SEATTLE — A place known for great beer is now home to great pizza too. The Redhook Brewlab in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood is now also home to Kōbo Pizza: the latest venture of chef Shota Nakajima.
You might remember Shota from being a finalist on Bravo's cooking reality show Top Chef and his restaurant next door, Taku. One of the main ingredients in pizza and beer is yeast. And Kobo is the Japanese word for yeast. Chef Nakajima says his inspiration came from Detroit-style pizza.
“It's almost like a light focaccia with crisp cheese on the outside and sauce,” Nakajima said. “Dough is a little bit different. There's a tiny amount of mochi flour inside. Kinda adds a chewy texture as well as holds the crunch and a little koji buttermilk inside for a little secret. The mochi trend of adding a little bit to the flour, that's from Japan, that's a big trend that's going on in Japan right now and that's one of the inspirations I took in and brought it inside. So I say everyone loves pizza right? Who doesn't like pizza?”
Nakajima's menu includes pies like The Flat Earther which has mozzarella, red sauce, and basil — kind of Nakajima’s take on a Margherita pizza. The Dodger has teriyaki brisket, cheddar cheese, cabbage, tonkatsu, and kewpie mayo. The Hot Neighbor is topped with Taku fried chicken, koji hot sauce, jack cheese, cilantro, and ranch.
Besides pizza, some of the other items include their Hot Leg, which is a crispy chicken leg with koji hot sauce, seaweed ranch, and pickled celery. The Hill-D Cheese is a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with a 4-cheese blend, crispy cheese crunch, paired with a bowl of tomato soup.
Wash it all down with some of Redhook's classic beers and you've got yourself a meal. Kobo Pizza is open Wednesday to Saturday from 5 - 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 2 - 6:30 p.m. The Redhook Brewlab is open Wednesday – Sunday.
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