Looking for Good Pizza in Portland

I'm from Connecticut and I'll admit it, a pizza snob. I've eaten at Pepys Pizza and Modern Pizza, both in New Haven Ct and two of the best pizza places in the country. So I'm choosy.

Craving pizza this morning in a big way and on the West Coast. After reading a local guidebook decided to try Apizza Scholls tonight.

Located on the SE side of Portland at 4741 Hawthorne Blvd I had big expectations. Hours are 5 p.m. through 9:30 p.m. Get there early, the place was packed with easily an hour wait or so by 5:30. The place has limited seating area, thus the wait, plus it's apparently garnered a rep for good pizza pies.

We stood at the bar in the waiting area and enjoyed a glass of wine--makes the wait so much more bearable and when we were there the bar was clear. Lots of families and larger parties waiting for seats. We were seated ahead of quite a few parties because we were willing to take seats at the bar in the actual restaurant and there was only two of us.

Pizzas come in one size--large. My snooty review: pretty good for being clear across the country from really good NY pizza. Attention really paid to baking with high heat and making sure a goodly amount of char is put to the crust--really important when it comes to the serious craft of pizza baking.

Pizza could use a bit more mozz for me and parmesan cheese is meted out by the tablespoons and you have to ask for it. Sorry, but I come from a place where the parm is in jars on every table. Okay, so it costs money and this Portland restaurant boasts completely natural ingredients, which means parm is fresh and doesn't come in a jar that can sit at room temp,----still....

Overall, thumbs up on Apizza Scholls pies.

Red wine and beer on site, in limited quantities and they warn that they could run out of pizza dough on busy days....not sure how that could interrupt one's dinner plans, but....

Apizza Scholls