We've got to take the good with the bad. On the one hand, Paul Allen's Vulcan firm has dug so many holes in South Lake Union that it has rendered the neighborhood very nearly impassable. Streetcar track construction is commencing apace on both sides of Westlake, construction cranes are springing up at every point of the compass and you could set your watch by the gravel trucks rolling through local streets. Vulcan couldn't have made a bigger mess in SLU if it had somehow goaded the Klingons into blasting holes in it.

On the other hand, it'll be kind of awesome to take a streetcar from downtown to Eastlake and back again. The new developments are bringing with them much-needed retail, including the Whole Foods Market whose foodstuffs now account for nearly a third of my diet. Best of all, Vulcan is giving space in its 2200 plaza to Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, home to some of the greatest pizza ever created by mere humans.

For those who aren't familiar with Tutta Bella, a short primer is in order. There's an organization in Naples, Italy -- the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association -- that teaches mortals how to become pizzaioli: certified makers of thin-crust, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. Their influence extends into the type of ingredients that can be used -- low-gluten flour, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil of Mt. Vesuvius -- and even the specifications of the oven. Joe Fugere, a former Starbucks executive, journeyed to Naples, studied hard and received a certification. He then opened up two VPN-certified restaurants in Seattle -- one in Columbia City, the other in Wallingford -- and South Lake Union's Tutta Bella will follow suit this fall, complete with a wine and espresso bar.

Tutta Bella will move into a neighborhood that's filling up rapidly. In addition to Whole Foods, the pizzeria's other neighbors at 2200 will include Scraps Dog Bakery, Seva Home, Chino-Latino joint Marazul and a soon-to-open boutique, Clover House. While that's some respectable company, I'm more or less fixated on the day I can order a Tutta Bella pizza and hop the streetcar to South Lake Union Park to enjoy it. Paul Allen, you are forgiven. For now.

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