THE SIMPLE SLICE

[October 19th, 2005] "Pizza brings people together," she says. "If you take food off a plate with someone, you can't eat it with a reverential hush; it's made for community and conversation." Very recently, Whims brought her love for the simple slice and other rustic comfort foods to the table as she opened Nostrana with her partner, David West, and Mark and Deb Accuardi, owners of the neighborhood trattoria Gino's (and whose family started Old Town Pizza). The new restaurant serves handcrafted pizzas, nonna (grandmother)-inspired casseroles and robust grills in a section of a former Kienow's grocery store in Southeast Portland.

Whims is not alone in her quest to tear the American pie lover away from his or her Domino's. In his recent book American Pie, author Peter Reinhart parallels what he sees as a nascent national artisan pizza movement—focused on handmade dough and local ingredients—with the artisan bread and craft-beer trends of recent decades. Local bakers and chefs have already taken up the pizza challenge.

Apizza Scholls opened its Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard doors in January as the new home of former Olive Mountain Baking head Brian Spangler's famed Scholls Public House (which had to leave its original Hillsboro location due in part to traffic jams created by flocks of devotees). Spangler says he started making his pizza out of nostalgia for the East Coast pies he grew up on.

Ken Forkish, perhaps the town's best baker, is searching for a space to open up a new pizzeria as well after six straight months of praise for his weekly pizza night at Ken's Artisan Bakery. "Pizza's such a democratic food," Forkish says. "On any given Monday night, my place is filled with a mix of people who can afford to eat anywhere and those for whom a $12 pizza and a glass of wine is the limit of their budget."

Over at Nostrana, pies baked in a tiled, wood-fired pizza over from Italy are only one of a wealth of antique yet contemporary food cravings served (I was lucky enough to sample a variety of pre-opening dishes). The restaurant creates pizzas as Italians make them: thin crust with air holes in the dough for lightness, no lava flow of cheese, and just a few seasonal ingredients such as chanterelles in the fall and zucchini blossoms in the summer. They won't cut the pies: You use your own knives or, even better, pull them apart as you might a baguette.

Hungry? Here are some of the hottest spots in our local pie scene.

^not-so-humble pies

Apizza Scholls
4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 233-1286. WednesdayÐSunday, 5 pm until the dough runs out.

Apizza's crust is muscular but airy, with the rich flavor of a really good bread throughout. You can't go wrong with a pie topped with sausage or hot capicola from Viande Meats. And Apizza's Tartufo Bianco, sprinkled with fresh and aged mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and grana padano, has a smooth texture and intense, biting flavor. Truffle oil elevates the experience to transcendental.

Ken's Artisan Bakery

338 NW 21st Ave., 248-2202. 6-9:30 pm Monday nights only.

Ken's crust makes most others pie makers' wares seem spineless by comparison (the triangles remain perfectly horizontal as you lift them to your lips). The vibrant hue of San Marzano tomatoes bleeding into white mozzarella gives the serene impression of a sunset in Ken's Margherita pie. But one bite will awaken taste buds you didn't know you had. Toppings like roasted garlic and shallots are lively and light, and the soppressata from local purveyor Provvista is top-notch.

Cafe Castagna

1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-9959 (see Castagna review, page 25).

Castagna's casual cafe favors a pizza that's big on flavor but light on volume. The oven is gas-fired with a brick floor, and that heavenly dough is made fresh daily. Cracker-thin crusts are golden and bubbly—they melt in your mouth. But it's the careful interplay of toppings that make the pizza irresistible. There's a respectable Margherita, but the asparagus, speck ham and egg pizza—topped with pecorino fresco—is a standout.

Lauro Kitchen

3377 SE Division St., 239-7000 (see page 36).

There's something magical about watching the delicate fingers of a line chef send ripples through a round of dough, then lightly anoint the pie with toppings and send it sliding into Lauro's big cobalt-blue oven, all in one seamless, Zen-like motion. David Machado, who trained under Wolfgang Puck, still uses Puck's recipe for his dough, although he says his crusts have gotten thinner over the years. Taste-test the conversion yourself with Lauro's stellar interpretations of the Margherita as well as Italian sausage and caramelized onion pizzas.

—Compiled by Emily Lieb