West Seattle may be crowded with pizza restaurants, but only oneâwith its New York-style slices and distinct hipster vibeâfeels imported directly from Brooklyn. "I've always wanted to have a pizza place," says chef-turned-restauranteur Mark Fuller of New Luck Toy and Ma'ono Fried Chicken & Whisky, just a few doors away. For his third neighborhood venture, Supreme, Fuller along with business-partner-and-wife Marjorie Chang Fuller tapped John Montenegro to run the kitchen.
"[John] knows the dough," says Fuller of the veteran baker and pizza maker, citing an arrangement that works out for everybody because nowadays, at 47 years old, Fuller isn't interested in working the line. "Cooking is hard," he admits. Plus he's thoroughly enjoying his pivot into the bar business which, in Supreme's case, involved remaking the spot previously held by Pellegrini's Italian Market into a loungy space complete with a long bar, booths, glowing beer signs, and pinball machines, while covering an existing ceiling mural with pizza chefs and imbibing cherubs. "I wanna have fun and pizza is fun," Fuller explains. "Bars are fun. I'm just having a good time with it."
"Supreme is a bar, first and foremost," Montenegro says, pointing to cocktail machines pouring strong drinks Ă la New Luck Toy, though such 21-plus flair doesn't mean he can't push the limits of the typical pizza bar menu. As such, the kitchen offers some rather creative preparationsâincluding a "Broken Meatball" pizza topped with spaghettiâalongside the usual pepperoni and cheese. There are also elevated takes on old standbys: "Oh, You're Sooo Hawaiian" swaps rote Canadian bacon for spicy Portuguese sausage, grilled jalapeno, and pineapple rings; "The Ono" nods to the Fullers' most senior establishment, Ma'ono, with fried chicken, kimchi, and American cheese; and white pies include the "Bon'Chovy" and "The Jabroni." Though a whopping $27, the bar's namesake "Supreme" features a mountain of pepperoni, sausage, salami, and sautĂ©ed mushrooms that'll last a few mealsâespecially considering Supreme's bubbly crusts essentially double as breadsticks, with ranch or sriracha available for dipping.
"I think people want to see something beyond the normal," Fuller says of their efforts to spice up Supreme's menu, sometimes literally; "The Reaper" incorporates two types of peppers, including one of the world's hottestâthe ghost chili. Along with cheese and pepperoni, the bar serves a daily selection of specialty pizzas by the slice, like Taco Tuesdays, and Fuller further plans to assign each day its own flavor so customers know what to expect before cozying up to the pizza bar.
Fresh off the heels of its first quarter, crowds are still flocking to Supreme; its steady popularity can feel surprising in this once-sleepy 'hood. "Bar first," Fuller says quickly, when asked where Supreme falls along the food-to-drinking divide, though the seasoned owner/chef is quick to acknowledge that anything can happen as the neighborhood continues to change. "People are going to tell me what it is," Fuller says of Supreme's fledgling identity while pointing to the evolution of Spring Hill, the Fullers' first West Seattle venture, which opened almost exactly 10 years ago and has since been reborn as Ma'ono. "If they say it's a pizzeria...then that's what we become," he shrugs. "You can't fight that."
