The Little Pizza Place That Could
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It’s hard to envision downtown Everett without Brooklyn Bros. Pizzeria. They’ve been slinging pizzas on the corner of Hewitt and Lombard since 2006, and recently, have expanded to four locations in two counties.
Jon Eila, Director of Operations, started with Brooklyn Bros. a year after they opened the doors. First, he was a pizzaiolo, now he’s a part of an ownership group of a franchise that employs over 40 people.
Patrons in line at the Everett Brooklyn Bros. location // Henry J
“Obviously you can hope and dream that you’ll expand and grow and we were eventually able to,” Elia said.
The first satellite restaurant was the Mukilteo location, but why there?
The Mukilteo Brooklyn Bros. // Courtesy Brooklyn Bros.
“We chose Mukilteo, and really based our decision for all of our locations off of the community,” Elia said. “At our core, (Brooklyn Bros.) is a neighborhood New York pizza joint. We want to be the place where the counter person knows your name and knows your order and you can come in and feel comfortable and get your slice and Coke.”
“Mukilteo had that neighborhood and had that vibe.”
Right before Brooklyn Bros. moved into the Derelict Dairy Queen on Mukilteo Speedway, the dining and prep areas at the Everett location were expanded once the pet store next to them moved out.
Elia said that Brooklyn Bros. chose their three other locations (Mukilteo, Camano Island and Mill Creek) from feedback from customers, both in-person and online.
Mill Creek Town Center’s Brooklyn Bros. // Courtesy Brooklyn Bros.
Three years later, folks in Camano Island started reaching out to get their own slice of New York at the same time the Brooklyn Bros. crew found a Mill Creek location. Now with two restaurants working and two more set to open their doors at the same time, the rapidly-expanding Brooklyn Bros. team had to figure out how to make their pizza taste as good as the original location.
Enter the dough mobile.
“We learned that it was the water (that made the dough what it is) when (owners) Don and Vicki entered the Pizza Games years ago in Vegas and tried to make our dough (there),” Elia said.
Rather than risk a subpar pie in Camano and Mill Creek, all of the dough is made in Everett and Mukilteo and transported via a bright yellow van.
The dough mobile outside of Scuttlebutt Taproom & Brewery // Courtesy Brooklyn Bros.
At the end of this year, however, Brooklyn Bros. will be putting fewer miles on the dough mobile thanks to a commissary currently being built under the Sno-Isle Food Co-op, next to where Bar Myx used to be.
“That will just be a kitchen where dough and sauce will be made,” Elia said. “We've been working on (this) space for a good little while now. We can commissary everything from one central point from downtown Everett.”
Pizzas ready to eat at the Everett location // Henry J
When the commissary opens, there will be open windows looking out to the alley, allowing passersby to peek in the windows and get a glimpse at the process. “I’m not telling you to creep on the crew,” Elia said. “...but you can go watch.”
I joke that Brooklyn Bros. is transforming downtown into a pizza empire. He laughs. “Trying to. I’m doing my best.”
Camano Island
(848 N Sunrise Blvd)
Mill Creek
(15121 Main St)
Henry J is the Managing Editor of Live in Everett and has been eating at Brooklyn Bros. for 13 years.