We scoped this place out online soon after we checked into our airbnb in nearby Buckman. The lure of wood – fired pizza, house made ice cream & craft beer was the perfect bait. Of course the high rating reviews were just our model so we decided to have dinner here on our first evening in Portland. We drove slowly down Mississippi Ave but it was packed out around 6pm so we found a parking spot in a back street for our huge SUV rental.
We walked a few hundred yards down the main drag past various eateries & bars but decided none looked tempting enough to change our mind. The restaurant was very busy when we walked in around 6.30pm but a lovely hostess soon spotted us and escorted us to a table with a bird’s eye view of the Italian wood – fired oven. A charming unpretentious male server named Jeremy helped us with our selection of a 12 inch pizza.
We selected the house made Fennel Sausage with mixed Kale, Reggiano & Rosemary from the select menu. These guys are using the best quality ingredients and that is reflected in the $22 price of our pizza. I chose a 12 oz glass of the Boneyard ‘RPM’ IPA on tap which Jeremy earnestly suggested was a very good tasting beer. We were very happy with our choice of this eatery already just sitting at our table admiring the well oiled activity of the servers and the female pizza chef. I had no idea how long they had been in business but this crew knew their stuff ! They make their pizzas on sourdough bases here so that was something new to look forward to and we LOVE great tasting wood – fired pizza.
Jeremy brought waters to our table followed in quick succession by my glass of beer and then our lovely looking pizza. My ice cold IPA tasted spot on and we both loved the texture and rich flavor of our pizza. With the pizza completely gone it was time to examine the ice cream menu. I knew which one I wanted the moment we walked in the door . . Rum Raisin while my wife chose the Meadow Foam Honey with Hazelnut Toffee.
A female server came by and took our order for the ice cream which she brought back to our table. Well my bowl of Rum Raisin ice cream ( just one scoop ) tasted out of this world. It was always my favorite flavor growing up in Australia but really hard to find anywhere in the USA. My wife was over the moon with her huge single scoop of mind-boggling ice cream sitting on top of her cone. If this restaurant was within cooee of our house in Southern California we would be in here at least once a week. Thanks for the wonderful pizza, my fabulous IPA, the incredible ice cream, the cool atmosphere and last but by no means less important . . the really sincere service of our talented server Jeremy !
