Snoose Junction Pizzeria a worthy whistle-stop for the whole family

Yes, you read the name right: It's Snoose, not Snooze. Certainly this engaging pizzeria in the heart of far-from-sleepy Ballard is anything but a yawn.

One recent early evening, the family dining section looked like Gymboree. Almost everyone had a youngster or two in tow, many under the legal walking age. Older "kids" bypass the toddler train set by the front door and make straight for the pinball games and digital juke box in the back room. The TV sets are tuned to sports.

"I had no idea it was so kid-friendly," said a delighted young mom. While her darling 10-month-old son held court around his high chair, she and her husband happily dived into a Hawaiian pie frilly with Black Forest ham and dotted with pineapple bits.

Salads, calzones and hot sandwiches ($4.50-$11) are available, too, but the 16-inch pies sold whole ($14-$22) or by the slice ($2.75-$3.25) are the crux of the menu.

Create your own or go with their combos. Among the usual suspects are some originals like the Ballard Old Town, where ham, provolone and salami mingle with pungent house-made olive relish.

Ingredients are top-notch. A hint of red pepper in the spunky house red sauce gives it character. The crust has a cracker-ish snap, but a wedge is still supple enough to fold and thin enough to droop at its apex so that it takes two hands to deliver the first bites safely to your mouth.

Snoose Junction was once a nickname for Ballard, a reference to the Scandinavian fondness for snuff or chewing tobacco. Owners Mark Ball and Emily Pickering have woven more bits of local history into the decor by using recycled building materials: Those bench seats, for example, were once the bleachers at Roosevelt High.

The easygoing staff tolerates all the high-jinks well. "There's a lull for about an hour," says one server, "then things pick up again around 9 p.m." The action goes until 3 a.m. on weekends. When the bars close, hungry revelers head for food, then presumably, home for a snooze.

Check please

Specialty pizza: We ordered a half-and-half: plain cheese for the purist at the table and puttanesca for the promised Mama Lil's sweet/hot peppers. Their piquant presence, along with plump capers and sliced kalamatas, made for plenty of bold, tangy flavors atop a thick carpet of mozzarella.

Italian sausage sandwich: The sausage comes from Ballard, but this saucy sandwich is a true East Coast handful. CasCioppo Brothers' sweet Italian link is split length-wise, the better to embrace a vivid tomato sauce packed with bell pepper and onion. Molten provolone helps keep it all from oozing out of a warm and crusty submarine bun.

The Chop: This salad could more accurately be called The Slice and Dice. Salami and provolone are cut into precise cubes; pieces of romaine are rather larger than bite size; only artichoke hearts are truly chopped. What makes this garbanzo-studded salad soar, apart from the quality of the ingredients, is the garlicky house-made olive relish — a condiment that any New Orleans muffaletta would proudly wear.

Sorbetto: Trust an Italian company to create frozen desserts with style. Bindi's fruit sorbets, packed into their own hollowed-out fruit shell, don't just look good, they are delicious. We chose lemon, but pineapple was tempting. Bindi also makes individual portions of tiramisu — pudding cups for grown-ups.

Itemized bill, meal for two

Specialty pizza: $17.00

Italian sausage sandwich: $6.75

The Chop: $7.50

Sorbetto: $4.25

Two sodas: $4.00

Tax: $3.67

Total: $43.17

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