Northwest Flavor Explosion
So yeah…we make pizza too. We have been hitting you guys pretty hard with the beer-delivery thing since Covid hit, but what can we say? Beer is awesome, you guys have been drinking a lot, and we have seized the opportunity to make our mark while The Man has been letting us run relatively free. Now that we are a national story and the world knows Zeeks has the best beer-delivery program on the planet, we feel like we have the luxury to talk about some other stuff. Like pizza!
The cool thing about pivoting to pizza is that everything we have talked about with beer applies to pizza too. Our values are Northwest at the core and these values are foundational for everything we do. That means key beer drivers like authenticity, craftsmanship, and an adventurous spirit are also important values for pizza. Just like for beer, we want Zeeks to be your gateway to the Northwest when it comes to discovering the bold flavors and creativity of the place we all call home. Our company is full of adventurers and we are constantly on the lookout for outdoor spots we haven’t explored, new and talented brewers and winemakers, fun music and people to party with, and craftsman and farms producing food with integrity. Basically, if it is cool and happening in the Northwest and fits in the Zeeks orbit, we want you to know about it.
This week we want to introduce you to Salt Blade Handcrafted Meats…
Salt Blade started to hit our radar a couple years back because our friends at Urban Family Brewing kept raving about them whenever we were there and insisting Salt Blade made the best cured meat in the PNW and that we needed to get them on our pizzas. We have a lot of conversations like this and while we always take them seriously, the reality doesn’t always match the enthusiasm of the message. Then our Craft Honcho, Tommy, ran into Salt Blade at an artisanal cheese festival in in SODO (don’t ask us, Tommy just does stuff like that in his free time 🤷). Tommy chatted with Bob and Kristie Blade and sampled some of the meat they had at the show. Mind blown. The meat was amazing. It was also evident that Bob was a craftsman in every sense of the word and that we shared a lot of values with Bob and Kristie.
One thing that Zeeks and Salt Blade see eye to eye on is sourcing. A lot of what Zeeks sources is local. Of course we like keeping dollars local and love when the jobs we support belong to our neighbors and friends. That said, the main reason we source local is that local usually shows up in flavor. You can’t taste shipping costs, big marketing budgets and fancy executive salaries. You know, the stuff it takes to dominate global distribution networks. What you typically get when you buy food from these types of suppliers is cheap and convenient. What you don’t usually get is flavor. Flavor comes from the land the food is produced from and the methods by which it is nurtured and handled. That’s a big reason we love the Northwest – it is an agricultural wonder and craftsmanship is an ethos that most PNW-ers instinctively embrace. It is a recipe for amazing food. The first thing we noticed about Salt Blade is that they see the world the same way and that they source impeccably.
Olsen Farms
All of the meat Salt Blade uses comes from Olsen Farms in Colville, Washington (shout-out to E-WA!). Olsen Farms is known for growing the finest potatoes in the Northwest. They also raise Berkshire, Duroc and Tamworth pigs that feed on the barley that grows naturally in the area and keep a herd of 100% grass-fed cows.
The care by which the Olsen family raises its livestock and the craftsmanship by which Bob handles the meat when he gets it are the reasons that the Salt Blade Peperoni and Salami Picante on our new pizzas tastes so freaking good… 🌱
The Salt Blade Pizzas
All our Salt Blade collab pizzas below feature a custom Pepperoni and Salami Picante mix that we have been working on with Bob and Kristie for over a year. We love pepperoni for obvious reasons and what we really dig about the Salami Picante is the kick that the peppers from Tonnemaker Farms out of Woodinville give it. The flavor profile of this mix is lively and amazing and as you can tell from above we are kind of driven by flavor…
Colville Pepperoni
This is our favorite pie right now. This is the purest way to taste all the Salt Blade and Northwest awesomeness we have been talking about. Not to mention nothing is more popular than pepperoni pizza. Order this one and the whole family will be happy.
Dragonslayer
This one is an offshoot of our Dragon. It features the Pepperoni and Salami Picante Mix and is also topped with Fresh Jalapeños and Fresh Garlic. This one is fire.
M-80
An offshoot of our Cherry Bomb. It features the Pepperoni and Salami Picante Mix and is also topped with Mama Lil’s Peppers, Parmesan and Fresh Basil. A Northwest flavor explosion awaits.
No Brainer Beers
Sometimes the math is easy. Tonight is one of those nights. Nothing is going to go better with the ultimate in Northwest cured meats than the quintessential Northwest beer: an IPA. We have three cool-kid collab IPAs going right now and they couldn’t pair any better with the Salt Blade collab pies. Mix and match Lateral A IPA, Hop Tropic NW IPA, and Zeek & Destroy IIPA with any and all of the three collab pizzas and you are set. We have all beers on draft and, as usual, we get a growler into your hands for a better price than anybody.
So, here is your no-brainer equation for tonight:
Salt Blade Pizzas + IPA Growler = Ultimate Northwest Pizza Experience
Stay safe. Stay Sane. Stay Healthy.
Cheers!
Zeeks