(WSB photos. L-R, Mark Fuller, Marjorie Chang Fuller, John Montenegro)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
It’s been almost a decade since Chef Mark Fuller and Marjorie Chang Fuller opened their first West Seattle dining/drinking establishment.
Now, they’re about to open their third, months after adding a North Seattle venture.
We sat down recently to talk with the Fullers as the new pizza-and-drinks establishment Supreme approaches its opening in the West Seattle Junction. Supreme’s head chef John Montenegro joined them for our conversation in the midst of the undergoing-renovation space at 4521 California SW.
It was spring 2008 when the Fullers opened Spring Hill at 4437 California SW, originally a bistro and bar. Four years later – in early 2012 – they changed its name and concept to Ma’ono Fried Chicken and Whisky.
That remained their one and only enterprise until one year ago, when Mark and a partner opened New Luck Toy (named for a longtime Junction restaurant that closed a decade-plus ago) at 5905 California SW.
“The goal was always to maybe have more than one place, but I never really had a number, or a need to have many restaurants,” Mark recalls. But “chefs want to try different things … (so) if you can have the opportunity to have multiple places to different things …” In his case now, Hawaiian, Chinese, and pizza. (If you haven’t heard of the fourth venue, by the way, it’s a mini Ma’ono focused on fried-chicken sandwiches, co-housed with Rachel’s Ginger Beer at University Village since last spring.)
For Supreme, though, John will be the chef – Mark will do some cooking, especially in the beginning, of course. And in the pre-opening weeks, they have been “conceptualizing what our New York-style pizza is going to be – we want to keep it real and authentic, talking about flavor and texture, and what’s our pie going to be.”
Mark acknowledges that he doesn’t get to cook every night any more. Running multiple restaurants is a “grind” – that’s not a complaint, by the way, though he smiles that, “(at) 47 years old, I feel it these days.” So he is glad to “have a great staff of people, people who work so hard … it’s inspiring to be with these people.” He himself has been involved hands-on in the Supreme renovations; when we talked, a nearby table brimmed with classic light fixtures the Fullers found on eBay:
Inspiration for their already-open establishments came from different sources. “Mostly it’s having the ideas already and waiting for the opportunity to present itself.” Fuller said that the idea of having a Chinese restaurant one day “strangely enough … presented itself. It was such a funny situation. I was sitting at Vidiot [in The Admiral District] and the owner, Tony, said, ‘I heard you talking about opening a Chinese restaurant one day … I got one, you want to buy it?’ He had just taken over Chopstix. Then I called my partner Patrick and asked if he wanted to buy a Chinese restaurant … we built it together. The original one I had in my mind was a little more upscale – it was based on Marjorie’s heritage … (But) we’re getting more into the bar business. Hard to make a buck in a full-service (restaurant) so (we) keep it simple.” He surmises that New Luck Toy has the “smallest” Chinese menu around, but “we go with the hits, with what we think people go and order at a Chinese restaurant, a couple dishes are authentic on the Szechuan side that people don’t even get (most other Chinese restaurants).”
Speaking of Marjorie – Mark describes her as an “unsung hero – we wouldn’t be where we are now if not for Marjorie and her support.”
She explains that she’s “mostly back of the house” – staffing, supporting the general manager, assisting if the chefs need something – but, she points out, “I have my own career outside the restaurants.” She has worked for a general contractor for 28 years. “It’s been fun – a lot of our regular clients are (also) regulars in the restaurants – fun to get that co-mingling going.”
And soon, Supreme will be one more place for them (and others) to be regulars. So, getting back to the plan, we ask how they define New York-style pizza.
John says “big slices – regular crust where, when you’re done, you want to dip your crust in the sauce.”
Mark agrees, “the kind of slice you fold in half.” But they’re not going to “over-top” the pizza, and the sauce will be “brighter.”
They plan to offer whole pies as well as slices. You can pick up – they’ll start with ordering through Chow Now – but, Mark says, “we really want people to come in and be part of the environment.” Delivery isn’t in the plan for starters, maybe “down the line.”
The whole pies, Mark continues, will be “specialty-topping pies” and “some fun pies.” He mentions salt cod and potato: “We’ll blanch some Yukon Golds in olive oil, put it on the pie and bake it in, flake some nice salt cod on there … like a variation of anchovy. We’ll have seasonal pies – we have the (Farmers’) Market out here on Sundays – might have a market pizza, just want to have fun with it.”
And about the much-discussed question, does/can West Seattle have too much pizza? Mark contends that The Junction doesn’t really have a New York-style pizza – Talarico’s has “a giant slice but not quite New York style,” and everything else is “wood oven” except Pagliacci. (And he says he and Pizzeria Credo‘s proprietor are “excited to be across the street from each other.”) “There’s room for pizza, there just is,” but Supreme isn’t “all about the pizza – it’s really about the bar.”
Yes, they’ll have salads, too. (The menu’s on the Supreme website.)
By the way, Supreme will be 21+. That brings us to the drinks – yes, like New Luck Toy, they’ll have slushies. Six to eight beers. Cider. Stumptown cold brew. And some “batch cocktails” they’ll make in a keg.
From there, we ask about the decor, with our attention turning to a painting on the ceiling. That is a holdover from the previous tenants, the Pellegrinis, Mark says, but artist Zach Rockstad put some extra touches on it – wine, pepperoni, pizza tossing.
Zach also did the mural you see in the backdrop of our top photo (which includes some personal touches like the Fullers’ dog Koa – get a closer look on the artist’s website) and the lettering on the windows. He lettered the lighting fixtures behind the bar, too.
Then we talk a bit about John’s background – this is his first head-chef job, but he’s worked at other pizza places, “mostly wood-fired,” in Seattle and Bellingham. He spent a long time as a baker, and then switched to line cook and on to pizza.
And finally, we ask the Fullers what they think about how West Seattle has evolved over the decade they’ve been running restaurants here (they had already been WS residents for years before that).
“I love the changes,” Marjorie says. “We’ve always been our own little community, but even more so now. There’s enough (here that) you really don’t have to leave – people say ‘you don’t leave the island on teh weekends’.” More people moving here means a “really thriving community (with) more people to support the businesses,” as she sees it.
Mark also feels that “change is good.” And he says that once Supreme is open, he’s not envisioning any additions after that – “we gotta get this open and hunker down for a bit – I don’t have any plans for anything else” – so there might be time for “getting out and traveling,” getting “some inspiration” by seeing what others are up to.
They’re expecting to be open 4 pm-2 am Mondays-Fridays, 10 am-2 am weekends, for starters.
hours for starters Monday-Friday 4 pm-2 am. And besides the pizza and drinks, there’s pinball (a game room off to the side) and a jukebox. Target date as of this writing, November 12th (but that could change, so don’t clear your calendar yet).
“It’s been a fun year,” Mark grins.
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