Round Table Requiem

It's the second Wednesday of the month, which should mean there is a Society of the Rusting TARDIS (SotRT) video night going on at a Seattle pizza place; but tonight there isn't. For the first time in the old-timers memory (and, despite going to my first video meeting in 1995, I'm not one of the old-timers; at least by my standards!) outside the holiday zone, there is no meeting. The root cause is something that happened in March 2007 when the Round Table on 25th closed its doors. SotRT had been meeting at Round Table for several years before I started going. It had a nice-size meeting room with a television and vcr that usually worked without a lot of futzing.

The location was also very convenient, walking distance from where I lived when I first started going, and generally had enough parking (it was also a hub for pee wee sport team's celebrations, which packed the folks in). And the pizza was tasty. I've realized just how little really good pizza there is in Seattle in the past 18 months, and have even been over to the Round Table in Overlake just to get a good fix.

There was a lot of warning about the closing of Round Table, since the whole block was bought up to build some massive complex they're just finishing up. We moved fairly easily into Mad Pizza on Lake City Way. While it was nice they sold slices, their pizza really was best hot out of the oven and not warmed up. I finally discovered sandwiches, which they sold by halves, too, until they stopped having them all together. The location was also so-so: there was no private room so both noise and traffic were an issue. And there were just a few booth seats facing the television, so it wasn't nearly as comfortable as the old spot. In July, Mad Pizza closed without much warning. The story I heard was that a bunch of people quit so they just decided to close!

Last month, the video meetings occurred at two locales: a community center, which was described as "dirty" and Romio's pizza on Greenwood. It looks like the latter will be the new video home, at least for awhile. Part of me wonders how much longer the video meetings will go on, given the availability of British television online and on cable. It's just not the "must see tv" it was when you really couldn't get it any other way.

As for Romio's pizza, it is decent but pricier than previous places. Left on my own tonight, I tried Valarmos Pizzeria tonight. Very decent, but I prefer a thinner crust. I do like Pagliacci, but its quality varies a lot, which is a problem.