Apizza Scholls: One of the Top Five Pizzerias in America
Apizza Scholls
4741 Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland OR 97215 (at SE 47th Avenue; map); 503-233-1286; apizzascholls.com
Pizza Style: Neapolitan-American
Oven Type: Electric Bakers Pride
Price: Apizza ‘Margo’rita, $20; Bacon Bianca, $22; sausage, $20
In my pizza book, A Slice of Heaven, the last chapter was devoted to the "Keepers of the Flame," people whose dedication and single-minded devotion to making great pizza made them worthy of inclusion in what could have been called the Pizzaiolo Hall of Fame.
I still get excited when I'm in the presence of pizza greatness. So I was psyched to be in Portland, Oregon, eating at Apizza Scholls. Even the pie that owner and pizzaiolo Brian Spangler had reluctantly FedExed to me was pretty delicious. (Even after reheating it at a pizzeria near Serious Eats headquarters.)
When we drove up to Apizza Scholls, the line was snaking down the block, but we got to his place early enough to snag the last table. Brian's warm, friendly, and smart-as-a-whip wife, Kim Nyland, greeted us and escorted me into the kitchen.
Spangler and his crew were in full pizza-making regalia and mode because the dining room was already full of the people who had been waiting in line for an hour and 15 minutes. I wasn't ready for what happened next.
Brian pulled out a gun.
