Portland Phoenix | A Slice of Northern Italian Charm: Light and airy Neapolitan-style pizza arrives in Portland

Despite playing host to a food scene that’s become one of the city’s more prominent exports as of late, pizza has never been a strong point for Portland. Aside from quirky outliers a la Flatbread and Bonobo, area pie existed for years in a state of greasy, uninspired limbo until OTTO Pizza — a beacon of light at the time — opened its first shop at 576 Congress St. in 2009. OTTO would go on to hold a monopoly on the unofficial accolade of “Pretty Good for Portland” for nearly a decade, despite being practically the only player in the game.

Like much else around here, things have changed when it comes to the holy trinity of dough, sauce and cheese. The opening of Lazzari in May of last year joined and perhaps even removed OTTO from the top ranks for unique, yet familiar pie, while Belleville — a small bakery on Munjoy Hill — quietly gave Roman pizza al taglio its Portland debut last October. Now, the city has an outpost for Northern Italian cuisine via the recently opened Pizzarino, where Neapolitan-style pizza is the focal point.