The Crown - Visit #26

             I work just a few blocks from The Crown, but had never been. That changed after a little friendly wager at work. I won the bet, lunch was the prize, and you better believe I was picking a pizza place.

             My coworkers (Spicy Italian and Ice Cream Queen) joined me on this little adventure down SW Broadway. Yes, I like aliases. Don't judge. 😂

             I walked through the door with high expectations. After all, this is Vitaly Paley's joint. Vitaly is one of Portland's most well known and highly regarded chefs. He won a James Beard Top Chef NW award in 2005, he's out cooked Iron Chefs and Top Chefs, and his fingerprints are all over a few of the top tier restaurants in Portland (Imperial, Paley's Place, Headwaaters). However, pizza is its own beast. So what did we think?
         

Meat Your Maker / Margherita

              We were crunched for time (pun intended) on our lunch break, so we ordered one pie to split amongst the three of us. These are good sized, 18" pies and we had meetings after, so we couldn't afford my typical food coma experience. We had a half Meat Your Maker and half Margherita. The Meat Your Maker consisted of sausage, salami, pepperoni, onions, and peppers. Food coma? Yeah, nice order choice there.

               The pie was very good overall. They are going for a New York meets Neopolitan style pie. They are nailing the style. I appreciated the nice char, airiness/puff, and crunch of the crust. These were all strengths of the crust, but it lacked flavor. I didn't detect much of any sourdough flavor, or much flavor at all. A slight flavor in the crust is on my punch list for top level pizza.

                I loved the flavor of the sauce. It had a nice tang, which I love on my Marga. It balanced with the mozza perfectly. However, it was a pureed sauce, which is not my favorite. I love the texture of a chunkier sauce. The Marga also missed with the basil. There was very little of it on the pie and it was charred. I prefer fresh basil topped at the end of the bake versus baked atop the pie. Let that wonderful basil flavor shine through. These are pretty minor critiques and quite subjective. Again, overall a very good pie.

                The Crown is located in the Hotel Lucia building, next to Imperial. They sell slices or whole pies. They are known for their cocktails as well. Next time I will visit later in the day to try a few drinks. The menu looked awesome.

                 I am glad I finally made it to The Crown. If you are staying or working downtown, it is a convenient option for great pizza. It will likely become my "go to" spot when I have a weekday pizza urge. Overall it is very good pizza. Definitely give them a try if you haven't already.