Humble Pie

I've been driving by Humble Pie every day to and from work since it was first being built, but hadn't realized quite what it was.  The view from Rainier Avenue only reveals the pizza oven, not the beautiful courtyard they've created.

Driving by one day recently, I thought I saw our neighbor, Matt - one of a few guys living in a house across the street - working there.  Like us, the first thing they did after moving to the street was to tear out the lawn and plant vegetables and fruit trees... so I knew they were good people.  They've taken care of our chickens for us in the past, and are great neighbors.

I took some zucchini over to Matt soon after seeing him at the restaurant, and confirmed it was him.  I also learned the restaurant has chickens, which sold me.  Today after Hilo's annual check up, we checked it out.

They have lots of picnic table style seating with shade umbrellas outside, plus seating inside for rainy days.  The courtyard is surrounded by raised planters full of edibles, and a huge chicken coop with (I counted) nine hens who are super friendly - they ran over when I came to take their picture, undoubtedly disappointed that I wasn't giving them treats.  The tagline of Humble Pie is "people * planet * pizza", and there's definitely a clear focus on those three.

The menu itself is full of locally sourced, organic ingredients, and they've got draft beer and wine (and non-alcoholic options, of course).  There were lots of interesting pizzas to choose from, like one with field roast and red peppers, but we went for the Mushroom, Egg and Arugula pie.  I'm fairly sure the guy making our pizza is also one of Matt's roommates, though I've never met him.

The crust style is thin and crisp, baked in a big wood-fired oven out back.  This particular pie didn't feature any sauce, and the arugula wasn't dressed nor wilted, so the net result was a little drier than your usual pizza slice.  The egg was definitely the star.  We wondered if they come from the hens, or if the ladies can't keep up with demand.  The yolk seemed lighter than the ones our girls produce, but that may be because they forage for bugs and greens all day.

One of the perks was that since the seating is outside, bring Hilo along didn't raise any feathers... since he could care less about chickens.  It's always nice to find a spot we can dine with him, and it doesn't hurt that the restaurant is staffed by neighbors and clearly focuses on sustainability.  We'll definitely be back and have already told a vegetarian family member about the field roast pizza.