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Created by homesick Italian American immigrants more than a century ago, pepperoni is now synonymous with pizza. It’s also my least favorite pizza topping (I say quietly, with a wince). Maybe it’s a holdover reaction to the large, drooping discs of pepperoni layered atop chain pizzas from my youth.

Maybe it’s that I truly believe less is more, while the pepperoni-loving majority treats the topping like ‘70s carpet, piling it wall to wall atop a pie. But if it’s a choice between anything else and pepperoni, I’m choosing the former every time. Maybe I’ve not given modern pepperoni a fair shake, though.



Seattle pizzerias are now name-dropping artisanal meat-makers like Zoe’s, Ezzo and Fra’ Mani on their ‘roni pies. These salami are often made with natural casing, which curl and sometimes blister while baking, creating tiny, crisp cups holding a raindrop of spicy grease. In my quest for pepperoni conversion, I hit up Seattle pizza shops to see if I could change my own mind about the ever-popular pepperoni.

These four pizzerias drew me closer to Team Pepperoni. More 4303 Fremont Ave. N.

, Seattle; 206-547-2144, lupofremont.com I have long loved this Fremont pizzeria for the puffy, flavorful crust and the cacio e pepe pizza ($27). There is a build-your-own section of the menu, but the main pepperoni offering is called the Fancy Pepperoni ($26), featuring red sauce, fresh basil, Samish Bay mozzarella, and Fra’ Mani and Ezzo pepperoni.

And damn it, it’s good. I.

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