Outside, the night was drizzly and cold. Inside, the restaurant was toasty and inviting. Opening the door to Delancey in Ballard, I was greeted by a rush of warm, scented air from the wood-fire oven where the chefs were baking fresh pizzas.

The small restaurant, located on a nondescript block, was stuffed with men and women out after work. It was simply decorated, white walls with several photographs decorating the dining room. The entryway was lined with boxes of various vintages of wine. A few chairs were set out for waiting guests, and the bar looked in on the open kitchen where the chefs were taking pizzas in and out of the traditional wood-fire oven.

The mouth-watering aromas emanating from the kitchen made the very air taste like freshly baked dough. Looking at the menu made my salivary glands work overtime, and we ordered a sausage pizza and a porcini pizza.

The sausage pizza was savory and delicious. The dough was airy and fluffy; my companion likened the texture to funnel cake. The light tomato sauce was sprinkled with aged mozzarella cheese, Grana cheese, and house-made pork fennel sausage. The sausage introduced an extra punch of spice that individualized, but didn’t overwhelm, the pizza.

The porcini pizza delivered a subtler flavor. With a simple truffle oil base, porcini mushrooms, aged mozzarella cheese and thyme topped the light dough. Upon first taste, the pizza was almost bland. The flavor of the mushrooms didn’t come through until the aftertaste appeared. Adding an Emeril-sized “bam!” of salt kicked the initial presentation of flavor up a notch. When the taste of mushroom developed, the entire experience was enchanting.

Dessert brought a bittersweet chocolate chip cookie with gray salt and a brownie with house-made whipped cream.

The cookie was slightly overcooked, ending up crunchy almost the whole way through instead of gooey and warm. Its presentation was also boring; it was just a cookie on a plate. It was hard to taste the gray salt unless you actually bit into a granule. If you were lucky enough to do so, the sweet and salty combination was luscious.

The brownie was a delight. The outside was stiff enough to enclose the center, but the center was smooth and fudge-like. The dollop of whipped cream on top was sweet and organic. The brownie easily bested the cookie, but both presented tasty surprises.

Delancey is a simple restaurant in both décor and taste, but for the most part, neither was disappointing. The pizzas — priced between $10-18 — could easily feed two to three people, and splitting the bill would make Delancey fairly affordable, even for those on a college budget. The pizzeria is in the middle of getting a new sign outside, so for now it’s a little hard to find. However, the small, simple restaurant remains a delicious hot spot for those willing to make the trek out to Ballard.

Delancey Pizzeria is located at 1415 NW 70th Street in Ballard.

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Reach reporter Ashleen Aguilar at weekender@dailyuw.com.