PDX Pizza Week 2023 - Day 2

Day 2 of Pizza Week ended up being a twofer, although originally intended to be a threefer, for pizza slice eats.

My Portland State U friend was my accomplice in what ended up being an Alberta St. slice journey this evening, for a few slices, a few brews and catching up.

After busy work day I finally got signed off by ~6:15pm, and was out the door by 6:30pm to pick up PSU friend and head over to Alberta St.,  On tonight's docket were slices at each Paladin Pie (a food cart, on the same block as Great Notion Brewing), Wild Child (newly opened just a few months ago, maybe 2 blocks up from Paladin Pie) and Via Chicago (on the same block as Wild Child, and next to Salt & Straw).

It was a surprise to drive by Via Chicago and find a line almost halfway down the block.  We immediately decided on account of that, Paladin Pie would be up first.  So, we parked on a sidestreet just off the block that Paladin Pie was, and made our way to their cart in the little corner pod there.

Upon being greeted at the cart window and saying that we wanted to order the Pizza Week slices, we were told it was going to be a 45 minute wait.  So, so much for being strategic to avoid lines/wait.  We went ahead and consented to 45 minute wait, with me already planning for us to immediately head across the street to Great Notion for a pint to kill time before Paladin slice would be ready.

So we ordered, went across to Great Notion and a pint each was consumed.  We kept track of time and headed out and back across the street at maybe the ~35 min. mark from ordering, and I could already hear "KEVIN!" being shouted from inside the cart pod.  Despite there still being a lot of ppl milling about and Kevin being a common name, turned out those were our slices!  With the slices still being hot, seemed we timed it just right.

So, for the Paladin Pie Pizza Week slice:

What It's Called: The Bite of the Valkyries

What's On It: Beyond Swedish meatballs, Parmesan cream, lingonberry sauce, and fresh dill.

What They Say About It: Just like IKEA, except we're assembling it for you, and it tastes much better. A rich vegetarian pie inspired by Scandinavian cuisine, it will send you straight to Valhalla (which is what the Old Norse called Flavortown).

 

My assessment: It was tasty and I ate very quickly, on account of (1) I was starving, and (2) it was actually pretty good.  Very much in the lane of flatbread for me in terms of flavor, and have to say I was not fond of the lingonberry on the slice.  The bites where you got dill were alright with the meatball, for every time I got a heavy hit of lingonberry it was for me like mixing dessert with savory -- not my fave.

After quickly scarfing our slices while standing underneath the awning covering the set of tables and benches in the middle of the cart pod (as there was no available seating), we adjourned in the not-so-light misting rain to head up to Wild Child Pizza, for slice 2 of 3.

We had seen that Wild Child was said to close at 8pm, and despite our rushing and getting there a few minutes before they closed, we found they had not only ran out of the Pizza Week slices (which were a spin on Mexican street corn), but they were out of slices completely and basically closed.

So, on to 3rd place - Via Chicago.

Thankfully the line there had subsided significantly, so we were inside the place after just a few minutes, although it was more than a few further minutes before we were able to put in our orders of each a Pizza Week slice and then a 2nd slice from their other offerings.  And also a pint of beer for me, a pint of cider for PSU friend.

The Pizza Week slices got served up immediately, but the others had to be warmed.  So we sat down with our beverages and our Moroccan Lemon slices, to consume while waiting for the other slices to be ready.

Per Pizza Week, the Moroccan Lemon was:

What's On It: Preserved lemons, ricotta, hot honey

What They Say About It: Delicious vegetarian! Refreshing lemon and smooth ricotta with a touch of spice!

My take: I enjoyed the ricotta on the slice -- it still had other cheese on it and the spices added complexity.  I was not a fan of the preserved lemons on the slice though.  Even with not seeing any visible pith on the two small wedges on my slice, it still ate sour for me.  

Overall wouldn't be something I'd order again.

Second slices were a bit delayed and I think single person working there to take orders, serve beverages, and warm up slices was more than a bit overextended.  Second slices (mine pepperoni, below) had a bit of extra char.

I've been a fan of Via Chicago since moving up here and specifically order their stuffed spinach pizza to-go, calling it in since it takes about a full hour to be ready.  Overall this was a bit of a miss for me for going there for slices, but I'll still look to keep them on rotation for whole deep dish pizza pickup.

At any rate, after finishing our respective second slices and our draft beers at Via Chicago, and having shut down the places (we were one of two tables still occupied when the announcement that they were closed was declared), we quickly got it together to head out and adjourn a successful Tuesday night of Pizza Week.