#69 Double Mountain Brewery & #64 Ken’s Artisan Pizza

April 26th, 2016

Hood River & Portland, Oregon

We stayed overnight in Portland, and woke up early the next morning to drive out to Hood River, which took us a little over an hour. We were excited to get in a day (or, half day) of hiking! We ended up hiking the Angel’s Rest-Devil’s Rest Loop, which was on the way out to Hood River. After our morning of hiking, we were looking forward to some pizza and beer at Double Mountain Brewery.

We walked in to the tap room and it was pretty empty, so we grabbed a nice seat right by the open window. The weather was amazing. We quickly ordered our beer (for Eric) and cider (for Barb).

I’m not sure how this brewery got known for its pizza, but they had a great selection of pies on their menu. We had a hard time decided which to go for, and ultimately chose the special of the day, which was a white pie with asparagus, roasted red peppers, and plenty of cheese. It was a really good choice, especially with a side of the chips and salsa.

 

The pizzas here are also “New Haven-style”, in that they are cooked around 700 degrees to a nice char. The style is also similar to Apizza Scholls, and I think the main reason that both of these places don’t get full “New Haven” marks is because they aren’t quite as charred and aren’t quite as thin. At least as compared to Pepe’s, Sally’s, Modern, and BAR. I guess that they are more similar to other “New Haven” pizzas, like those at Zuppardi’s.

  

We really enjoyed these beers and pies, and the hiking! We had one more stop on the list that we saved for our last dinner before we drove back up to Seattle. This was Ken’s Artisan Pizza, and we met up with our friend Travis a bit on the early side for dinner, on our way out of town. This ended up being perfect timing, though. Apparently Ken’s Artisan can have quite a line, even on a weeknight.

Ken’s Artisan pizza started out as a Monday pizza night at Ken’s Artisan Bakery, which became so popular that Ken started his own pizzeria. You can’t get a reservation, but they do have take-out a couple of nights a week. The pizzas here are Neapolitan-like, but a little less doughy and a little more charred. Definitely artisan, with the wide variety of specialized toppings.

The pizzas here are wood-fired, and we ordered a Margherita and one with Soppressata. Both were really good, with a sweeter sauce and not too much cheese. The crust held up nicely to the toppings.

We recognized Ken from his book, and if you are interested in trying to make his pizza at home, the recipe is here. We will have to give it a go and will let you know how it turns out (although we doubt that it will be as good as the original!).

We’re off the next couple of weeks to a trip around Norway and Sweden! We will certainly be eating pizza there, and will pop back in with a couple of posts when we return to the US.

To visit:

Double Mountain Brewery
8 4th St
Hood River, OR 97031

Ken’s Artisan Pizza
304 SE 28th Avenue
Portland, OR 97214