Tacoma’s newest brewpub has NY-style pizza and 18 taps

Following the success of its Vashon taproom, Camp Colvos Brewing has opened a second location in downtown Tacoma, serving New York-style pizza by the pie and by the slice with 18 house beers on draft.

The contemporary, industrial bar is as prepared for groups — with long tables and bench seating indoors and outside on a concrete patio — as it is for casual meetings, quick lunches, after-work crowds, families and anyone looking for a cold beer and a slice of foldable pizza.

“Pizza, like beer, encourages community,” Camp Colvos owner Matt Lawrence told The News Tribune in February 2020 while touring the then-gutted, 2,800-square-foot space of exposed brick and historic wooden beams at 2104 Commerce St.

The opening — which officially and coincidentally landed on June 30, 2021 — was, of course, delayed by the pandemic. Two of the taproom’s three neighbors, announced in early 2020, have since pulled out of the project. Incline Cider House has been pouring upstairs since late 2019.

Lawrence credits Silver Building Construction with persevering through those tumultuous 16 months. The resulting design blends cool concrete floors with a long slate bar, a custom oak sign reclaimed from Gravelly Lake, and an elevated area for live music, all anchored by a very visible pizza kitchen in the back surrounded by white subway tiles. The adjacent patio features built-in bench seating around the perimeter and bistro lights above.

With views leading to the East 21st St. bridge, steps from El Gaucho, Harmon Pac Ave and 7 Seas Brewing, it feels perfectly at home and, despite its freshness, very Tacoma.

Visitors to the original Camp Colvos — a bright orange, rectangular building on Vashon’s 99th St. corridor — will recognize the atmosphere. There you can dig into delightfully flaky homemade pasties and German sandwiches. “I just want people to feel at home and feel this is their place,” as Lawrence described it.

His team trained with Vashon neighbor O Sole Mio, a New York-style pizzeria that has garnered many fans since Robin Pollard and Michael McConnell opened the restaurant and a coffee roaster next door in 2019.

At Camp Colvos Tacoma, the menu sticks with what brewers do best.

“I’m passionate about the dough-making process and what happens during fermentation,” said Lawrence in a release. “No pickles and peanut butter pizza here; we are taking a more traditional approach.”

The dough, fermented for three days and hand-stretched to about 18 inches, cooks in a 575-degree Baker’s Pride oven, the quintessential gas-powered deck oven widely used in pizza towns including NYC and Chicago, Lawrence’s hometown.

Whole pies — upgraded with a San Marzano tomato sauce — include a classic cheese and mini-cup pepperoni; one with mushrooms, whole-milk mozz and pecorino romano; and a three-cheese white pie with fennel sausage and broccoli rabe. You can always grab a slice of cheese or pepperoni, plus a couple of specialty slices with meat or veggies such as roasted garlic and pepper.

A good cheese pizza, said Lawrence on Day 2, is the pizzeria equivalent of a brewery’s pilsner, and Camp Colvos makes satisfying versions of both. Its other European brews — a crisp Helles, a Vienna lager, a farmhouse ale — pair well with their pies, too. A short but thoughtful Italian wine list complements a full bar that focuses on classic cocktails.

Open since 2018 on Vashon, Lawrence knew he had an audience in Tacoma. A second location here, he said, was “really a no-brainer.”

CAMP COLVOS TACOMA

▪ 2104 Commerce St., Tacoma, 253-314-5704, campcolvos.com

▪ Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

▪ Details: bar, table and outdoor seating available; order by phone or online

▪ Menu: pizza by the slice $3.75-$4.75, whole pies $17-$28; draft beer $6-9, wine $8-$13/glass, cocktails $11-$13

This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 6:00 AM.