Pizza And The Class Divide in West Seattle

We got an email last week pointing us to a West Seattle blog post and a thread on Seattle LJ about Pagliacci and their delivery areas. The speculation was that since the pizza place wouldn't deliver to some shady neighborhoods that seemed more physically proximate to its store than other, more upscale, neighborhoods that it would deliver to, there must be a great Pagliacci conspiracy going on in West Seattle. The email suggested that it might make for a decent Seattlest post and on the surface it was interesting but we didn't really have the time to go dig into the comments of the posts it cited and it seemed like an email that we weren't the sole recipient of by a long shot. What seemed like too much work for not enough scandal to Seattlest was P-I gold, however. Apparently the anonymous email also went out to Robert Jamieson Jr. of the Post Intelligencer and today he commented.

The main ingredients for a good pizza spat are fresh tomatoes, cheese and dough stretched way too far.

Add a dash of Internet speculation. Turn up the heat. And presto -- instant controversy!

The only thing that could ruin such a pie is the very thing that ought to leave a bad taste in the mouths of those cooking up the online innuendo in the first place: the truth.

Hear that, bloggers? The truth! After evaluating the charges leveled here, here and here Jamieson got on the phone with Pagliacci, something it sounds like the bloggers tried to do as well, although no one really has to explain themselves to bloggers. The truth! Here it is!

Long story short, it's true: Pagliacci, which has a kitchen that is mostly for takeout and delivery on West Seattle's California Avenue, doesn't deliver to certain parts of the neighborhood.

But the company says its reasons have nothing to do with class and everything to do with time.

Call it the seven-minute rule.

The company aims to deliver to areas it can reach with ease in about seven minutes from any of its 15 delivery centers throughout greater Seattle.

West Seattle Blog's reaction today: "Pagliacci, in his column, has removed any hope they’ll be delivering to us south WS’ers. Welcome, Garlic Jim’s!"