Paper Bag - Visit #14 (no longer in Portland)

       

         Paper Bag Pizza is located in the Tidbit food cart pod on SE Division. This is my favorite pod in the city because of the variety of food, live music, and ample seating. Paper Bag fits right in here! 

         Paper Bag took over Pyro's second cart (Pyro 2) in early 2016, and they have been going strong ever since. Paper Bag is owned and operated by Tom Daly and Emily Goodman. Both worked at Pastaworks (Tom was their Executive Chef) before running this food cart. They do a great job making artisan pies at a reasonable price out of their wood fired oven. They use local ingredients like Shepherd's grain flour, naturally leaven their dough, and make their own sausage, pancetta, and meatballs.        

The Sasquash

         Look at that pie! The Sasquash has roasted zucchini, onions, fresh sheep cheese, parsley, and lemon zest. It is a beauty! Both Veggie Doughboy and I thought the bake, crust, and quality of topics of every pie was excellent. We only had a few critiques.

The Big Cheese

          The Big Cheese consists of fresh mozza, provolone, ricotta, tomato sauce, and parmigiano reggiano. This is a solid pie! We liked their choice of cheese, and again they used high quality ingredients. The crust was airy and had great crunch. However, we felt the crust lacked the flavor we expected given the naturally leavened dough with their own sourdough starter.

The Jimmy

          The Jimmy has fennel salami, peppers, olives, basil, provolone, fresh mozza, and olive oil. I am not sure why I am so attracted to this kind of pie...a pie with a smorgasbord of ingredients. One of many things I have learned this year...is less is more. It is tempting to order the pie with the most ingredients, thinking you will get to try more flavors, but I think this tactic is misguided. After 14 visits this year, I am consistently realizing my favorite pies are the simpler ones where the few ingredients, sauce, and flavor of the dough shine.

The Marga

          We enjoyed this Marga. It wasn't the best we have had this year, but it was enjoyable. The positives were consistent with our descriptions of the other pies. Our biggest critique was the copious amount of flour dusted on the bottom of the pie. Flour helps the pie slide off the peel and prevents sticking to the deck of the oven, but it never should be something you taste. We definitely will give Paper Bag the benefit of the doubt, as they were absolutely slammed (busy) when we visited, but the excess flour certainly impacted the final product.

        Something unique that Paper Bag does is grate fresh parmigiano reggiano on each pie they serve. If you look closely at each picture you will notice this. I thought this was a fun touch, that added to the experience. When you were called to pick up your pie, you could see fresh cheese being grated on your pie. It's a small thing, but I enjoyed it. Veggie Doughboy felt polar opposite of me. He thought the grated parm overpowered the other flavors within each pie, and was actually a negative. Oh, Veggie Doughboy, lighten up! Although he does make a good point, it can be the strongest flavor you taste depending on the pie.

         Paper Bag has a good thing going in Portland's best food cart pod. Pay them a visit, while the sun is still out!