I tend to have mixed feelings about Willamette Weekly – sometimes it seems to a draw for trolls, other times they legitimately spotlight great local stories, including food. Earlier this year they highlighted my favorite type of pizza, deep dish or pan pizza with their article “Detroit Style Pizza is the New Hotness. We Found the Best in Portland” which ignited passionate discussion on the definition of Detroit Pizza and other regional pizzas and who has the authentic deep dish pizza of PDX. That’s probably not really a reflection of WW and more about people’s love for pizza. They followed that article up this past summer with Pie Harder, a food festival devoted to the deep dish pizza of PDX.
Six pizza places showed off their version of deep dish pizza with sample slices of their pizza, and I ate them all. I think there were some dessert pies also available at the fest as part of Pie Harder but I had to tap out after only the savory pizza pies. If they do this event again, I would recommend it but be prepared with stretchy pants.
It may be four months later since the festival, which had a hard time given how hot this summer was, at one point even moving its original date. But I can’t think of a better time then now to be craving and dining on deep dish pizza then when the weather is cold and you want to warm your fingers and soul with. Here is a quick look at places where you can get the deep dish pizzas of Portland. Some of these pizzas I had pretty blatantly are specials for the festival or using summer ingredients, but hopefully these get you in the mood to get a new type of pizza besides your regular order! Go deep dish pizza of PDX!
Baby Doll Pizza
Baby Doll Pizza is more known for their large New York style pies (I’m personally a fan of their White Pizza with Housemade Ricotta and Sesame Seed Crust), but they also offer a Nonna Pie, which is the square slice pie. For Pie Harder, they assembled a bruschetta version of their Nonna pizza.
Via Chicago
Via Chicago does the Chicago style pizza that has a thick layer of red sauce and then the toppings on top of that and one more layer of sauce. Usually they are my go to for Chicago style Pizza in Portland – it’s remisicent of Giordanos for me. For Pie Harder they served up small slices of their regular menu offerings of their Meaty pizza with Isemio’s sausage, pepperoni and giardinara peppers, or the Veggie with artichoke parmesan.
It’s so thick the pizza can hold the blade!
Ex Novo
Ex Novo Brewing is on my list of the best beer and food places in Portland. For fun instead of their regular square pies that they normally offer on the menu of the brewery, Ex Novo offered pizza muffins. These pizza muffins were made with mini meatballs shoved into the dough, then topped crazy sauce, brick cheese, and calabrian chile peppers. Their normal offering on the menu is an 8″ individual pizza with crazy sauce and brick cheese and choice of 3 toppings, as shown in the last photo.
Pizza Jerk
Pizza Jerk‘s pizza are all delicious, and you may be tempted away from deep dish because of all the alluring toppings like Dan Dan or Haole with char siu pork, or the It’s Always Sunny In Cully. But don’t overlook their cast iron pies with a thicker crust and Wisconsin brick cheese. The one they served at Pie Harder boasted a cornucopia of veggies, truffled ricotta, and late summer pesto with veggies from their own garden.
Since it’s unlikely you’ll get to have that above pizza, I’ll just tease you some more with one you can definitely get at their location – look at those perfect upturned cups of pepperoni.
Ranch Pizza
Ranch Pizza made my dreams come true with a mac and cheese pizza served with ranch sauce. I somehow ate two of these. A food fantasy come true, thank you Ranch.
Ranch calls their version Sicilian pan style, and used to be a delivery-only pizza shop in SE Portland usually making people jealous at places like Beermongers, Apex, and Baerlic where the tried and true combination of beer and pizza is available only on Friday and Saturdays. More recently they announced they’ll be going brick and mortar with Poison Rainbow sometime in mid January.
Stay tuned because I will somehow get there and quality test the new specials and seasonals they’ll be able to do as they grow up with a dedicated space. Make sure you follow them on Instagram to stay tuned as they may close up the delivery only portion to prepare for the opening.
East Glisan
East Glisan presented my favorite pizza of the Pie Harder festival. They offered a pizza with mozzarella and Wisconsin brick cheese, Gathering Together Farm’s bi-color roasted corn, Mexican chorizo, pickled jalapenos, cilantro and lime crema. The vegetarian version left out the chorizo.
I mean look at that crust… They offer their Detroit pie on Tuesdays and Saturdays only. Even though the toppings may not be the same, you can trust that you will get this spectacular crust with crisp cheese edge.
Are you a fan of pan pizza, and where is your favorite spot for it?
I’m not a fan of pan pizza at all, but these look like great versions of pan pizza for those who do like it! Pizza Jerk always does a great job and the East Glisan one looks intriguing.
Never tried that kind of pizza! Sounds like a fun event!
Deep dish pizza brings on so many memories of being young and ordering Pizza Hut personal pan pizza! I wish I would have made it to this pizza fest, The Baby Doll pizza looks mighty fluffy but crisp, the Pizza Muffins from Ex Novo sound interesting, and The Pizza Jerk cast iron pie is delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I remember reading many books for a pizza hut pizza in my youth…
I’m definitely a fan of thin crust Neapolitan style pizza above all other styles, but some of these look amazing. That Pizza Jerk one looks right up my alley!
Thin crust is OK by me too – I am open to all pizza styles!
What an unusual group of pizzas. The Ranch Pizza reminds me of Ziti Pizza that I first encountered in grad school on Long Island – before, I’d never heard of putting pasta on pizza. The Nonna intrigues me, and makes me wonder if this is a Grandma pizza, the best export ever from Long Island. I’ve also been reading about people making pizzas in cast iron pans, which is also an interesting idea. The whole pan pizza/deep dish nomenclature mix creates strong feelings within me and I’m doing some research on it to understand it better. In any case, looks like a delicious time at Pie Harder!
I didn’t grow up in the East Coast so I can’t compare it to the Nonna / Grandma Pies there for authenticity, but I hope one day to be able to!