Portland, OR – Eat Pizza

Eat Pizza Portland Oregon

Eat Pizza Portland Oregon

Had a coupon for a free personal-sized pizza; the proprietor gives these out as business cards, cheap publicity.   Only other guy I ever saw that did that was Ron Zapp, the late owner of Zapp’s & Dirty’s Potato Chip brands out of Louisiana.  His business card was a coupon for a free bag of chips. I had lots of Ron’s business cards!

So I am walking past Eat Pizza today, and naturally I don’t have the coupon with me.  Sure, I had it last Thursday for some reason, but not today. (sigh).

This is a micro-establishment, no, not like beer, like size. It’s tiny, and odd shaped, difficult to work in, I am sure.   The two guys working today were friendly enough, and over explained the concept and process to any customer who walked in or called.  (They have a set price policy, regardless of the number of toppings).

They have three sizes, a personal (plate-size), a more bigger one, and a still more bigger.   The menu says 5.99 for the personal, but today they were charging an even fin.

I ordered the carne, (all meat) or course, and they said it would be ready in four minutes.  I scratched my head and looked around for the ovens.  “Ah, Turbo-Chefs,” I noted.  These trick out super speedy ovens, (which you can buy for the home), cook faster than you can usually pre-heat, as in a 12 lb turkey in 40 minutes.  These ovens, in fact, are the cornerstone of 7-Eleven entering the pizza business.  At about 5 grand an oven, I think. 

Eat Pizza has 3 of the small models (personal sized?) and so they can zip out a pizza lickety split.   The prep table is some distance from the ovens (in the window front facing Burnside), and while I did not see a sheeter, or see a guy rolling dough, I did overhear the two employees talk about hand-stretching the crusts.  So maybe.

It’s a medium thickness crust, what some chains would call “deep dish”, but not really, just a thick crust. It has whatever it is that pizzerias put on crusts these days to give them a little buttery flavor, and a smidgen of corn meal, as well.

The sauce and cheese were completely non-offensive, and the meats, for the most part, standard processed food service deli cuts.  Except for the Italian sausage, which was quite to my liking, a nice fennel garlic pork product, that the man behind the counter said came fresh, uncooked, but he did not know from where.  The menu says “NY style,” and while it has a little hang when it’s hot (but too much slide), it stiffens up when it cools off.  Huh.  That seems backwards!

In these days of chain pizza wars, Eat Pizza is a little on the spendy side, but it’s convenient to the edge of NW PDX, and they deliver.  While I saw no direct evidence of same on premises, the menu says they have sandwiches, appys (wings, cheese bread), and salads, as well.   They must have a store room.

Will I go back?  Probably yes, and especially in the summer, to sit at the outside tables and watch the Burnside traffic. 

And it’s a thousand times better than nearby Rocco’s.

Eat Pizza Portland Oregon

Eat Pizza Portland Oregon

Eat Pizza, Portland, Oregon

Eat Pizza, Portland, Oregon

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