Portland’s Only Pinseria, Montesacro, Has Closed in the Pearl

Back in 2018, a Bay Area Italian standby opened its doors in Portland’s Pearl District. Montesacro Pinseria specializes in pinsa, an ancient Roman flatbread that served as the foundation for modern pizza. Made with a combination of soy, rice, and wheat flour, the cloud-like flatbreads would arrive dotted with lamb sausage or wild mushrooms, served alongside antipasti and Italian wine. The restaurant’s owner, Gianluca Legrottaglie, accrued plenty of praise for the original Californian location, and decided to expand to Portland as a natural next step.

But after three years in Portland’s Pearl District, the pinseria has closed its doors for good.

“Thank you for 3 great years in The Pearl!” a notice, posted on the restaurant’s door, reads. “We’ve loved sharing food, wine, and good times together. While our Portland chapter has come to a close, you can still visit our locations in San Francisco and Brooklyn.”

Eater tipsters noted the restaurant’s vacancy in early March; when Eater reached out to Legrottaglie, he said the team was intending to relocate. In April, however, Legrottaglie confirmed that Montesacro would be leaving Portland entirely.

“Our lease expired during the pandemic and we didn’t come to an agreement with landlord,” Legrottaglie says. “We thought of relocating but between that and running so thin with staff we decided was better to let go, at least for now.”

Montesacro opened its Brooklyn location mere months after Portland started churning out pinsas; Eater New York critic Robert Sietsema called the Brooklyn locale “a serious Roman restaurant masquerading as a pizzeria,” celebrating its “unfailingly excellent” pastas. That location remains open, as well as its San Francisco flagship.