Atlas Pizza - NE Portland, Oregon
I left work early on Tuesday and drove from Hillsboro all the way into NE Portland for a sewing class at PCC. It was, for lack of a better description, hot as balls outside. 105 degrees. Growing up, I don’t remember it ever getting quite that hot. Maybe on the odd day at the end of August. But I digress.
I arrived an hour early at PCC because traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared—which is always a lovely if surprising artifact of living in Portland—and so I parked in the shade and waited. But it wasn’t long before the grumbling noises roiled from within my stomach and I knew I should at least try and grab something to eat before my class.
With a cursory search of nearby eateries, I ran across Atlas Pizza, just a five minute walk away from the campus parking lot. Admittedly, five minutes in 105 degree heat is still pretty brutal. But I pulled up my big boy pants, turned off the car—and the sweet, sweet AC—and braved the walk to Atlas Pizza.
When I entered, it was pretty clear that whatever air conditioning they had was not keeping up with the blistering heat of the new normal Portland summers. It’s like hell, but with more ironic punishment.
I only wanted to buy a slice, and there were five pizzas to choose from: vegan, veggie, meat lovers, cheese, and pepperoni. I chose the veggie, because it seemed the most bizarre and unusual. I love me some unusual food.
They pulled it out from under the heat lamps, and I expected they were just going to hand me the relatively limp looking piece of pizza then. But instead, they plopped it into an oven to crisp everything up. Nice. It’s the little things, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Customer service was a bit on the short side—they were kind enough, but not really interested in small talk. And who can blame them? The restaurant was a mere ten or fifteen degrees cooler than outside. They’ve probably been miserably cooking all day. I didn’t take offense to that.
It did bother me that they didn’t have any water for sale other than Liquid Death. I get that it’s kind of a cool can to have on hand, but I wasn’t in the mood to spend four dollars on a can of water, so I passed.
On the walk back to the PCC campus, I took a bite of the pizza.
Fucking. Delicious. Blue cheese, cranberries, red onions, cheese, basil, with a garlic base. Weird pizzas truly are the best. The blue cheese was mild, and didn’t punch you in the face. The crust was crispy, but still folded well in the New York pie style, if you’re into that sort of thing. I know I am. The flavors mingled well together, with the cranberries creating a lovely push and pull sort of flavor profile between the blue cheese and the richness of the garlic. I was rather disappointed that I hadn’t bought two slices, if I’m honest.
The edge of the crust, however, was just okay. It had the right textures, but I was expecting a bit more flavor there. As we all know, once you’ve finished the slice, it’s good to have that crust as a decent palate cleanser and I prefer it when there’s a bit of flavor for that bit. But I guess we can’t have everything.
When my sewing class started at PCC, I was at least full enough that I could concentrate on threading my sewing machine without screwing up (too badly!). Everyone was kind and cooperative and lovely, despite my garlic breath and sweaty disposition.
The Portland Critic Verdict
Cost: 9/10 thumbs up. At $4.95 for a good sized NY style slice, you could do a lot worse. Especially given prices these days. Though, I also didn’t buy a drink because of the aforementioned Liquid Death, so your mileage may vary.
Taste: 8/10 thumbs up. It’s pizza, so it ain’t fancy and it doesn’t have to be. Atlas seems to know what it is and wants to do that well.
Staff: 8/10 thumbs up. It’s hard to get a sense of service with a walkup order, but they were friendly enough. It was hot. Everyone was doing their best, and I won’t fault them for being a bit on the terse side.
Ease: 7/10 thumbs up. Mostly neighborhood street parking. Unless you’re parking at PCC, then it’s pretty easy.
If you’d like to go check them out, I encourage you to do so:
Atlas Pizza, NE Portland
710 N Killingsworth St
Portland, OR 97217
