Lines wrapped into and around the parking lot at 6000 Phinney Ave N as Stevie's Famous opened its first full-size location in North Seattle, marking the biggest leap yet for a sourdough pizza operation that started four years ago as a 14-seat storefront in Burien. The new spot serves the same big, round New York-style pies with sourdough crust that made the original shop a runaway hit, but this time with room to actually sit down.
According to Seattle magazine, the Phinney Ridge location held a soft opening before its full debut, and the grand-opening rush brought a dinner line stretching into the parking lot. The building itself carries some history: it's a 3,300-square-foot space that housed Zeeks Pizza for nearly 30 years starting in 1996 before that chain location closed in late 2024, according to The PhinneyWood Blog. Stevie's Famous now occupies that same footprint with a large indoor space full of booths and a sprawling outdoor patio built for both kids and dogs.
From a 14-Seat Burien Shop to a Neighborhood Hub
Stevie's Famous was founded by Shane Abbott and Justin Harcus, the same duo behind Lupo, the Fremont Neapolitan-style pizzeria. Seattle magazine reports the pair opened their first pizzeria in Burien in 2022, in a tiny storefront with seating for only 14 guests indoors and 10 more on the patio, according to Stevie's Famous. Word of mouth was fast: the shop regularly sold out of pies, and Seattle Times readers went on to vote Stevie's Famous the best pizzeria in Seattle in 2024, per Seattle magazine.
The brand expanded into the Clock-Out Lounge music venue in Beacon Hill in 2024, taking over kitchen space previously run by Breezy Town Pizza, which Hoodline covered when it first opened inside that venue. Breezy Town had served Detroit-style and Chicago-style sourdough pies out of the same space, the article notes. Now Phinney Ridge represents a bigger structural shift: the location makes dough for both Stevie's Famous and Lupo, consolidating dough-making operations that had previously been carried out at Lupo, where the team had mixed dough using equipment set up on the hardwood floor of its lobby for eight years.
The Pizza, the Pug, and the Poker Player
The menu leans into whole pies and by-the-slice sourdough-crust New York-style pizza, including the Normie MacDonald, topped with hot honey, coppa, and burrata. The dough is made mostly by hand, and the sourdough starter that gives the crust its fermentation flavor is kept in a quart jar and named Ruth, a detail Abbott considers essential good luck for the dough, according to KING 5. Beyond pizza, the Phinney Ridge headquarters also centralizes housemade ice cream for all of Stevie's locations, with a pistachio cream flavor that local food critics have singled out as a breakout specialty, per Seattle Met.
The restaurant's name traces back to Abbott's pet pug, Stevie, adopted after Abbott moved to Burien in 2021, according to New Salt Creative. Abbott's path into pizza was anything but traditional: he spent 12 years in tech as a product marketing manager and also worked as a professional poker player before pivoting into hospitality, the outlet reports. He and Harcus got their start in the Seattle pizza scene in 2018, when they bought the Fremont Neapolitan spot Via Tribunali, where Harcus had been general manager, and converted it into Lupo in just five days.
Managing the Crowds, and What's Next
Seattle magazine reports the Phinney Ridge team made more dough than ever to prepare for the grand-opening crowd, and regular customers have already returned multiple times during the shop's first week. Even so, the location currently limits online ordering, a constraint the company plans to change as it works through surge demand without overwhelming kitchen staff. The dining room includes a Street Fighter II arcade machine, part of an effort Abbott has described as building a restaurant focused on quality, comfort, and consistency, with In-N-Out and Burgermaster cited as models he looks up to.
Abbott has said he hopes to add more Stevie's Famous locations, though for now people north of Seattle, on the Eastside, and in Capitol Hill still have to travel a long way for a slice. In an April analysis of Seattle's dining scene, Abbott told Seattle magazine that pizza businesses have proven resilient against rising restaurant costs thanks to steady customer demand, comfort-food appeal, and lower overhead than full-service dining — part of a broader post-COVID surge in sourdough and artisan slice shops across the city.
A Changing Commercial Strip
The Phinney Ridge opening also fits into a larger shift along the corridor, where acclaimed independent operators have been taking over long-held chain storefronts, according to Brad Hinckley. The site's private parking lot and large dining patio are rare features for the neighborhood, Hinckley notes, giving Stevie's Famous room to grow into the kind of accessible neighborhood hub for families that the brand has aimed to become since its Burien days.
