The Star Portland
I feel like in Portland, it’s easy to not be aware of just how many great pizza places we have here. Pizza seems to be one of those things where poeple find one they like, and continue to order generally the same thing from the same place when they’re feeling like a pizza night instead of cooking. It’s a bit of shame though as Portland really does have an absurd amount of excellent pizzarias, many offering a gluten free crust.
The Star is a perfect example of a pizzeria I had slept on, mostly because I found my favorite gluten free crust pizza over at Oven & Shaker within the first year I lived in Portland - and both it and The Star happen to be super close to my place.
The Star originated in the San Francisco bay area, so I had high hopes for a good gluten free crust. It delivers! Their crust is a little more substantial than Oven & Shaker’s, so it definitely fills me up a bit more. Their combo pizzas and topping options are also a bit different.
As I’ve done at other pizzerias, I tried to duplicate my favorite Oven & Shaker Spicy Salami pizza here. I did the gluten free crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino romano, and asked for a side of honey. I’m not sure if they always have honey in the kitchen - I only knew they had to during my visit as they had a seasonal Hot Toddy drink on the menu which requires it, so I requested some. The pizza was great and basically ended up being 3 meals for me, again due to that more substantial crust. I went back another time and switched up the cheeses and added goat cheese, which was probably my favorite combination I’ve had there.
Oven & Shaker is still the winner for me with my favorite gluten free thin crust pizza, but that’s only specifically for their Spicy Salami pizza. I’ve had two other combo pizzas there that just didn’t hit the same way. So that said, I am definitely not going to try to duplicate that pizza at Star next time and will have to order a more traditional pie like their Old School, Classic, or perhaps the BBQ Chicken and report back! For any of your dining companions that can have gluten, The Star also does Detroit style and deep dish pizzas that look incredible, and again, being from the S.F. Bay Area, I’m sure the crusts are phenomenal. Maybe one day we’ll finally get a gluten free deep dish pizza in Portland?
