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Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@ LA Pizza Maven
Well, I'm coming down there in early July (somewhere between the 8th and 12th), so don't come up then!
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Most are in Southeast. It's more residential than commercial. Portland's not that big, though. The Jupiter, kind of a hipster hotel, would probably be the closest, or something in the Lloyd Center/Irvington area. But just staying downtown would be fine. You could stay at the Ace, more of an upscale hipster hotel, and be above my restaurant, if you wanted. Or try The Nines, a new boutique hotel that has some deals going right now. Or do what I would do: Priceline it.
Approximate Locations:
Apizza Scholls - SE Hawthorne & 47th
Ken's Artisan - SE Ankeny & 28th
Nostrana - SE Belmont & 14th
Al Forno Ferruzza - NE Alberta & 27th
Firehouse - NE Dekum & 7th
Tastebud - SE Powell & McLaughlin
Apizza - Stayton, Oregon
Portland blocks are very small. To give you an idea, my restaurant is at SW 11th & Stark, across the river from the eastside, and yet to Apizza Scholls, about 60 blocks east and 15 blocks south -- 75 blocks total -- is only 3.5 miles away. My house is further by 5 minutes in a car and I get to work in 15 minutes or less.
But come up! My offer is good.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Wow. I feel special. Makes me want to blow more hot air in the future. ;-)
btw, I added another comment noting Firehouse as well in that post. They use a wood oven and do a really nice job and remind me a lot of A16. The bread comes out less crispy, and more soft, but still mottled with char and great ingredients on top in balance.
If someone from Slice ever wants to come out here, I will gladly tour you around and pay for all your pizza meals.
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Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@ LA Pizza Maven
Contact me through Extramsg.com's feedback page.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@ LA Pizza Maven
Well, I'm coming down there in early July (somewhere between the 8th and 12th), so don't come up then!
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Most are in Southeast. It's more residential than commercial. Portland's not that big, though. The Jupiter, kind of a hipster hotel, would probably be the closest, or something in the Lloyd Center/Irvington area. But just staying downtown would be fine. You could stay at the Ace, more of an upscale hipster hotel, and be above my restaurant, if you wanted. Or try The Nines, a new boutique hotel that has some deals going right now. Or do what I would do: Priceline it.
Approximate Locations:
Apizza Scholls - SE Hawthorne & 47th
Ken's Artisan - SE Ankeny & 28th
Nostrana - SE Belmont & 14th
Al Forno Ferruzza - NE Alberta & 27th
Firehouse - NE Dekum & 7th
Tastebud - SE Powell & McLaughlin
Apizza - Stayton, Oregon
Portland blocks are very small. To give you an idea, my restaurant is at SW 11th & Stark, across the river from the eastside, and yet to Apizza Scholls, about 60 blocks east and 15 blocks south -- 75 blocks total -- is only 3.5 miles away. My house is further by 5 minutes in a car and I get to work in 15 minutes or less.
But come up! My offer is good.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Wow. I feel special. Makes me want to blow more hot air in the future. ;-)
btw, I added another comment noting Firehouse as well in that post. They use a wood oven and do a really nice job and remind me a lot of A16. The bread comes out less crispy, and more soft, but still mottled with char and great ingredients on top in balance.
If someone from Slice ever wants to come out here, I will gladly tour you around and pay for all your pizza meals.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
Oh, and forgot to mention a new one, too, Firehouse, which uses an all-wood oven and makes neapolitan pizza. I've only had pizza there once, but it was very promising. Very similar to A16.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
I'd really be interested to see the 109 pizza joints he went to. It does appear the NW got snubbed.
imo, you get to a certain level of quality and it becomes a question of palate. But prior to that, there are a lot of relatively objective factors that can be referenced along with traditional standards. There's an established language around pizza and some agreement within styles about what makes a good pizza. It's not just up to one man's opinion.
So it seems right that there should be some diversity unless he just wants to call it "Alan Richman's Favorite Pizzas". But, of course, that doesn't sell magazines like "the best in the USA" does.
We currently have 5 strong contenders in the Portland area: Apizza Scholls, Nostrana, Ken's Artisan, Al Forno Ferruzza, and Tastebud. If you extend down to Salem (45 minutes away), there's also a place that does an excellent New Haven style pie. The place is just called Apizza. All of these places use top quality ingredients and hot ovens. They all use long ferments for their doughs. Two of them have all wood ovens. Two of them make their own cheese (one makes a ricotta for calzones, the other mozzarella). I think three or more make their own salumi/charcuterie. Several of the owners were bread bakers before opening their pizza shops. These are classic pies with slightly varying styles, all falling in the Neapolitan, New York Neapolitan, and New Haven range, probably. But they're all just fricking good.
Admittedly, the offerings get thin after this with rather standard-issue stuff, though at least we have a decent number of places making actual pizza rather than just the chains.
But Portland should be on any pizza lover's radar and I have to wonder if Richman came here at all.
There are still a lot of places I'd like to hit. I was talking to a friend today who called to ask me questions about improving efficiency at Great Lake. Sounds like they really have a product they care about and I'm eager to get back to Chicago to try it. I still haven't hit Bianco. And I'm going to Mozza in July.
But I've been to a lot of the best around the country and Portland holds its own really, really well. I'd be surprised if there is any city in the US, except maybe NY, where the craft of pizza is being renewed as strongly -- ie, places that are only a couple years old as opposed to 100 years old. Is there any place that defines the next generation of honest pizzerias better than Portland? Prove it.
Pizzeria Delfina's Genius Anti-Yelp T-Shirts
I am totally stealing this idea.
Fast-Food Yogurt Parfaits
@piccola
Gladly. Taco Bell is crap. Chipotle is mediocre. Krispy Kreme is only as good as their fried dough is fresh. Popularity dosn't equate to quality. They don't have hidden gems. There's nothing "hidden" about them. The food is created to maximize profits by giving people something just good enough that they won't bother seeking out something better, largely by focusing on simple, bold flavors. (ie, make it sweet, make it sour, make it salty, put MSG in it, and add some cayenne and mayo. If you can find a way to make it crunchy, do that, too.) Oh, and a 17 year old pothead has to be able to make it.
The gems are at the taco trucks and carnicerias, the little pho shop, and the mom & pop deli that people forgot when they moved out to the suburbs. These places rarely get acknowledged by the print media with their limited dollars and limited space. Meanwhile the pages are filled with Starbucks ads. The power of blogs is as ALTERNATIVE media -- ie, media that gives a voice to those stories, those businesses, and those true gems that the mainstream media ignores.
Fast-Food Yogurt Parfaits
@piccola
Uh, sure, but doing it at fast food chains is largely an inherent contradiction. Even the best fast food chains can rarely, if ever, move beyond mediocrity.
Fast-Food Yogurt Parfaits
Do you guys ever feel ashamed that you have a site called "Serious Eats" yet regularly have corporate-chain-fast-food-dreck taste-offs? Can't these guys spend their own ad dollars rather than you pimping junky junkfood?
Dining With Death: Fugu at Sushi Zen
I believe fugu is now largely raised without the toxin. Unless you were eating wild, rather than farmed, fugu, you were probably safe all along.
Hamburger America: Dick's Drive-In in Seattle, Washington
Totally overrated. Fast? Yes. Cheap? Yes. An institution? Surely. Good? Nope. I might rather go to a Carl's Jr and I'd certainly rather go to In-N-Out if Seattle had one. Fine to soak up alcohol after a night of binge drinking, but a place to search out? Hell no.
Apizza Scholls: One of the Top Five Pizzerias in America
If you want to see Spangler, along with other great pizza makers in town, Ken Forkish and Cathy Whims, talk about their pies, see here:
http://www.portlandfood.org/index.php?showforum=15
The crust has a wonderful bready flavor with a nice tanginess from a long ferment.
My argument for Apizza Scholls being the best of its style that I've ever had is that the overall pie is superior to those that I've had at, eg, DiFara's, Lombardi's, Grimaldi's, John's on Bleeker, and Patsy's. I preferred the cheese at Patsy's and some of the toppings at Grimaldi's and I liked the top of the pie at DiFara's possibly better overall, and I liked the flavor from the coal at most of these, that little bit of smokiness. But there were more significant problems at all of these. Lombardi's was a bland pie. DiFara's couldn't seem to cook the pies consistently, often truly burning the pizzas on large portions or undercooking them. Patsy's had similar problems. Grimaldi's fell short in the crust and the sauce. John's seemed to be outclassed by these others. Obviously my experience is much more limited with those that Scholls, however. And at some level it just becomes BS to talk about which is better. They're all damned good and it may just be a matter of taste and priority.
Apizza Scholls: One of the Top Five Pizzerias in America
LA PIzza Maven, if you come up, I'll happily show you around to all the best pizzas in town and Scholls will be on me. Just contact me through extramsg.com's contact page or through PortlandFood.org.
Apizza Scholls: One of the Top Five Pizzerias in America
Glad you finally tried it. What's amazing to me as a Portlander is that while Apizza Scholls is my personal favorite in town, there are three other pizzerias making damn good pizza in town, too, arguably as good: Ken's Artisan Pizza, Nostrana, and Tastebud. All three of these use wood-only ovens. All three of these are very bread-oriented, making doughs that have real flavor. There's also a fantastic pizzeria just an hour away in the tiny little town of Stayton, Oregon, just outside of Salem, called Apizza. The owners are from New Haven. We even have a place doing wood oven pizza that is mediocre and trying to be like these others (I'll leave them nameless) just to remind us that it's about the person making the pizza as much as the ingredients and equipment.
btw, you think that bacon bianca looks good, you should try the clams casino (bacon bianca with in-shell littlenecks) that used to be on the normal menu, but now is just a special occasion pie:
btw, where else did you eat while you were in town?
The Chronicle on A16 in San Francisco
So I just ate at A16 for the first time the other day. We had two pizzas and both tasted very good. However, I was not impressed with the crust. It had a nice char and blistering and looked like it would be excellent. But I felt it was too soft. Even the charred and blistered spots had no real crispness to them. There was no crunch to the dough at all, though it was clearly cooked through. We're lucky here in Portland to have four terrific hot oven pizzerias that are as good as any I've had in the US, and all get at least some crispness to the edge of their crusts. I've never been to Italy or Naples, however. My guess was the oven was too hot. Talking with the guys on the line, it sounded like, though, that the pizza station was the low-man on the totem pole, the spot to move up from on the line, which seems odd to me.
Bad News for Us Diet Soda Addicts
I like to drink an occasional real soda and have periods where I am a heavy diet soda drinker, primarily Fresca (especially peach), A&W, and Boylan's diet cane. Diet IBC is a great diet root beer, too, when I can find it.
However, I buy into the glucose thing only because when I'm drinking diet soda I tend to have the sugar lows that I experience after drinking normal soda. It's like my body wants sugar but can't find it. It's caused me to go back to my drink of choice: water. I feel much more even throughout the day on water.
Still, though, if I'm looking for a caffeine buzz, my first choice is a Diet Mt Dew or Diet Coke.
My suggestion is that people treat sodas like fine chocolates and look for places that sell quality glass-bottled sodas, like Boylan, Sioux City, Mexican Coke, IBC, etc, and just them occasionally.
Los Angeles Times: Food Critics Not So Anon Anymore
I think that reviewers should take comped meals. But I think it should be done semi-anonymously. Specifically, I think that newspapers should accept gift certificates from restaurants to encourage reviewers to come in, but they shouldn't announce who they are and there should be an explicit expectation that the gift certificate will just ensure that the reviewers comes in the door, but that they're going to be honest from there. No quid pro quo. I'd also suggest that it may be worthwhile to have a layer between the reviewer and the restaurants so that restaurants send GCs to the paper not to the journalist.
Newspapers are short on funds and so often I see reviews based on one meal. Or they only go to the big name places because they want to make sure the article has a large audience and they aren't wasting their money exploring restaurants.
How Do You Eat Your Bagel?
I've found that the "boiled then baked" requirement is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for a great bagel. I've seen waaaaaaay too many places that claim they boil and bake their bagels that still can't put a good crunch on them.
Also, texture is only half the battle and I think it gets over emphasized because it's easier to discern for most people than flavor. Even in NYC the bagels can be rather flat, even among the oft-recommended luminaries like Ess A Bagel, H&H, and Kossar's.
We hooked up with a amateur Jewish bread baker here in Portland who had been making bagels, rye, challah, and pumperknickel and selling them at the Portland Farmer's Market. He uses a starter and a lot of malt in his recipe which gives it this great aroma and a nice tangy-sweet balance. They're smaller, denser, and crunchier than most of what you get in NY. And honestly, I think their texture is best after a rest of a few hours. They don't lose their crunch even after a day's rest in a paper bag. Oh, and they're all hand-rolled, boiled in malted water, and baked.
We've now got our down-stairs baking and prep kitchen done, so now it's just a matter of seeing if we can translate his old school, artisan technique into a 100 dozen a day.
Ed, email me in a couple weeks and I'll FedEx you a dozen.
'A' Is for Amano
btw, I don't know why I said they were blended bars. They're all single origin. I was thinking that they were blended from others chocolate and I was impressed to learn only a couple weeks ago that they were actual chocolate makers, conching their own stuff.
'A' Is for Amano
Glad you highlighted this little chocolate maker. I've been lucky enough to be able to try all their stuff here in Portland, OR, at Cacao and think it's pretty darn good. It doesn't sell as well as it should, from what I've seen, but their blended bars are some of the better blended bars I've tried. They're very well-balanced. I think it's comparable to Valrhona, Cluizel, Pralus, Amedei, and other top makers. Definitely a step up from Dagoba, Scharffenberger, El Rey, etc.
Funny thing, I was on a philosophy email list with Goble many years ago and still remember him as being very inquisitive. I'm sure that's helped in their venture. I hope they do well. They're putting out a very praiseworthy product and Utah can use something tasty besides Crown Burger's pastrami burger.
More on Batali and Food Network
Wanna see what's wrong with the Food Nework? Read the comments on that ABC story:
I also have to agree with everyone that is on the Giada bandwagon - if I looked like her, I'd be out there in front of everyone too. She's beautiful with a personality to match.
I hate Rachel's new kitchen. I liked the old cabinets not the sliding orange cabinet. Her makeup seems a little overdone and her "freshness" is gone. I like her but for some reason I'm beginning to get bored with her.
Just love Giatta, Rachael, and Sandra Lee. They are the hottest babes on TV. They can cook also.
'Nuff said, I think....
Nutrition Sells: One Small Step for Mankind
One of the problems here is the confusion over the term "healthy". Look at Kerri's comment that something processed is unhealthy crap. The truth is, the real health issue for most people is calories, not whether something has sodium benzoate.
We're Giving Away a Truly Great Steak This Weekend
Since my images didn't come through. here is a link for the Podnah's steak images:
We're Giving Away a Truly Great Steak This Weekend
While I might take your Peter Luger's, you all can keep your Ruth's Chris, your Morton's, your Shula's, and other national chains. Me, I'll go get a 28-day dry aged ribeye of local pasture-raised beef cooked over a live oak fire and finished in the smoker at Podnah's, here in Portland, OR:
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
I wanted to set the record straight about Richman's top 25. The following is a link to my full review of Osteria on my Philadelphia best pizza blog, one of the only two pizza joints from Philly to make it on this list. A little hint: I was very disappointed. Happy reading!
http://www.bestphiladelphiapizzablog.blogspot.com/2009/09/osteria-philadelphia-pizza-review.html
Blog Pizza
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
I have recently found another pizza place in Providence Rhode Island that will put Alan Richman's 2 Providence best pizzas to shame. It's called Zooma's on Federal Street. I put the whole review on my blog at the following link:
http://www.blog-pizza.blogspot.com/2009/06/zooma-bar-ristorante-best-pizza.html
Blog Pizza
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
"This list is very subjective and has been taken way too seriously."
@Paulie: Good point.
The crust Mangieri is making at UPN is, in my opinion, nothing short of spectacular. I do agree with bufala being a little too runny.....still, high quality bufala tastes fantastic....in my opinion. The flavor is the reason I am such a fan.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
I hit UPN last night for the first time in a while. I had forgotten how flavorful his crust is. Although his Bufala Margherita was a bit too soupy for me (especially having to cut it myself), the combination of the flavorful dough and tangy bufala was an awesome combination. Perhaps I'm a bufala fan after all. I also had the Fileti for the fist time and was very impressed. Garlic and raw tomato are typically not my favorite combination on a pie, but it worked for me yesterday. What made it for me most though were the course sea salt cyrstals that I bit into. I've never experienced that on a pie before. I don't think it was applied post oven, so they must have been very big granules to not have melted into the pie. Bottom line is there is no way UPN should be relegated to the last spot on Richman's list. This list is very subjective and has been taken way too seriously.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
Come on ... how much talking about this guy ...
HE IS A LIVING CONTRADDICTION....
Less than a year ago he was mouth watering talking of neapolitan pizza he had in Japan ... Now he "destroyes" 300 years of tradition telling that Neapolitan pizza is disgusting ...
He does not like Neapolitan Pizza because of Buffalo Mozzarella and Anchovies ...
HALLO, McFLY? IS ANYONE THERE?
DID ANYONE TELL Mr. "ALAN McFLY" THAT NEAPOLITAN MARGHERITA IS MADE WITH FIOR DI LATTE and NOT WITH BUFFALO MOZZARELLA?
DID ANYONE TELL HIM THAT NONE OF THE THOUSANDS NEAPOLITAN PIZZERIA HAS ANCHOVIES ON THEIR MENU?
No passion behind Pizza in Italy ????
Is this guy KIDDING ME ????
Come on pizza in Napoli is a religion. There is no pizza without Napoli, there is no Napoli without pizza ... One cannot leave without the other ...
Mr. richman, give me a break ...
I honestly cannot take a Mr whatever to come-out with such a stupid article and throw 300 years of tradition and culture in the garbage ...
The funniest of all ????
After all this big article, he includes at least 9 Neapolitan (or better, Neapolitan wanna-be) pizzeria in his list of the 25 ....
IS HE KIDDING ME ???
What's it's point?
Can he be that stupid?
Come on, this article was a joke ...
One last thing.
Does anyone know where Mr. richman buys his "dope"?
That stuff is good, it works .... look how many BS he writes after he smokes it !!!! ah ah ah let's joke about it !!!!
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL !!!!
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
This review by Alan was acceptable but I had some problems with a few of his comments. If anyone is interested, I posted the full write up at:
http://blog-pizza.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-pizza-restaurants-gq.html
Blog Pizza
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
tarry lodge is no longer, it is now a batali enterprise. the best in boston is regina
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Not deep dish and not NY-style? Then what style is it?
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Uh, there is a deep dish pizza, sure. But Chicago's pizzas are every different kind. I personally don't even like deep dish that much.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@Mooner:
I live in Portland, and in terms of quantity it definitely can't compete with places like Detroit, Chicago, New York, etc. It's just too small, and the focus here is (unfortunately) on seafood. But we're slowly gaining ground. The good places here are better than the best I've had in much larger cities. Like L.A., for example. Huge. Horrible pizza scene.
Now, as for Chicago-style pizza, I'm glad you think so highly of it. I really enjoy it too, but they're almost like apples and oranges with me, they're so different. I enjoy them both for what they are, but when I say "great pizza places" I personally am referring to NY-style, not Chicago.
@Delancey:
Really looking forward to trying your place out. Keep us posted on when you open your doors!
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@wikiadam, I live in Chicago. New York pizza? Pbbbbtttt.
Hey, there's probably good pizza in Seattle. But you're not competing on the level of cities like Chicago, New York and Detroit (!!!)
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
e@xtramsg
If you want any pizza advice / company when youre down here, let me know!
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@Mooner: Unless you live in New York, I don't believe you.
Also, do you have any idea how small Portland is?
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Whoa! 8 good pizzerias!
Sheesh. I have more than 8 world class pizzerias within a mile of me.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
@Adam Kuban: Hey, thanks!
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Glad to hear you know of the greatness that is Ken's, delanceyseattle! If I may, what's the name of your upcoming pizzeria in Seattle?
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Hey delancey in Seattle, heres a heads up on something you might be interested in...I guess there are several VPN certified pizzerias in seattle and there willl be a Vpn sponsored pizza convention the week of june 23-30....in Seattle..You may want to check it out.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
I agree completely, I'm opening a pizzeria in Seattle and I'm from the new york area, I've been to mozza and Bianco and pretty much everywhere on the east coast. Portland is definitely one of the major pizza cities in the country. Ken's especially is surely in my top 3 or 4 in the country. I'm always surprised at how little attention it gets. Thanks for bringing Portland into the mix.
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
That's beautiful of you...thanks for the info...im hoping to make it up in july, chow...
Comment of the Week: Portland-Area Intel
Hey extramsg, whats a convenient hotel in Portland with good access to several of these pizzerias? I think I need to take you up on that.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
@plavoie: I am going to be in Indy on the weekend of June 20 for a friends wedding. If I could visit just one pizzeria in Indy, which one would you recommend?
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
People never seem to give Indianapolis the attention that it deserves. There seems to be a unique identity of pizza shaping up in this humble Midwest city. Places like Bazbeaux's, Some Guys, and Jockamo's, all have a similar style and delicious taste. The pizza almost feels healthy, not that they are. They are typically thinner crust with lots of gourmet ingredients. After growing up in Boston and living for many years in Chicago, I feel Indy gets over looked.
Pegasus Pizza in Seattle is also pretty good...although for some reason it sucks as a leftover, so be sure you eat it all when it is still hot.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
@dmcavanagh: That's the spirit! I bet your home made pies are the best :)
As serious as this topic is for many of us, I also think the best pizza in the world is the one you are enjoying, particularly when eaten in the company of good friends and family.
Alan Richman Names Top 25 Pizzas in the U.S.
No lists for me. I make my own pies just the way I like them. No argument here, mine are the best!
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About extramsg
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@ LA Pizza Maven
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