Escape From New York Pizza

622 NW 23rd Ave., 227-5423, efnypizza.net. Lunch and dinner daily.

Escape From New York Pizza does not deliver. There are few toppings available and only one side, a Caesar, which I've never ordered. Not only is the oven not fancy and wood-fired, but its metal exterior is plastered with years-old stickers and slogans—many of which are unkind—and nobody who works there seems to believe the customer is always right. The shop started taking credit cards only last year, with a funny off-brand Square app that doesn't even let you tip. There's seemingly always one wingnut customer in the shop spouting off about God knows what, and the pizzeria's ambient temperature sometimes seems governed by the will of a malevolent god. All of which is to say this is a wonderful pizza shop, and probably my favorite. The sauce is rich, the housemade sausage bursting with fennel, the dough slow-proofed and slightly tangy—a decades-long consistency wrought from equal parts talent and simple stubbornness.

Check out Willamette Week's 2016 Cheap Eats guide here.

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