Rocco’s Pizza

Rocco's Pizza is a Tri-Cities original, founded in 2011 by Robert Curet and named for his dog, Rocco, a bullmastiff and boxer mix. The Kennewick store on West Grandridge Boulevard opened in March 2021, run by Bethany and Ryan Pierson of West Richland, with Curet, a longtime family friend who owns the original Pasco store, backing them.

The dough is made by hand every day, and the menu covers specialty, chicken, seafood and vegetarian pies, build your own, pasta, specialty sandwiches, salads, wings and dessert. Two pies show the sense of humor. The Pickle Face piles pepperoni, salami and Italian sausage under dill pickles, and the Beer Garden Pie brings salami, pickle, linguica, onion, sauerkraut and sweet hot mustard together on one crust. There are a dozen beers on tap.

The Kennewick room is a 3,400 square foot space built in 2005 as a noodle restaurant, with five TVs for the game and wall space set aside for local artists and student work. It is a relaxed, locally owned alternative to the national chains in the Tri-Cities, and online ordering covers both the Kennewick and Pasco stores.