Delancey

For those of you who know, the title is perfectly clear...I finally got to eat here! So they're still working on a sign and it's nearly impossible to realize that tucked away along NW 70th Street in Ballard is this sweet little spot. Unless, of course, you've gone to the website and dutifully Google-mapped the location.

For those of you who don't know, Delancey is the creation of blogger Orangette's husband. We did, in fact, see Molly, but since I had neglected to bring my book we didn't bother meeting her.

The idea behind Delancey is to offer New York-style pizzas with a thin crust. The pizzas are fired, not baked, at a very high temperature in a brick oven, producing yummy charred, blackened bits amid an otherwise soft and chewy crust. The four of us shared 3 pizzas: A margherita, prosciutto, and foraged mushroom. The margherita was pretty much your standard pizza with tomato sauce (but really, really, really...good tomato sauce), mozzarella, and basil. I found it interesting and point-winning that the tomato sauce on the margherita tasted different from the one on the prosciutto and both complimented their accompanying ingredients well. The mushroom pizza was a whole different animal: No tomato sauce, just the mushrooms and cheese. It was delightful, actually.

Dessert: Grey salt covered chocolate chip cookies. 'Nuf said. Well, maybe not: Gooey, oozing chocolate on a warm cookie with a crispy edge and chewy center, topped with a smattering of salt crystals to create that just right blend of salty and sweet.

We had been told the wait would be about an hour, but the party before us were no-shows, so within 10 minutes we were seated at the table by the window (in the blog Molly mentions that she wants to sit at this table someday). Otherwise, they don't take reservations unless you have a party of 6 or more, for which one table is reserved.

My take? I'm not a New Yorker, but having grown up on the East Coast I feel like this pizza is more Italian than New York style, especially with the Europe-dominated wine list. However, it's tasty and the place is homey. I'd like to go back for my autograph, of course, and another cookie. I'd definitely take friends here who read Orangette and have followed the restaurant's saga.