Friday 17 January 2014

Old Town Pizza

Where has all the time gone? We can't believe it's already here! This year, my mom decided to take me on a pretty long trip around Asia and I missed majority  of the holiday time with Michael. When I returned Michael quickly whisked me away to Portland to spend what was left of the holiday together.

Old Town Pizza

This time Michael decided to stay at somewhere we have never stayed at before. We came across Old Town Pizza, Michael sounded very excited but  I thought I wasn't feeling pizza...until he said it was a haunted pizzeria? Okay now we're talking. As much interest as I have with the supernatural world, ironically I am actually the biggest wimp and I am afraid of everything, and I stupidly suggested to eat there at night to add a complete the eerie experience.

Ooo a "resident ghost"

Old Town Pizza is located at 226 NW Davis. This is a place the famous Rachel Ray and Jay Leno has dined at. This restaurant also claims it is somewhere you must visit before you die, something that needs to be crossed off the bucket list. When we walked in to the restaurant was quite dark but there was blaring sounds of alternative music. The gentleman that greeted us had a sleeve of tattoos. He said to us the menus are on the side and we order up front when we're ready and we can find a table while we wait for our food.

Nina the ghost's supposed carving

On the menu explains the history of the pizza restaurant, to make a long story short Nina, a sex worker who was pushed down the elevator shaft, and apparently she never left the place. According to the restaurant's history, she - or her ghost - carved her name on the wall at the bottom of the shaft, which now serves as one of the restaurant's walls. The restaurant did not change much from what it was from the 1900's. It used to be a hotel and the pizza order counter is the old check-in counter of the hotel.

Our split flavour pizza

Michael and I ordered a large split pizza on regular dough ($23.95) that we could share. I got the pesto pizza that had spinach, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella and feta cheese, with pine nuts, and a light pesto sauce. I liked that the sauce and toppings were everywhere even on the crust. At the end of the pizza I liked that the crust wasn't hard and dry. It was soft and fluffy like the rest of the pizza. There was strong taste of the fresh spinach which I really liked because it added a organic touch to it. Of course the mozzarella was amazing but I didn't taste much saltiness from the feta cheese. I was a little disappointed because I didn't get as much crunch from the pine nuts as I hoped on the pizza, I felt a lot of  other strong flavour over powered  and the nuts got lost somewhere in there. I thought the pizza was very tasty overall, the dough was slightly thick and felt a little heavy but that was okay with me because it still consisted a soft texture. 

Michael got the House pizza which is a Portland classic, it consisted pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, olives, and a house sausage. Michael really liked that there was a lot of toppings he thought it was of course filling.  Michael was more interested with the restaurant than the food. Probably because we did have a little bit of a  "haunted experience," Michael's pretty positive it was the ghost but I'm not so sure.

There's a very "old town" feel to the restaurant

Here's how it happened: the restaurant was not that busy with diners that night Michael and I was sipping on our beers with a candle between us. All of a sudden, we both felt a cool rush of air - I felt it brush against my feet and within seconds our candle had blown out. When we looked around all the other candles on the other tables were still lit. Was it her? 

A little spooky for me. So, as much as I enjoyed dining at this haunted pizza joint I think the next time I'll come back in the day time, with a take out order!



Follow me!

Old Town Pizza on Urbanspoon