Everyone who isn’t living under a rock knows that Portland’s food cart game is arguably the strongest in the nation (suck it, Austin).  In order to reach such an esteemed position, many food carts in Portland are far above your typical gyro or burrito.  As a result, every so often a food truck just knocks your socks off from the beginning.  That was me today when I saw the Ash Wood Fired Pizza Truck.  Why, you ask?  Because they had a f***ing brick pizza oven in the truck.

The sight of an authentic Italian wood fired pizza oven inside of a truck blew my mind.  Given that and the enormously long line, I decided to join the masses and get a slice or two.  As I gradually progressed towards the front of the line, I was able to get a full view of their operation.

This dude kept dipping into a bucket of flour, making sure his work space was well-floured before grabbing a lump of dough and kneading it like a boss.  Next to him was a rack of already cooked pizzas.  The other guy in the truck took orders (by the slice), and put the appropriate slice into the oven to reheat.  Again, I was thoroughly impressed by such an operation, especially within the physical restraints of a food truck.

But more, importantly, it was my turn to order.

I opted for two simple and classic flavors that I hoped would show off the real flavor of the pizza – a slice of pepperoni and a slice of bianca.  For those who don’t know, bianca is also called ‘white pizza’ because it has no tomato sauce.  Bianca pizza is rarely more than cheese, olive oil, and a pinch of salt (this iteration had a few fragments of charred basil, just for fun).  Since we’re on the topic of bianca, I’ll start with that one first.

This pizza was a symphony of texture, with a crispy-crunchity crust and soft, melty cheese.  Some might assume that a pizza without tomato sauce would be bland and boring – those people are buffoons.  The usual base of mozzarella was topped with another cheese that I couldn’t quite pinpoint – it had the creaminess of a goat cheese, but a much subtler flavor. After doing some research, I think it might have been fontina, but I don’t really know.  Overall, this pizza was a beautiful goddess of cheese and subtlety.

Just as with the bianca, the main attraction was the crust, with the pepperoni and tomato sauce in the background.  With that said, the pepperoni had a crispness that I so appreciated.  I’m finding it difficult to put it into words, but it was just really good.  The crust was just amazing.

Overall, I would give Ash Woodfired Pizza an 8.7 on the Portnoy scale.  Portland is not generally known for its pizza, but I would rank this up with some of the best pizza I’ve ever had.

By the way, I waited in a long line behind a guy with cornrows and an Under Armor jacket.  No doubt he heard me talking loudly about ‘New Haven style‘ and ‘char’.  Later after I ate my pizza and walked past the truck,  I saw Under Armor guy back in line for more pizza.  It was around this time that Maya told me to shut up about the pizza.  But in my mind, when you can’t stop talking about a meal you had, it must have been pretty damn good.

8.7.  That’s a review.