Pyro Pizza is located in the Food Cart pod on lower Hawthorne (SE 12th/Hawthorne). You know which pod I am talking about, it is probably the most famous food cart cluster in the city (thank you Portlandia!). Pyro has been slinging pies since 2009.
The owner (John Eads), originally opened a "pizza by the slice" business downtown before becoming obsessed with the notion that really great pizza comes from an Italian wood fired oven. He built Pyro's brick oven inside the cart and the rest is history.
Pyro puts out a wide range of pies, and is consistently regarded as one of the top food carts in the city. And as we know from our visit at Ash Wood Fired pizza truck, greatness is possible out of a restaurant on wheels.
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| Margherita |
As always we ordered the Marga - our measuring stick. As you can see, it is a beautiful pie. Nice puff on the crust, balanced mix of toppings, and super fresh. Two things made this Marga unique: the sauce had a healthy dose of oregano, and the sauce was nice and chunky with San Marzano tomatoes. I thought the oregano added to the flavor and made this pie stick out from the crowd, but Veggie Doughboy wasn't sure it added anything positive to this classic pie. I loved the chunky sauce too.
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| Veggie Bianca |
Veggie Doughboy ordered up the Veggie Bianca. Again, as you can see above, a near perfect bake. The crust had great crunch, chew, and wasn't dried out. The only critique we had of the crust was it lacked flavor. It wasn't bad, it just lacked the flavor I expect after proofing the dough. This was consistent with each pie. The Bianca consists of garlic olive oil, mushrooms, onions, spinach (rotating seasonal ingredients, mozzarella, and romano cheeses. Veggie Doughboy liked this pie mentioning it was "creamy and the flavors worked well together".
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| Fennel Sausage |
I ordered up the Fennel Sausage. This meaty pie is made up of locally raised pork sausage (Nicky USA), red sauce, mozzarella, red onions, and basil. The pie was
OK. I love meat pies, but this turned out a bit too greasy for me. I am not sure anything can be done about that other than blotting it with a napkin (pork is fatty). It was also way more spicy than I expected. I am not sure how the red peppers made it on there, as both their menu at the food truck and online don't include red peppers. I think some chili flakes may have as well. The heat was a nice surprise though. I love a little heat.
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| Quattro Formaggi |
The Four Cheese was our final pie of the night, and it was our favorite. It is made with garlic olive oil and topped with romano, mozzarella, Kefalo Graviera, and blue cheese. Often this type of pie can be boring, with flavors too simple and predictable. However, this was the opposite. It was very good. The blue cheese combining with the other three cheeses made this a winner. Definitely give it a try.
After visiting Pyro, they definitely confirmed why they made our top 26 pizzeria's to visit this year. All around they put out a quality product. It's outdoor seating season in Portland, so definitely go check them out while the sun is out!
Quick tip: Potato Champion has $5 Prief bottles and they give you a free koozie!
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