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Ken's is one of my desert island pizzas. For all the awesome pizza that we have in SF, I still go to Ken's every single time I'm in Portland.

@pizzafreak & L.A. Pizza Maven

Far be it from me to invite myself to a gathering, but if y'all are looking for a Tour du Portland Pizza and want a third wheel, I'm always down for Ken's, and I can help guide you to the city's other char-y hot spots.

wifain gmail.com

Oh, Adam, sigh. . .the things we must do to earn a decent living. . .I'm not being sarcastic about the pizza reporting--I'm referring to having to navigate airport terminals, and being force to wait in long lines just to be able to take off your shoes in public.

We take a train trip to Portland from Seattle at least once a year. Even though we're old, we go for the nightlife. And Voodoo Donuts, and to check out the Mother of the Month at Mother's. We've never tried pizza in Portland, and based on your comments, I'm glad we never did. Thanks for the heads-up.

@Adam Kuban: There does seem to be a yellow tinge to the pizza pics. I compared them to the shots I had taken at Ken's, and the difference in color is pretty noticeable, particularly on that bacon pie. It seems like the reds were toned down.

Good comment, but it would have been better if he had said "lowbrau" instead of "lowbrow".

@Sean: As I mentioned above in the comments, adding things to an already cooked pizza is not allowed, so there will be wings or anything else tossed on after the fact. Our hero's wife and kids seem to be unaffected by his devotion to pizza.

He had a dinner out at a nice restaurant that only sells a couple of pizza appetizers, only one of which has sausage. While his wife had a full meal, he had the one sausage appetizer pizza on the menu and a second off-menu one that the restaurant made upon learning of his bet.

More recently, he was at a conference for work and he drank water at a large meal where everyone else feasted on prime rib before retiring to his room for some take-out pizza.

Yeah does L.A. not allow wood ovens or something? What a shame... all that smog and none of it from pizza. Ha ha.

Pizzafreak, could you please elaborate on how the LA laws would hurt a great pizzeria opening?

that's surprising (and kind of a let down), but the pies were impeccable regardless. thanks Gianluca!

-brooks

@ nycparkie- i don't believe in the east coast/west coast water myth, but i do think the humidity plays a sizable role no matter where a pie is made

@ anyone at Sunday's Pieman's- I'm betting Mangieri made the Filetti and Palombino made the Soppressata, but who made the Margherita???

I also want to add that I think he will be tired of pizza after this month! He will probably crave a good cheeseburger or steak, hell maybe even some chicken wings!

Sure this is doable - (but not if I'd want to love pizza at the end of the month.) He just has to put lots of veggies on most of his pizzas, some pineapple occasionally (hey, he needs some fruit), and sometimes minimize the cheese. Is he allowed to make his own pizza? If he plans carefully and chooses pizzas that aren't drowning in cheese and extra olive oil this doesn't need to be worse for him than, say, a sandwich or sub every meal.

There are probably people reading this who have bread of some sort with every meal already. If I were doing this I wouldn't eat very much pizza at a time, but there doesn't seem to be a rule about how much he has to eat.

Caramalized onions instead of sauce is a good bet occasionally. (A bed of Italian beans instead of sauce is also a winner - believe it or not).

I had a very lovely experience there last week. The pie and the broccoli rabe, heck, everything was really good. Yes, it's a little dark and a little cramped... I just hope Motorino will maintain these high food standards so I can make this my go to pizza joint.