I figured out the trick at Hat Trick Pizza.
The crust is thin. Oh, so thin.
This thin crust made the pizza delicate. I ate a bunch of pieces and even then I didn’t have that awful feeling you get with some pizza when you hold your belly and groan.
Hat Trick’s pizza is satisfying yet does not put you in a carbo coma. That’s the trick.
The fact that Hat Trick’s pizzas are all made from scratch with all fresh ingredients adds to its delicateness. Add a tomato sauce that’s mild — think of the kids — with a sweetness of basil and the proxmity — at this pizzeria is less than a block from Comcast arena in downtown Everett — and you’ve got a family’s dream dining experience.
I had the pizza kid-tested, by the way. I took a regular cheese pizza home during a play date with two 8-year-old boys and it was gone. Might I say it evaporated?
I also ordered a pizza that I shared with my husband. It was the everything combo with ham, sausage, the works, along with some sliced pepperoncini. That pie also went fast.
On that same take-out venture, I ordered the Philly steak sandwich, which I’d heard good things about.
While I waited for the pies and sandwich to be made, Steve, a friendly and knowledgeable server, offered me a root beer sample. He told me that Big E Ales in Lynnwood supplies the root beer and beer on tap for Hat Trick.
The root beer tasted like those little root beer barrel hard candies we ate as kids, melted down into a liquidy fizz. I read later on the Big E website, bigeales.com, that the company uses 22 ingredients including real vanilla and pure cane sugar in its old-fashioned root beer.
Steve also persuaded me to add jalapenos to my Philly sandwich. I should have known better because I’m not a jalapeno eater.
When I got the sandwich home and began chewing, I enjoyed the combination of melted cheese and meat in the first couple of bites. Then the heat from the jalapenos was too much for me and I started removing them from the sandwich. But alas, that didn’t solve the problem.
My husband said, “You can’t eat that,” and he was right. I reluctantly handed over the rest of my half of the sandwich to him.
He proceeded to reinsert the jalapenos and polish off my sandwich. He declared it delicious.
Wow. That is a testament to Hat Trick’s Philly steak.
There aren’t too many pizza places where you can eat several slices of pizza and still have room for cheesecake. And maybe you shouldn’t really eat pizza then cheesecake for dessert. But we did.
And I am so glad.
Hat Trick’s cheesecake is homemade. This month’s flavor is pumpkin. The piece my husband and I shared was extremely moist with a pumpkin-ish flavor that was not overwhelming atop a subtle graham cracker crust. It was smooth, creamy, everything you want in a cheesecake.
The whole meal —two small pizzas, a Philly steak sandwich and a piece of pumpkin cheesecake — came to $33.14.
My husband and I sat down to eat a second time at Hat Trick on a Saturday afternoon.
We started with a side of garlic cheese bread, chock-full of garlic pieces. Hat Trick’s pizza sauce stood up boldy as the dipping sauce.
I was feeling like breakfast so I ordered a “Monte Twisto” sandwich – turkey and ham on egg bread topped with powdered sugar and served with a side of strawberry jam. It was like eating a hearty serving of French toast.
My husband had the American burger with melted cheese and jalapenos — again with the jalapenos — which he said was simple yet elegant with no need for any additional condiments. He said the side of homemade potato salad hit the spot.
He accompanied it with a Big E amber ale. When the beer came to the table he called it “very pretty” and described the taste as complex with a lemony finish.
Speaking of finish, too soon the food was gone.
Maybe that’s the second trick at Hat Trick pizza — the food has a way of quickly disappearing.
Hat Trick Pizza
1816 Hewitt Ave., Everett; 425-374-8156
Specialty: pizza, burgers, homemade cheesecake.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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