Oregon is home to a lot of restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Portlanders aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.
Image of Good Neighbor Pizzeria courtesy Facebook
Sally Bowers, the pastry chef at Portland's downtown dinerant The Original, wasn't always passionate about the sweeter side of the kitchen. Upon moving to Portland, Bowers worked at Southpark and Leather Storrs' short-lived gastropub Rocket, but always on the savory side — until the team at Rocket lost its pastry chef and Bowers was called on to step in. When she came to the Original during its opening in 2009, a similar story unfolded, and Bowers again stepped into the pastry position. From pudding shots to vegan cake pops, Bowers cooks up nostalgic (and often times boozy) treats — but when she's not in the downtown kitchen or at home with her newborn baby girl, you can find her unwinding at a neighborhood favorite: Good Neighbor Pizzeria in NE.
Good Neighbor Pizza is a very, very good neighbor to have. (Or perhaps not, if you are trying to shed those pesky last few baby pounds.) My husband and I have lived in the Woodlawn neighborhood in NE for about four years and were so excited when the little strip across from the Firehouse Restaurant morphed into a neighborhood dining hub, the first of which being Good Neighbor. It's one thing to have a pizza place so close to your house that you can throw a rock at and hit someone's beer, but it's quite another when they have the best calzones around. When we don't feel like cooking, and the question of "what do you want to eat" gets batted back and forth a few times, there's a good chance that we'll end up packing our little lady into the stroller and walking the block and a half down to GNP. The perfect meal for two: one order of Mozz Knots, one calzone (best with their super tasty spicy Italian sausage), and any two pints of beer from their rotating taps. The staff are really friendly and there's always good music playing — it's the perfect neighborhood spot. It's best to go early because they get slammed, but it is well worth the wait.
· Good Neighbor Pizza [Official site]
· All Previous Dining Confidentials [Eater PDX]
