You might not think of getting pizza from this Tacoma sandwich shop, but you should

With each Friday over at least 15 consecutive years, save for the day after Thanksgiving, my family solidified its reputation among my friend group as “the pizza house.” My sisters learned to eschew passive aggression for expected discontent when inevitably there were no cold slices the next day because my friends had come over and consumed the foil-wrapped remainders.

To my, and I hope, many others’ pleasure, the Friday pizza ritual has taken on new meaning in Tacoma, at none other than a sandwich shop.

“A sandwich shop doing what?” laughed Adolfo Calles, who goes by Fito.

In the throes of takeout-only in 2020, he and his partner Lauren Hernandez — together operators of Outpost Sandwiches, tucked into the basement of Courthouse Square next to an offshoot of Infinite Soups — quietly introduced their brand of pizza to the city, available by the slice, in limited quantities, only on Fridays.

I first tacked two slices onto a takeout sandwich order in December 2020, about six months after the first Instagram post declaring, “Weird times call for weird specials.” Each was slipped like a cookie into a white pastry bag for ease of transport and consumption. This was a humble slice, one of deli mozz, tomato-on-tomato red sauce and a sturdy undercarriage thinly coated with olive oil.

“It’s Friday. School lets out. I don’t know — pizza just sounded right. If I wasn’t doing this,” Calles recalled in June, referring to the standard menu of sandwiches with homemade touches like lemon herb mayo, pickled veggies, and chicken roasted on-site in a Blodgett oven, “I’d probably be doing pizza.”

At this point, Outpost has been serving its Grandma-style pie for two years, the focaccia base recipe improving from an initial “this was fun for $4” to its current standing as one of the finest slices in Pierce County. Now they are taller, soaring to an inch or more with well-crisped borders and a complex yet comforting sauce.

But you wouldn’t know — unless, that is, you knew.

A rotating crowd of locals seems to have known enough for Outpost to consistently sell through two dozen slices. They have a few regulars — one fellow drops by for several, said Calles — but generally it’s customers’ spontaneous decision to embrace “Pizza Day!” that leads to empty baking pans well before closing time.

One of Tacoma’s favorite restaurants has created a pizza unlike anything else in town

THE MAKING OF OUTPOST PIZZA

When Calles decided to make pizza, he wanted it to be unfussy but memorable. He landed on this style — similar to Detroit and Sicilian but different in nuanced, nerdy pizza ways — in part because of his Connecticut upbringing.

“When I think of a homemade pizza, I think of this. They remind me of just… going to a friend’s house. They’re just kinda pretty, a little rustic,” he said as he coated a pie with overlapping slices of pepperoni, the kind that curls just so after a few minutes under high heat.

Essential to his process is a cold 24-hour rise, a par-bake and minimal interference.

“People think pizza is an easy thing to pick up,” he said, but achieving consistency requires patience, and a lot of pizza. “Knowing how your pizza is gonna come out by how the dough feels, that takes time and practice — so much practice. It’s like driving a stick: Sure, you can do it, but it’s not gonna be smooth until you do it all the time.”

He mixes the dough — a classic focaccia recipe of all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, yeast, water and olive oil — on Thursday morning, until it forms into a ball.

“The little you work it,” he said, “the better.”

On Friday, he and Hernandez portion it for service and let it rest at room temperature. When ready to assemble, they very, very gently roll the pliable dough onto a floured board and then a well-oiled sheet pan with an added cake form, dimpling it with 10 fingers into each corner. It’s par-baked (also known as blind-baking, common for pie crusts) at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for a few minutes.

Out of the oven, they immediately top the bubbling crust with low-moisture mozzarella slices.

“This is how I was taught to make lasagna,” said Calles, who has worked in many-a-kitchens in Los Angeles, Oakland and otherwise before moving to Tacoma around 2017. His father was also a chef, and Hernandez hails from an Italian American family.

Spoons of sauce, rife with “what maybe people consider too much garlic — I think it’s an appropriate amount,” he joked, puddle throughout. After evenly distributing dollops of fresh, high-moisture mozz, the pie heads back to the oven for a few more minutes.

In total, it cooks for 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature, which fluctuates in the bottom of this finicky old stone building, also home to a post office, co-working and event space, Liftbridge Coffee and the wonderful en Rama.

Calles pulls out a Microblade to shave pecorino romano on the finished pies, lending “that little funk that it needs,” while Hernandez waves her hand of torn basil.

These days, Outpost easily goes through two sheet-pan-sized pies, but I can’t imagine why they don’t fly through 12. For now, Calles remains content with the exclusivity.

“I almost want it to be like: You gotta get here,” he said.

And so it is: a sandwich shop that sells pizza, but maybe someday it will be a pizza shop that sells sandwiches.

OUTPOST SANDWICHES - PIZZA DAY!

▪ Courthouse Square, 1102 A St., Tacoma, 253-327-1905, outpost-sandwiches.square.site, facebook.com/outpostsandwichtacoma

▪ Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

▪ Details: made-to-order sandwiches accented by homemade ingredients; Grandma-style pizza by the slice — Fridays only

▪ How to order: in-person (12th Street entrance) or online

New restaurants: Detroit-style pizza, Europa’s replacement, two wine bars and ice cream