Brewery City Pizza: A Long History of Pleasing Thurston County Pizza Fans

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Brewery City Pizza owner Dennis Gard grew up surrounded in the food and beverage industry – his parents, in partnership with an uncle, owned Tumwater’s Red Barn Tavern and Tumwater Inn. So it’s no surprise that he followed those same footsteps and has owned eateries of his own for 40 years.

“Both my parents did that, so I just naturally gravitated toward it,” says Gard.

He bought his first business, Southgate Big Tom Drive-In, in 1972.  Gard had worked in the business for several years, advancing from fry cook to manager.

“I scraped together a business plan and got a $10,000 loan with my parents’ co-signature and off I went,” Gard says.

The path of restaurant ownership has included a Lacey Big Tom Drive-In, as well as several Brewery City Pizza stores.

The first Brewery City Pizza restaurant was founded in Tumwater in 1982, about 1.5 miles from the old Olympia Brewing Company. With loyal customers and a hard working, devoted team, the successful business quickly expanded.

Today, Brewery City Pizza operates three full service locations in West Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater.

Regularly voted “Best Pizza in the South Sound,” Brewery City Pizza offers a variety of scrumptious pizzas, calzones and more.

“Our most popular pizza, far and away, is the Brewmaster,” says Gard. The Brewmaster – like all Brewery City Pizzas, available on hand-tossed dough or crispy thin crust – is loaded with Canadian bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, black olives, and red onions.

Other specialty pizza flavor combinations include cool ranch chicken, chicken cordon bleu, Santa Fe, “The Meathead,” and a vegetarian pie. Customers can also build their own creations from a long list of ingredients.

Brewery City Pizza also serves up appetizers, salads, soups, pasta dishes, and sandwiches.

The menu’s “Graze and Nibble” section includes a variety of popular lunch or after-the-big-game items, from chicken wings and artichoke spinach dip to mushroom bruschetta and jalapeno popper flat bread.

“The Burger Basket has really taken off as one of our most popular items,” Gard says. “It’s a quarter pound burger and fries. It’s an excellent buy at $6 and a great lunch item.”

Two other popular items are the togarashi edamame – edamame wok-fried in sesame oil, garlic, and togarashi spice – and the spicy chicken skewers – wrapped with bacon and a jalapeno slice and served with hot wing or BBQ sauce.

“As far as the salads go, the most popular we serve is the Caesar,” says Gard. “Another really good one is the Bartlett pear and candied walnut salad.”

Gard created many of the mouth-watering menu items himself, but also talks fondly of collaborations with employees over the years that resulted in creative concoctions such as the cordon bleu and cool ranch pizzas.

High-end ingredients mean high-quality meals made by the hands of BCP’s talented team.

“We buy only top quality ingredients,” he says, “and we make everything on-site.”

“It’s hard to ruin good food, but some people do,” he says with a laugh. “We try not to.”

Thousands of loyal customers can’t be wrong.

“We’ve always had a reputation for having the best pizza in town,” Gard says. He regularly gets emails from people who lived here and loved Brewery City Pizza – and now miss it.

“I just had somebody email me two weeks ago, asking if we could send a pizza to South Carolina.” Gard shakes his head and smiles. “We can’t do that. But it’s pretty fun to be asked.”

If you’re looking to grab a fresh pizza for take-out or have one delivered, call or conveniently order online. Brewery City Pizza has one of the largest pizza delivery areas in the South Sound and is the only pizzeria located on the west side that will bring a pie directly to your place. The Tumwater and Lacey locations also deliver.

Brewery City Pizza also offers catering options for any size gathering.

For more information about Brewery City Pizza, visit their websiteFacebook, or Twitter page.

West Olympia Brewery City Pizza

2705 Limited Lane NW

Olympia, WA 98502

360.754.7800

brewery city pizza sponsorTumwater Brewery City Pizza

5150 Capitol Blvd. SE

360.754.6767

Lacey Brewery City Pizza

4353 Martin Way East

360.491.6630

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