The Station Pizzeria

So, we live pretty close to the wine country region of Western Washington (Wodinville), and love driving through the area. It is very peaceful and calming to get away from all the traffic (did I mention the bad Seattle traffic again?), and go wine tasting here and there. Unfortunately, Woodinville really needs to work on its restaurants. If the Napa Valley can have world-class dining, why can't we? Instead, we settle for places that are mostly just ok. There are a few chain restaurants that I don't mind eating at for an occasional meal, but really nothing I would drive specifically to the wine area for. (This excludes The Herb Farm, which we haven't made it to yet).

So, in light of that promising paragraph, we took a trip to the Station Pizzeria just off highway 202 for a light lunch. We always see tons of people there and the restaurant is located in the heart of the tourist/tasting area. The outdoor seating has a very casual feel to it. We were very lucky to have a gorgeous day when we visited. The primary focus of the restaurant (as you can probably tell from its name) is wood-fired pizzas. They have several signature pies, with interesting descriptions on the menu, ranging from pulled pork shoulder pizzas to pork belly with eggs, chicken breast with blue cheese, and poached pear with prosciutto pizzas.

We opted for the Cipolla, a "creamy, spicy, sweet, meaty" pizza with Italian sausage, melted sweet onions, ricotta, chili flakes, and toasted pine nuts. We also got a house Caesar Salad.

I really wanted to like the pizza, as I loved the location and the ambiance. The crust had a good density (mostly thin crust, except the edges), but it lacked flavor. It was reminiscent of a soggy, stale cracker of the low-salt variety. The mounds of whipped ricotta were a little disappointing as well. In theory, it's a nice way to present ricotta, I guess (in a catering buffet kind of way). I just think it's already a pretty light density and flavor cheese; whipping it takes away even more flavor to almost nothing. It also left the rest of the pizza rather dry. The caramelized onions and pine nuts were a nice touch, but the sausage was crumbled a little too small. Good amount of overall spice.

The Caesar salad had a nice classic flavor, but some of the greens were browning on the edges and limp.  I always love to see anchovies on a Caesar, adding saltiness when you want. The parmesan tuile was pretty bitter tasting, however. It was flour-y and just had an over-cooked taste to it.

I think overall, it was a disappointing experience. I'm not sure if I would go back, unless we wanted to be daring and try one of the other more interesting pizzas. There are quite a few positive reviews online and the location/ambiance is great! Maybe we'll give it another go when we're sick of Pagliacci's.