Made from Scratch
Pamela Hinckley is surrounded by bakers and pastry makers who are shaping thin loaves of ficelle, seasoning homemade croutons and shaping pie crusts and pizza dough. From her spot on the production floor of the Dahlia Workshop, the CEO of Tom Douglas Restaurants (TDR) gestures to the second level, where pizzas are being served at Serious Pie. Guests sitting at long communal tables have a full perspective on the action below and a view into the wine shop and the new Dahlia Workshop Biscuit Bar, which occupy the front of the building’s first floor.
“Because we have a mezzanine for the second floor open to the bakery, we knew we had to be careful about what we put up there,” Hinckley says. “Serious Pie is related to the dough and the bakers below and our desire to demonstrate our efforts and commitment. People can smell the fermentation of the dough and see the bread rising and baking—it was a darn good fit.”
Serious Pie Westlake, which opened in February and seats 49 patrons, is one of five new South Lake Union restaurants celebrated chef Tom Douglas is opening this year, a move that doubles the size of his restaurant empire to 10—not counting bakeries—in a mere three months. Only Serious Pie is a repeat; the others are new concepts.
Giving customers a peek into the kitchen to see the chef’s magic has been a hallmark of Tom Douglas establishments, but the company is elevating the practice at the new restaurants as an important marketing strategy—to show customers how much effort goes into preparing food from scratch.
“Part of our mission is to celebrate culinary arts,” Douglas says. “Every day it gets cheapened by the mass of chain restaurants taking over America. When you can spend $10 at Olive Garden, I need to give you a good reason to spend $17 at Cuoco.”
At Cuoco, Tom Douglas’s first Italian restaurant, part of that reason is hand-rolled pasta created by pasta maker Martha Francis, who will perform her magic in an open station adjacent to the kitchen. “Martha has been making pasta for us for 15 years,” Douglas says. “She rolls the pasta rather than using an extruder. When you watch Martha make the pasta, you see the spectacular effort that goes into it.”
Such effort, Hinckley says, is often discounted. For years, unseen by patrons, Francis has rolled pasta in the back of Douglas’ Palace
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