BY JUSTIN MERRELL, Staff Reporter

Although local pizzeria Pizza Rita changed ownership on Feb. 1, the pizza will stay the same. The downtown storefront and menu will remain, and pepperoncinis will even be included in orders now.

The easiest change to identify in the restaurant will be its name: Pizza Colin.

“It’s not nearly as Italian as Rita,” new owner Colin Lamb, who has worked at Pizza Rita for two and a half years said.

Many may have seen Lamb around town delivering pizzas in his green, retro Volkswagen van.

Lamb graduated from Central in 2009 with a Bachelor’s in anthropology and is now a graduate student in resource management. He met previous owner Rita Ritter during his freshman year.

Ritter lives in Spokane, where she manages Pizza Rita’s four other stores. When she left, Ritter made Lamb the manager of the Ellensburg shop.

After deciding to go to nursing school, Ritter chose to put the Ellensburg storefront up for sale, and Lamb opted to buy the store himself.

“Colin is going to do well because he loves Ellensburg so much,” Ritter said.

Lamb never dreamed of owning a pizza joint or any other restaurant for that matter. Before working at Pizza Rita, Lamb never had a job in the food industry.

“The business was for sale,” Lamb said.“I bought it so I could keep my job because I like my job.”

Lamb doesn’t consider himself a pizza chef. As an anthropologist, he is interested in people and enjoys working with them. He is fond of the opportunities the pizza shop provides, considering its location in the heart of Ellensburg.

“I was a huge customer [of Pizza Rita] before I worked here . . . I used to get a pizza here every day,” Lamb said. “I always told Rita I was going to get a job here, and then I finally did. It’s crazy how life turned out like this.”

Pizza Colin’s menu will still feature customer favorites such as Rita’s Real Pizza, a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, beef, olives, onions, green peppers and mushrooms and the pounder, a large pan pizza that boasts 11 toppings.

“This is a well-oiled machine,” Lamb said. “Customers may have to get used to the new name, but they’ll still enjoy the same great pizza.”

On top of their usual menu, Pizza Colin features a custom made menu for the Iron Horse Pub next door, where customers can enjoy pizza accompanied by a local brew.

Lamb and several other employees met with the Iron Horse staff, where they tasted pizzas and paired them with Iron Horse beers. Pizzas offered at Iron Horse include the Hipster Delight, the Marketer and the Iron Horse Special, an employee favorite.

There were also murmurs of a “secret menu” at Pizza Colin, which will be made more public in the future.

Toppings at Pizza Colin include pepperoni, ground beef, sausage, mushrooms, olives, green peppers, onions, ham, pineapple, bacon, tomatoes, jalapenos, pepperoncinis, anchovies, chicken and garlic. Sides on offer are wings, crispy and cheesy eights (house-made breadsticks), and apple and berry eights (mini turnovers with white caramel frosting). Pizza Colin also offers gluten free crust medium-sized pizzas, and they accept all competitor coupons and offers, current and expired.