Don't look at me like that. I have a soft spot in my heart for Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits, ever since it opened next to The Swiss back in the mid-'90s when it was called Rock Pasta Brick Oven Pizza. After any major trauma in my life, a dish of Get Back Mac and Cheese from The Rock (it's a classic rock themed joint) has bolstered me and given me a full belly and clear mind with which to plow ahead - even on rainy days when "Landslide" is on its hi-fi and parking tickets are being placed on windshields. That mac and cheese is what I want when I'm sick, when I'm sad, when I'm happy, even when I'm not particularly hungry. It's obscenely velvety, with a four-cheese, rich cream sauce (cheddar, mozzarella, Romano, Jack) that clings to every square millimeter of giant chunks of chewy peppered bacon and penne pasta. Served in a piping hot skillet, the dish forms a protective layer of love around my heart. Pairs well with their classic-rock themed beers, which are brewed from Fish Brewing Company in Olympia.
ROCK WOOD FIRED PIZZA & SPIRTS, 11:30 a.m. to midnight daily, 1920 S. Jefferson Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.1221, also in Federal Way, Lacey, Lake Tapps and Puyallup