The Palouse Pizzeria is taking shape at 205 N. Crosby St., where Josh Novak, Chelsea Smith, and Mike Bridge are creating a family-friendly place for Tekoa and the surrounding Palouse communities.
An exact opening date has not been announced. Novak told What Now Seattle that the team is currently awaiting health department inspection and approval.
“We want it to be a fun, family-friendly gathering place for Tekoa and the surrounding Palouse communities,” Novak said. “The ‘Palouse’ name was important to us because this is home.”
That local connection extends to the restaurant’s logo, which prominently features the Tekoa Trestle surrounded by neon pink, blue, green, yellow, and orange. The same colors will appear throughout the restaurant alongside dark walls, retro lighting, a jukebox, arcade games, and other touches inspired by the 1980s and 1990s.
“We aren’t trying to recreate the ’80s and ’90s like a museum. We want to recreate the feeling of that time. For Chelsea and me, that means a time when going somewhere with your friends or family was the entertainment. You weren’t sitting together while everyone stared at a different screen,” Novak said.
The space will include a main dining room, an arcade and entertainment area, a full beverage setup, board games, and decks of cards. Novak said the goal is to give families and groups a place to put their phones down, spend time together, and enjoy the experience beyond the meal.
Pizza will be at the center of the menu. The team will make its own dough and offer sizes ranging from a 10-inch personal pizza to a 28-inch option called The Monster.
Specialty pizzas will include The Tekoa Timberwolf, a loaded meat pizza; The Palouse HarFeast, a vegetable pizza; The Hawaiian Wave; Chicken Bacon Rancher; Sweet Thai Chili Chicken; Taco Pizza; and The Pickle Pie, which Novak described as the team’s “love letter to pickles.”
The menu will also feature calzones, bone-in and boneless wings, breadsticks, garlic knots, meatballs, caprese, and a full salad bar.
Beverages will have a significant role in the concept, too. Novak and Smith launched Smashed Lemonades, their hand-muddled lemonade business, in 2024, and those drinks will become part of the pizzeria’s beverage lineup. Fountain drinks, energy drinks, beer, and wine will also be available. A separate Bubble Pop Dirty Sodas concept is expected to join the menu later.
The restaurant carries personal meaning for Novak, who worked at the family-owned Old White House Pizza Co. in Colfax during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He worked there alongside friends, including Bridge, his uncle and current business partner.
One of Novak’s closest friends was Devin Stanton, whose family owned the pizzeria. After Devin passed away, Novak and Smith named their daughter, Devyn, in his honor.
“So in a way, there are pieces of that old pizzeria, those friendships, and those memories that have followed me all the way into the family and business we’re building today,” Novak said.
Novak also credited his parents with helping transform the downtown space, particularly his father, who handled much of the construction, demolition, hauling, and other physical work while Novak continued working full time.
“This has truly been a family-built project. It isn’t something a restaurant group designed in a boardroom. It’s pieces of our childhoods, our relationship, our family, our personalities, and the things we enjoy all coming together under one roof.”
Ultimately, the team wants The Palouse Pizzeria to become the kind of community destination where residents naturally decide to meet.
“If someone comes in, eats some great pizza, puts their phone away, plays a game with their kids, picks a song on the jukebox, talks to the people sitting across from them, and forgets about the outside world for an hour or two, then we’ve created exactly what we set out to create,” Novak said.
Follow The Palouse Pizzeria on Instagram for updates on the opening date.
