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[KING OF CONNECTICUT] Best pizza in Portland? A boring debate—Apizza Scholls is No. 1 with a bullet. Anyone who claims otherwise is either Ken Forkish's momma or embittered by an hourlong wait for a table. Like the distant Connecticut cousins from whom it gets half its name, this flip-flop-friendly Southeast Hawthorne restaurant models its pies closely on the Neapolitan originals, and ends up with an incredible pie built on a character-rich crust. The dough gets a nice, long, slow ferment and goes into a super-hot electric oven whose temperature is monitored with infrared. It comes out crisp but pliable and kissed with char. With that killer crust and a bright sauce, the meats and cheeses are almost perfunctory—lucky, because among the many strenuously enforced house rules is a total ban on picking more than three toppings, which would slow the cooking time beyond what the crust is designed for. The best pie only has two: Mama Lil's hot peppers and crumbles of housemade sausage ($26). MARTIN CIZMAR.
Scholls now offers smallish one-person pies to guests dining alone at the bar, but couples can't order two just because they hate sharing. You can get pies carry-out on quiet weeknights, but you have to order in the restaurant and stay close, because when your pie is ready the box goes on the bar to cool.
The Directory: Our 100 Favorite Restaurants in Portland
By Neighborhood: Southeast | North/Northeast | Westside | Suburbs
2014 Restaurant of the Year: Kachka
Top Five: Old Salt, Ataula, American Local, Expatriate
Counter Service Spots: Latin | Asian | Italian | Sandwiches | Burgers
Wine Bars | Beer Lists | Veg-Friendly | Gluten-free | Elsewhere in Oregon
WWeek 2015