Rovente Pizza on SE Hawthorne at 32nd Pl
Raised in an Italian household with plenty of roots back in New York, finding the best pizza in any given town is like a life pursuit. You can search for years without ever finding something that really satisfies, whether you’re used to an old-time family recipe or just a great slice of your favorite New York (or even Chicago) pizza. Maybe it’s the water. Maybe it’s the cheese. Maybe it’s just the sauce or the flour or the attitude of the pizza parlor or city itself. You can debate these things endlessly, and never get anywhere. So instead, you find a local pizza joint close to your house, and you make due.
Now I’m not going to say that Rovente Pizza on SE Hawthorne is the worst, because it certainly is not. But maybe more importantly, it’s not the best either. It’s adequate. Others might find it a step above adequate. With slices ranging in price from $3.50 on up, the real deal here is the $7.99 extra-large cheese pizza. And for that price, if the pizzeria itself is not overwhelmed with business that particular hour, you just might get a fair pizza pie for a really great price. Which is to say, sometimes they rush things a bit and the pizza, in my opinion, is a bit underdone. So you make due for the price, take it home, and throw a couple of slices in the oven. Done. Shut up and eat.
So are there amazing pizza places in the neighborhood? Sure. But maybe you don’t want all the hullaballoo one night — you just want to get the pizza monkey off your back. There’s a game on tv and you want a pie on your coffee table while you take in the action. I get it.
How to Best Take Advantage of Rovente Pizza on SE Hawthorne
This is exactly how you need to take advantage of Rovente Pizza. Order up the extra large pizza pie special, and take it home. Then, heat your oven up to 350 or 375 degrees, and prepare to cook the pizza the rest of the way so you can get your crust a bit crispier, and your dough a bit less doughy. Gather together your favorite ingredients to use as toppings on the pizza, and go to town.
This isn’t going to be for everyone, but here’s what I like to do. Get some eggplant at the farmer’s market, heat up some oil in a pan, bread and fry the eggplant and cut it into some smaller slices, about the size of a fifty cent piece. Open up a jar of sliced jalepeno peppers. When the pizza comes, you can have the eggplant freshly fried, or you can pull it out of the fridge from the day before, doesn’t matter. Coat the top of the pizza with the breaded eggplant, space out the jalapenos fairly densely, and throw it in the oven for about fifteen more minutes. Now you’ve got a pizza to work with, and really, you did it for around ten bucks.
Portland, OR Restaurant Details: Rovente Pizza on SE Hawthorne
Rovente Pizza
3240 SE Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97214
Southeast
(503) 234-7777
Sun – Thu 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Fri – Sat 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
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