Thursday, October 18, 2007

The "Mythic" Bacon Pizza

Not that they need anymore press, but last nights visit to Apizza Scholls confirms that they are the top of the pizza pyramid in Portland.
I have visited the restaurant on upper Hawthorne Blvd. 5-6 times and had yet to be seated in less than 30 minutes. I had also never been able to actually sample the Bacon Bianca because they were always "out of bacon". My son had actually come to believe that the pizza was a myth, much like Santa or the Easter Bunny. Well, last night we showed up for dinner at 5:30pm and to our chagrin we were both seated and able to order the Holy Grail of Portland Pizza.
The upper end of Hawthorne has been re-developing for the past 10 years and now the food scene is starting to catch up with the rest of the drink scene (Barmuda Triangle).
The Pizza is New York Style with an amazingly crispy, paper-thin crust. Toppings are fresh and for cooking reasons the limit is 3 toppings. I have heard comments that this is akin to the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. Trust me, these guys know what is good for you.
The Bacon Bianca pizza has whole milk mozzarella, grana padano, pecorino romano, lots of fresh garlic, herbs, black pepper, sea salt, extra virgin olive oil & house made bacon. This is unlike any pizza you have ever tasted. The thin crust, savory cheese and the smokey bacon make this a delight.
We also decided to go whole hog and order the Apizza Amore. This is basically their standard Margo'rita pie with capicollo.
These guys do a great Caesar salad and the only gripe here is that the wine list could be notched up and for Portland the beers on tap are not on par with the food.
The space has been a number of restaurants in the past and the old Compass Cafe was a fav of mine.
I am glad to see this space make a comeback and Apizza Scholls is worth the trouble.
Plan on having dinner at 5:00pm or be prepared for a wait. On the yuk or yum scale, this is a big time YUM!

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