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Business & Tech

Bites Nearby: Trackside Pizza

Trackside Pizza is more than just pizza, it's a ground-shaking experience.

I’m always in for a good pizza experience, so when we decided to have happy hour at Trackside Pizza in downtown Puyallup, how could I say no? Pizza, beer, friends and half-off appetizers… the only thing that could delay me would be a train, literally.

 Trackside is close, well really close, to the train tracks that run through downtown. I had just settled in for my first and well-deserved sip of malted beverage when the building started to shake with the magnitude of a level 6 earthquake. For a minute, I thought about the whole shake, drop and roll (or however that thing goes) but then I remembered that I was with my peers and needed to preserve my self-respect.

Now, for the reason we were there—Happy Hour! Trackside has what they call the Daily Derailer, half-price appetizers and $1-off beer and wine between the hours of 3 and 5 p.m. and after 9 p.m. For about $4 each, we ordered the chicken wings, breadsticks with marinara and bruschetta.

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The chicken wings were spicy, tender and hot, loaded with that heavenly bulb from the gods… garlic. The bruschetta was toasted nicely and lightly layered with olive oil which complimented the fresh tomatoes. The breadsticks were tasty, but I was a little disappointed that the marinara served with them was cold. Of course, it was nothing another sip of beer couldn’t cure.

 While enjoying the appetizers and good conversation, I realized that there was a trick to not being shocked out of my seat by the passing trains. This trick was called children -- screaming children to be exact.  With some crazy sixth sense, children inside the restaurant could hear the train coming from miles away. When they did, they would rush to the window seat and press their faces up against the window and scream and giggle until the train passed. 

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This proved to be hours of excitement… for them.

 After devouring the starters we quickly explored the menu and set our eyes and stomach on the Grand Trunk Express, a large pizza with Black Forest ham, pepperoni, Italian sausage, salami, bacon, mushroom, black olives, green pepper, tomato, oregano and garlic. 

I anxiously waited for my little piece of heaven to arrive.

While I waited I noticed some pretty cool things about Trackside -- one of them being that the restaurant is very family friendly.  There is a pizza window where children can watch the pizza being hand made and tossed wildly in the air. There is also a menu item called “Pie Up!” where children under 12 can make their own pizza. They are brought their own dough and up to three toppings to create their own masterpiece. When it’s ready, they can call “Pie Up!” really loud.

 Just for a moment I felt a tinge of dough envy.

Now back to the pizza, which came fresh out of the oven and was ultra hot. It was the perfect blend of spice, tanginess and gooey cheese. My only thought was that for the time it took to make the pizza, it would seem that the green peppers and mushrooms would have at least been cooked just a little. Maybe raw is the new black and I just wasn’t informed. Overall, however, the pizza was very tasty and fit the bill.

Three more items that must be noted about Trackside is the banquet room that fits 50 people, the all-you-can-eat slice bar from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a mere $6.99 (a future foodie challenge) and the very cool and friendly staff! 

For more information, please check out Trackside’s website at www.pizzatrackside.com

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