Pizza is one of those things that pretty much everyone loves. I don't think I've ever come across someone who didn't like some type of version of pizza whether it's deep dish or thin crust, pepperoni or chicken, simple or fancy. We have a lot of pizza restaurants around here that range from not-so-good to fabulous. In the year and a half that we've lived i Maine, we've been to several of these places that claim to be the best in Portland. Two of those really stand out to me as being superior and are on totally different levels. I'd like to take you on a pizza journey of sorts starting from the worst and working our way to the best.
Pizza Joint: This is the worst pizza I've ever had in my life. I ordered what would be considered a supreme and went by 20 minutes later to pick it up. First of all it was HUMONGOUS. And it cost $33. I almost had a heart attack on the spot! The crust was soggy and there were way too many of each topping. Why so much then? Each topping was like $3 each, which I didn't know when I ordered it. And really, should onions cost as much as sausage? The pizza was too large and we ended up throwing it away after we fought to eat the slices we could stomach. Needless to say we won't be going back.
Stavros: This place gets an okay in my book. We've only been there once and ordered slices. It's across the street from Pizza Joint and they have other things besides pizza like burgers and subs. I think we just got basic pepperoni and cheese, but the crust was good and pretty standard. I'd go again to try it out.
Portland Pie: Spike and I just went here recently and got a supreme type pizza. This place has more than your standard toppings. They have seafood, barbecue chicken, and an Asian style pizza for those who don't want the same old same old. This was a pizza that I've ordered for people at work before and gotten good reviews. So we had to go try it for ourselves. They even sell their dough in the grocery store so you can do your own thing at home, which is pretty cool I think.
Bonobo: A newer place in town compared to the other pizza places, Bonobo is a place where you could get just a regular pepperoni, but why? They have some of the most unique combination of ingredients that you can find on a pie. We had to be adventurous when we went so we got a Morocco which had lamb sausage, feta and goat cheeses, roasted red bell peppers and scallions. Delish. Yum. So good. You should look at the link just to see what ingredients they put on these pizzas...mmmm.
Otto Pizza: Now we're getting into my two top favorites. Otto's is downtown in a TINY itsy bitsy store front. You can go in and get slices for $3.50 (they're so big it's almost like 2 slices) and take it to go or have a seat next door in their sister restaurant Enzo's where they'll pass the pizza through a little hole in the wall after it comes out of the oven. They always have a pepperoni and cheese slices for sale, but the other pies' availabilities change depending on whoever is running things back at the ovens. I've seen chicken, margherita, mashed potato bacon and scallion, and my personal favorite - three cheese tortellini. Otto's takes pizza and puts it on a higher level. It's consistently rated the best pizza in Portland and for good reason. The ingredients are of high quality, prices are reasonable (are you listening, Pizza Joint?!), and the combinations are inspired
Flatbread Company: If you're looking for a pizza with local ingredients that also happen to be organic, Flatbread is the place for you. They have a brick oven in the restaurant where you can see the employees stoking the fire and carefully tending to each pizza. Flatbread's crust is really what sets them apart from the other pizza places in town. It's incredibly thin but somehow still has a good crunch to it. For me, the ingredients don't really have to be organic and the pepperoni isn't any more special because it's nitrate free, but everything works really well here. I almost really don't have any words, but that this is the place we bring people when they come to visit us in Portland. So...when are you coming??
Does this make up for a few months of no blog entries? I hope you're inspired to go out and get a locally made pizza and support the small businesses in your community that work hard to keep up with the big chains. You'd be happy to know that since we've lived here we haven't even thought once about calling Domino's or Pizza Hut. Spread the word...most of the time, the food is better anyway!
