Previously in our West Coast Pizza Madness tour: Apizza Scholls, where our party of eight housed almost four pies. After dinner there had ended, only one brave soul—This Is Pizza's Adam Lindsley—dared join me for a second stop at Nostrana immediately after. (The rest of the folks retired to the Horse Brass for drinks, some vowing to meet us later in the evening for the third and final stop.)
Though I'm not a fan, I'm used to the notion of Neapolitan-style joints leaving pies uncut. I've never seen one offer scissors for the job, however. As This Is Pizza's Adam Lindsley noted: "...There's some kind of joyous youthful nostalgia that comes with picking up those scissors and cutting into your pizza as if it were construction paper, and Adam and I actually did a pretty good job of dividing the pie into six equal slices with them." [Photographs: Adam Kuban]
Nostrana
1401 SE Morrison Street, Portland OR 97214 map); 503-234-2427; nostrana.com Pizza Style: Neapolitan, and it's VPN-certified Oven Type: Wood-fired The Skinny: Co-owned and helmed by Cathy Whims, who's kind of a big deal in Portland dining, Nostrana may be a better bet for its nonpizza menu items Price: Margherita pie, feeds one, $11
When I gave some local friends my Portland pizza itinerary prior to the trip, they said I needed to add Nostrana to my fact-finding mission, so off we were to the fifth and penultimate pizzeria of my two-day visit to Stumptown.* Some quick research on the googs told me that Nostrana was a VPN-status pizzeria. VPN, of course, being the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, an organization that certifies interested pizzerias as making "authentically" Neapolitan pies according to various pizza parameters—ingredients used, preparation methods, pie dimensions, and ovens and equipment used.
It turns out that this would be the first of five VPN-certified pizzerias I would visit in five days. What did I learn from visiting five VPN-certified pizzerias in five days? I'll tell you in my next post. For now, let's deal with Nostrana.
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 5, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Clockwise from top left: Apizza Scholl's just before 4 p.m. and there's only one person in line; the shop is decorated with pictures of famous pizzerias, including FAMOUS RAY'S!?!; the amatriciana, with pancetta and onion. [Photographs: Adam Kuban]
Apizza Scholls
4741 Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland OR 97215 (at SE 47th Avenue; map); 503-233-1286; apizzascholls.com Pizza Style: Neapolitan-American—NOT Naples-Neapolitan Oven Type: Electric(!) Bakers Pride Notes: Expect long lines/wait time to get in. On the various blogs and boards, people grumble about this consistently. Is it worth the wait? I would say yes, but only you can decide. Tip: Round up a party of 8 to 12 and score the one group reservation Scholls offers each night; bonus is that you can then order a mess of pizzas to share and sample Price: Apizza 'Margo'rita, $20
The next stop on my whirlwind pizza tour of the western U.S. was Apizza Scholls. Like Ken's the night before, this is one of Portland's top pizzerias, also with a notoriously long line. Fortunately, if you can rustle up a party of eight to 12, you might be able to score a reservation (only one slot available each night), which is what we did on a recent Sunday. And it's a good thing we did: Even though Scholls opens at 4 p.m. on Sundays, an hour I figured was too early for dinner for most folks, the place filled up in a flash shortly after starting service for the day.
Apizza Scholls serves what Ed Levine in his review last year called "Neapolitan-American" pizza, which is fairly accurate. Some people might call it "New York–style," others "Connecticut-style," but whatever you call it, it's instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with East Coast pizza. It has the same DNA as those pizzas made by Neapolitan immigrants as they started adapting their pizza to American tastes. So, yeah, "Neapolitan-American" works as well as anything.
Posted by Daniel Zemans, November 4, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Serious Eats Chicago contributor Daniel Zemans checks in with another piece of intel on the Windy City pizza scene. --The Mgmt.
[Photograph: Bill's Pizza & Pub; remaining photographs: Daniel Zemans]
Bill's Pizza & Pub
624 South Lake Street, Mundelein, IL 60060 (map); (847) 566-5380 Pizza Style: Cracker crust and Double Decker Oven Type: Gas The Skinny: Classic tavern cut pizza and the innovative Double Decker are served up in a dive bar/family/taxidermy museum Price: 12" cheese thin crust is $12.75; 12" cheese Double Decker is $16.25 Website:www.billspizzapub.com
In 1957, seventeen-year-old Bill Kwiatkowski opened a pizzeria in a converted garage in the small town of Mundelein, Illinois, a decidedly rural community about 40 miles from downtown Chicago. Over time, Mundelein has become decidedly less dependent on farming, the town's population has more than quadrupled to about 33,000, and the reach of Chicago's metropolitan area has expanded to the point where Mundelein is, if not a suburb itself, at least within the reach of the Chicago metropolitan area. One thing that hasn't changed is the pizza at Bill's Pizza & Pub, which still operates on the same site as the converted garage. The old garage still stands and serves as the base for their carry-out and delivery operations. The restaurant has moved into a large building next door and is run by Bill's kids and grandchildren.
Walking into Bill's is a bit of a surreal experience for the first-time visitor. The place is a cross between a family dining restaurant and a dive bar, with a bit of a hunting lodge thrown in for good measure. It has a large bar, peanuts on every table (and all over the floor), a small arcade, a couple of televisions turned to sporting events, and a wall covered with taxidermy mounts of various animals and fish. Bottles of beer are served without glasses, food is served on styrofoam plates, and, keeping the peanut theme alive, the table tops are covered with peanut shells embedded in some kind of lucite or acrylic.
This has been in the works for some time, but it's now official: Paulie Gee (aka Paul Gianonne) has signed the lease on the former Paloma space at 60 Greenpoint Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and is hoping to open Paulie Gee's by December.
Anyone familiar with the Paulie Gee mythos won't find it surprising that his place will be a wood-fired Neapolitan-style joint. The oven is being built in Naples now and will be shipped over soon.
Gianonne says he'll be the sole pizzaman at Paulie Gee's but will have an assistant trained and ready to step in at anytime in case of an emergency. As of now, Gianonne says hours will be Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday, 11:30 a.m. (brunch) to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m. (brunch) to 10 p.m.
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 3, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Another installment from my recent pizza tour of parts of the western U.S. Here, a pizza report and a Street Food Profile all in one—from perhaps the best city for street-fooding in the U.S.
Wy'east Pizza
3131 SE 50th Avenue, Portland OR 97206 (SE Tibbets/Kelly, parking lot of Ruthie's Weaving Studio; map); wyeastpizza.com Pizza Style: Thin-crust, almost New York–Neapolitan Oven Type: Small propane-fired brick oven The Skinny: Great pizza FROM A TRAILER. Yes. A trailer. Could use a little more flavor to the crust, but the simple and excellent toppings make up for that a bit. Good crisp-chewy crust. Caveat: Get there early. They run out of dough fast. And, because the oven can only do one pizza at a time, there may be a wait Hours: Tues.–Sat., 4 to 8 p.m. Price: $12 to $14 a pie, $1 discount for those arriving by bike or foot
After finishing dinner at Ken's Artisan Pizza, my friends Guddy and Belle pointed us toward a pizza joint that made me lose my s**t. Almost as much for the pizza—which was good but could have used a little more flavor in the crust—as for the digs in which it's made.
Check out that camper above and tell me that that is not one of the coolest street-food vehicles you've seen in a long time. As far as I'm concerned, the New York hipsters rockin' converted mail trucks and quilted-tin carts or the Seattle folks doing it in Airstreams ain't got nothin' on the street-vendin' people of Portland, who seem to have gravitated toward some sort of aesthetic that's more reminiscent of 1970s clandestine weed growers shacking up on federal land than of edibles. Though this might have been one of the nicest corrugated-side Brady Bunch–era campers I saw in Portland, it wasn't the only one. It seems to be the mobile kitchen of choice among the young DIY street-food set in the City of Roses.
Posted by Daniel Zemans, November 1, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Stronger than ever as the month comes to an end [Photograph: Ron Kaplan]
Just three weeks ago, I introduced you to a man who was a week into his effort to complete what might be the greatest pizza-eating feat in the history of humankind. Thanks to an article in the Chicago Tribune, we now know the man's name is Craig Scharoff, he has a remarkably forgiving palate, and that if he made it through the entire month of October eating no food other than sausage pizza (with optional additional toppings), he stood to make a four-figure sum.
Well, October has come to an end and Scharoff can expect a check from his business partner, Ron Kaplan. To anyone who followed the thread at LTH Forum about Scharoff's quest, his success is no surprise. The man made it clear by the middle of October that he was an unstoppable pizza-eating force. He happily wolfed down pies regardless of their origin, seemingly getting as much pleasure from concession stand slices as he did from meticulously crafted high-quality pies.
622 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland OR 97210; map); 503-227-5423 Pizza Style: New York–style Oven Type: Steel-deck gas oven The Skinny: A stand-up stand-in for a New York–style slice — but in Portland! Price: $2.95 for cheese (plain) slice; $3.50, pepperoni
It's long, narrow, and often crowded. The folks behind the counter are reputed to have a bit of attitude but are actually pretty nice. It's cash-only and is open late. Sound New York enough for you yet?
Well, the slices deliver on the promise implied in this joint's name.
Yes, Escape from New York holds up surprisingly well against a typical true slice from New York. It's thin, crisp, cheesy, and greasy. It's not the best New York–style pizza I've ever had, but it's notches better than many of the honest-to-goodness NYC-based slices I've eaten.
Oh, and it has the price to match: $2.95 for a "cheese" slice (that's a "plain" slice for our New Yorkers in the audience) and $3.50 for a pepperoni slice. Actually, that's even a bit pricey (or "spendy," as Oregonians would say) for New York. These folks have balls.
Which is, again, very New York authentic. [After the jump, the upskirt and crumb shots.]
You're probably wondering why it's been a bit quiet around here around Slice lately. Well, I'm on a crazy mission. I'm eating pizza in various western states this week on a whirlwind trip of five cities. Seriously, it's been nonstop travel with barely time to offload pics from my cameras. I'm just now catching up.
Ken's Artisan Pizza (top) is in a quiet residential neighborhood in Southeast Portland, a couple blocks south of Burnside and the more hoppin' part of SE 28th Avenue. That doesn't stop people from lining up before the place opens for creations like the Bacon Pie (above). [Photographs: Adam Kuban]
Ken's Artisan Pizza
304 SE 28th Avenue, Portland OR 97214; map); 503-517-9951; kensartisan.com/pizza.html Pizza Style: Artisanal. Somewhat Neapolitan but not really. Oven Type: A massive wood-burning beauty The Skinny: Ken's Artisan Pizza is the outgrowth of weekly Monday pizza nights that baker Ken Forkish used to do at Ken's Artisan Bread in Northwest Portland. So popular, he opened a pizzeria
Lines, lines, lines. I've stood in them at Frank Pepe's and Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut. I've frittered away countless hours of my life waiting for Di Fara's Dom DeMarco, in Brooklyn, to do his thing. The Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge is famous for its line. This is all somewhat understandable; all these pizzerias are in cities known for the cheesy pies they produce.
So the thought of Portland, Oregon, having not one but two line-worthy pizzerias flummoxed me. See, I lived in Portland in the late '90s, and back then, there was no wait-worthy pizza. But I'd heard in various pizza circles and from my new friend, This Is Pizza's Adam Lindsley, that you'd better get to Ken's Artisan Pizza shortly before it opened if you wanted to be in the first seating of the night. (Yes, I mentioned there being two places; I'll post about the second one in a future entry.)
And so, I found myself once again, after a nine-year absence, on Southeast 28th Avenue, a strip that was at once familiar and quite a bit changed by the real estate boom of the early aughts-zeros.
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