Tutta Bella

*South Italy, naturally

Southern Italy has a rich agricultural and culinary history. They've given us espresso as we know it today, gelato, limoncello, mozzarella, cannoli and, of course, Neopolitan pizza. Someone had to step in and bring the south to Seattle and Joe Fugere has done it in an extremely authentic fashion.

Joe at Columbia City Tutta Bella

A Beacon Hill boy, Joe focused on hospitality with a double major in business and hospitality management at WSU. He worked in hotels, including the Westin Century Plaza in Los Angeles, as well as for Papa John's and then Starbucks. He started with Starbucks just after they opened their 100^th store and left just before they hit 2000. "I had a great job with Starbucks but was feeling those golden handcuffs," laughs Joe.

In the meantime, his boss/mentor left Starbucks to start up her own executive coaching company and asked him to be her guinea pig. The process showed them that through his love of cooking, eating, restaurants and giving back to the community, he could create a new business model without the frustrations he was feeling. "I wanted to do something that was respected by the business community, peers, employees and customers." He liked the Columbia City area, although it was a neighborhood in transition. He watched other places struggle and thought about what would work. "I felt the neighborhood needed something family-oriented and decided on pizza." He chose to get the training and DOC designation from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) in Naples, Italy, so he could make true Neapolitan pizza. His training took place in a pizzeria that opened in 1860. "I came back with a 100-year mentality. We've lost that here. People create businesses to make money and last 20 years. I want to be both socially and fiscally responsible and create something that lasts much longer."

He has succeeded: Tutta Bella offers healthcare, paid time off and free meals to employees and provides trips to Italy to experience the real thing. Joe's pricing is honest and transparent: if food prices go up, so do pizza prices. If he gets a good deal, he passes it on to customers. He's expanded not just to expand, but to meet the needs of his customers who want him nearby. And even though he doesn't have immediate plans to open a fifth location, the bank has already approved a loan to do so.

Part of Tutta Bella's success is that when they decide to add something, as they did with the espresso bar at Columbia City, they do their research and create something deep, not wide. At first, they had two drinks. They now have seven, with no plans for more. "These are authentic Italian coffees made with a combination of Arabica and Robusta beans. The Arabica beans are high-quality beans, and the Robusta adds a little sweeter taste and the crema that rises to the top of an espresso drink. We fly the coffee in weekly from Bologna," explains Joe. "The bar is almost like a pub, just about coffee." People sit at the counter and enjoy coffee, socialize, watch some Italian TV, use the free WiFi or read the paper. Joe subscribes to the New York Times, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal for his customers. He also offers cornettos (Italian pastries). The focal point of the espresso bar is the traditional lever-operated espresso machine manufactured by Victoria Arduino who has been making espresso machines in Italy for over 100 years. "Watching Giovanni* work the machine is amazing," admires Joe. "He's so good at it." Giovanni (pictured above) was 17 when he came to the U.S. and 19 when he began working at Tutta Bella.

Tutta Bella's strict adherence to the exacting VPN standards creates the same pizza you get in Naples. The dome-shaped ovens (Columbia City's oven looks square but has a domed interior) funnel the heat just so and allows cooks to "smoke" the pizza briefly at the end of the 90 seconds it takes to cook it perfectly. Red peppers and mushrooms are tossed in olive oil and oven roasted at 400-500 degrees (pizza is cooked at 800-900 degrees) before being put on a pizza. Early on, Joe thought it would be great to brush just a little olive oil on the crust. He was asked why he thought that would improve something the Italians had been making for over 150 years. "They corrected me politely and I learned my lesson," laughs Joe.

The crust is made from a low-gluten flour that rises over 48 hours and they use fresh yeast. "This flour rises fully before it is cooked. It doesn't continue to rise after you eat it. That's why you feel satisfied after eating a true Neapolitan pizza instead of full after eating other pizza," explains Joe. The dough is placed in a machine that mimics how dough would be made by hand, with the bowl turning one way and the hook the other. They use San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, which are low acid. "They have a sweeter taste, not from sugar, but from lack of acid. We use so many of these tomatoes, about 300-500 cans a week, that we now go to Italy each year for harvest." When available, you can order the margherita pizza with mozzarella di bufala, which is imported directly from Italy.

They make their salad dressing from scratch and Joe feels their Caesar "is as good, if not better, than you'd get at a fine-dining restaurant." The hearts of Romaine are chopped and cleaned, then allowed to warm to open the veins. They're spun, rinsed with ice water and then spun again. "This is how it used to be done and how it tastes best," says Joe. They get cured meats made by Pino Rogano (Giovanni's father) in Ravenna, and sausage from Frank Isernio. Cocktails are made from Italian spirits and grappa. Brandon Hamlett, the general manager at Columbia City, is their mixologist and creates the cocktail offerings for all locations.

*Giovanni has moved on.

Click here to read Tutta Bella, part 2

Connie Adams/July 2011