Oven & Shaker - Visit #18

            Located in the Pearl District, Oven & Shaker (O&S) serves Italian street food, artisan cocktails, and wood fired pizza. If you want to know more about the street food and cocktails, (which I hear are very good) this is the wrong blog for you! 😆. When it comes to our pizza trips, we are like a dog with a bone. I honestly couldn't name one non-pizza dish or cocktail on the menu. The pizza section was like a tractor beam, and on this night we ordered four! I digress...

           We intentionally tried to hit up O&S soon after our visit to Nostrana. We thought it would be interesting to compare the pizza at two of Cathy Whims places. If you would like to learn a bit more about Cathy or Nostrana, check out our Nostrana post (Visit #15). Ok...let's get to the pizza...

Bianca

          Veggie and I thought the dough, bake, quality of toppings, and balance of ingredients were excellent. The crust had perfect crunch and char. Yes...perfect! However, I felt it lacked chew and airiness (puff on the edge) are two areas that could be improved. I want it all! 😀
           The quality of toppings and balance of ingredients was also a strength for O&S. It was evident in every bite how fresh the ingredients were. We both thought each of the four pies we tried had great distribution/balance of toppings. Veggie was particularly fond of O&S, ranking them a 90 (one of his highest scores of the year).
           The Bianca included garlic, raschera, sottocenere al tartufo, bufala mozzarella, and fried sage. This was a really interesting version of a traditional pie. We thought the cheese combination worked well. We loved the truffle flavor coming from the sottocenere al tartufo, the salty raschera, and the creamy/fatty buffalo mozz. The fried sage added a fun textural addition, as well as a flavor pop depending on the bite.

Margherita

              The Marga...you know what is on it. We have ordered this at 18 different Portland pizza places this year. We thought this was definitely well above the average we have tasted this year, and in the upper Marga quadrant. The balance of ingredients was a strength. As you can see, they didn't hold back on the cheese, which is a common mistake (and nice cost cutting measure). The sauce was unique too, it had a slightly sharp, acidic taste. I enjoyed this, it wasn't too much and I thought complimented the ample creamy cheese on the pie.

Mushroom

           The Mushroom consisted of caramelized onions, fontina, scallion, ricotta, and parmigiano. When vegetarians/vegans want something hearty, they often turn to mushrooms to satisfy that craving. This pie was hearty. The mushrooms had great texture, the ricotta added to this as well. The caramelized onions offered sweetness that balanced the hearty mushrooms and creamy ricotta. The scallions added the mild onion flavor, which complimented the other flavors. Some of our favorite pies this year have included scallions (or as Ash Wood Fired did, get those Calcot onions), we think this is a simple, yet underrated ingredient.

Spicy Salami

              The only carnivorous pie of the night was the Spicy Salami. This pie is made up of tomato, provolone, mozzarella, parmesan, and wild flower honey. I knew I was going to order this before we even got there (thanks @west_coast_drinkery for the heads up). I love this combination of flavors. If you have been following along, you have seen me order a version of this several times this year. However, this time I didn't add the Mama Lil's. This was a solid pie. The salami was excellent and overall taste was great. My only critique would be don't drizzle the honey on the perimeter of the crust - it gets messy on your hands and you know I am wearing my best clothes since I am in the Pearl.

             Overall we were pleasantly surprised with Oven & Shaker. We expected a good experience based on our visit to Nostrana, however it ended up being great. We were surprised how different O&S is than Nostrana in terms of pizza quality (O&S was noticeably better). I drilled down into our ratings of each to find out more. Nostrana main miss was on their dough/crust which dropped them significantly. O&S had way better char and crunch, which I think was the difference. I would love to know more as to why this is. They obviously have different ovens, chefs, etc, but you would expect the two to be of similar quality. As you will see in rating, O&S will likely land in the top tier this year, and Nostrana likely near the median.

             Special thanks to our waitress, Kelly. She took awesome care of the Doughboys on this visit.

Overall Rank: #6 (Tie)