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Some of the best pizza in Portland is now gone, because not enough people ate it.
Pizza Maria announced November 10 on its Facebook page that it is closed, effective immediately.
This is the second high-profile restaurant closing announcement in two weeks, after chef-owner Kat LeSueur announced last week that Concordia French bistro Cocotte was ending its run on November 22.
Here's the message from Pizza Maria:
Pizza Maria opened in June 2014 to high anticipation. The chef and owner, Sean Coyne, was a former baker for Thomas Keller's famed Per Se before moving to Portland and manning the ovens at Grand Central.
In our first review, we called Pizza Maria immediately one of the best pies in town, on the strength of its perfect marinara and "especially the pesto pie, which basically inverts the margherita with a pungent basil-base sauce and roasted cherry tomatoes on top. In the middle, you'll find some mozz and small chunks of guanciale, cured pork jowl so tender and sweet you might mistake it for caramelized onion."
In our restaurant guide this year, we repeated the compliment: "Pizza Maria loves you," goes the slogan on the menus. This crush is requited."
If you'd like to pay your last respects, you have one last chance. On Saturday, November 14, the shop will open one last time from 4-7 pm, in part as a fundraiser for the staff who will be losing their jobs. There will be drinks, and snacks, and goodbyes.
But the pizza is no more.
Willamette Week