Escape From New York

It's kind of like the Soup Nazi of Portland. No cell phones, cash only, and occasionally, attitude. But damn, the pizza's good.

I feel it's time I wrote a review of my neighborhood pizza joint, Escape From New York. High time, in fact. Long overdue. I've been going there for the last couple of years. Nothing fancy, they usually have 3 or four options: always pepperoni, always cheese, and usually a mushroom or olive variety (tonight it was a mix), and occasionally one other, sometimes with meat, usually not, though. Supposedly, it's a lot like the pizza you would actually get in New York City. I've only had pizza in New York City once or twice, and neither time it was like Escape's, but I have a feeling I didn't go to an authentic place. Whatever.

At Escape From New York, the pizza is floppy and traditional; you won't find goat cheese or barbeque chicken here. It's pepperoni, cheese, sausage, peppers, etc. You get the idea. I've tried pepperoni (numerous times), Hawaiian, mushroom/olive variety, and a veggie combo. All were good. Many people love the plain old cheese, but I've never tried it. The atmosphere of the place (although I've never actually eaten my pizza there) is classic. Really, for whatever reason, it reminds me of high school. If I had known how to drive when I was in high school, this totally would have been my place (I frequented Oasis on Hawthorne, and the now-defunct Famous Bobs at that point in time). Also, somehow, it reminds me of the 80's. I love it.

You will often get a healthy dose of attitude here: once, I realized at 10:00 p.m. that I hadn't had dinner yet, and pizza sounded great, so I called to make sure that they were still open. Their reply: "Yeah, we're still open. We're open until eleven." As in duh, I should have known.

I think they recognize me there. I like that. It makes me feel like a regular, like I live in a real city.
As a sidenote, beer, wine, soda, and Manhattans go much better with the pizza than martinis. I found that out tonight. So, unless you are from the suburbs, I highly encourage you to frequent Escape From New York. It makes me happy.