At Hitchcock, McGill showcases not just local products, but also an abundance of vegetables and pork from his farm, Shady Acres. McGill raises purebred Mangalitsa pigs to provide the delis and restaurants with incredible meat that he can truly tell the entire story behind, taking the local sourcing movement to a new level.
In 2011, Hitchcock Deli opened next door to the restaurant, offering guests a robust selection of house-cured meats, accoutrements, and sandwiches. In 2014 a second Hitchcock Deli opened in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, to the thrill of city dwellers.
Never one to slow down, in April of 2016 McGill, along with his wife Heidi, opened Verjus, a vegetarian cafe and fresh-pressed juice bar that fuels Bainbridge locals and visitors alike. Bruciato, the island’s first Neapolitan pizza joint, opened in January of 2017. McGill crosses the water once again with Café Hitchcock, slated to open in early 2017 just north of Seattle’s Pioneer Square.
McGill was voted the “People’s Best New Chef” by Food & Wine in 2013, and in 2014 was honored with a James Beard Foundation semifinalist nod for Best Chef Northwest and named “Chef of the Year” by Eater Seattle. In 2015, StarChefs presented McGill with a Rising Star Chef Award and Rising Star Artisan Award for his charcuterie program.
When not in the kitchen or out on the farm, McGill can be found exploring the world with his wife Heidi and their two young sons.
For more information, visit www.brendanmcgill.com