BRIER — There’s more than meets the eye at Brier Pizza, the city’s only restaurant.
For starters, it’s much more than a pizza joint. The menu includes some of the best foods from the Mediterranean: gyros, spaghetti, ravioli, pita, Greek fries … I could go on.
There’s even a breakfast menu with favorites like pancakes, French toast and scrambled eggs.
My coworkers, Sara Bruestle and Sharon Salyer, and I wanted some good Italian for lunch.
That’s exactly what we got.
I ordered the chicken grinder ($9.50) with pizza sauce, red onions, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, served open-face on two halves of focaccia bread. I chose fries over salad and soup for my side.
The grinder had the qualities of a pizza — lots of cheese — with the feel of a sandwich. Even though you technically could combine the two halves and eat them like a sandwich, I chose not to; they’re pretty thick as it is.
The red onions and tomatoes tasted fresh, and the baked focaccia bread added some crispiness. The chicken was grilled to perfection. Though the cheese, chicken and vegetables were enough to satisfy my taste buds, I wish there had been just a little more pizza sauce.
By the time I reached the fries, I was getting full. The crispy, thick and seasoned fries gave me a second wind, though. I managed to eat about half of them and saved the rest for later.
Sharon said the Spaghetti El Greco’s ($9.50) was cooked nicely, with just a nice bit of al dente. Restaurants often get this most basic part of pasta wrong, leaving it soggy and overcooked. Sharon said Brier Pizza got it right.
She likes her pasta with just a little sauce and fresh basil. The Spaghetti El Greco included parsley, garlic, oregano, in olive oil and wine sauce, sprinkled with feta.
“Just enough extras to make it interesting,” Sharon said.
You can add chicken or salad shrimp to the dish for $3, or five jumbo prawns for $6.
Sara ordered the oven-baked beef ravioli, which has jumbo ravioli filled with ground beef and spinach topped with feta, mozzarella and house-made marinara sauce. She chose the small dish ($10.25) instead of the large ($14.25). It came with salad and garlic bread.
“The ravioli were covered in melted cheese,” Sara said. “The beef and spinach in the ravioli really complemented each other. The small plate was enough to fill me up.”
We agreed the garlic bread — also made with the focaccia — could have been better. I felt the garlic seasoning was spread too thinly, while Sara likes hers crunchier with real garlic minced and sprinkled on top or smeared like butter.
The restaurant’s interior is dimly lit with cozy, Italian decor. Maps of the Mediterranean Sea are hung on the walls in the lobby, while smooth jazz plays in the background.
An outdoor patio is perfect for eating outside on a sunny day.
Brier Pizza — located on the city’s main road — has been around for 25 years. Owner Tad McMurray, a 61-year-old Brier resident, took over in 2014.
McMurray says it has a small-town-restaurant feel, which matches Brier’s relatively small population of about 6,500 compared to nearby Mountlake Terrace (about 21,000), Lynnwood (38,000) and Edmonds (roughly 42,000).
McMurray employs locals, whose neighbors often come into eat.
“I just want to make it successful and treat the guests like they’re gold,” McMurray said.
Brier Pizza is one of only five businesses in the city, partly because Brier’s business zone is about a square mile in size.
“Our citizens don’t want other stuff,” said Paula Clerk, clerk and treasurer for the city, adding that she’s received no complaints. “We’re a little more rural.”
McMurray said he may add “Kitchen” to the restaurant’s name — similar to the Los Angeles-based California Pizza Kitchen restaurant chain — to reflect the diverse menu Brier Pizza offers today.
Evan Thompson: ethompson@heraldnet.com, 360-544-2999.
Brier Pizza
The small-town restaurant is at 23631 Brier Road, Suite A, Brier.
Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Dine in or order takeout.
Call 425-424-0760. More at www.brierpizza.com.
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