Al Forno Ferruza

NE Alberta and NE 27th Ave

Long gone are the days where a new restaurant dared to set foot on Alberta Street next to the drug deals, dilapidated buildings, and scores of graffiti marked gang territory.  Now the food scene appears to be not only flourishing on this street, a restaurant must stand out enough to compete with the others in order to survive.  Hour long waits at the more popular places are accepted as the norm so if you want business lined up out the door, you better have something worth it.  

 I have been to Al Forno's twice now.  The first was at their opening and I found another pizza restaurant in North East to be nothing special or new.  I will admit I had never tried Sicilian style pizza so perhaps this was different than the other serious contenders in Portland.  

 When I first walked in I noted the wooden tables (seems most Portland area restaurants buy from the same vendor), the creaky wood floors, and small bar which offers a few extra seats.  At first glance this appeared to be a classic Portland restaurant (except there were colorful fabrics draped across the ceiling instead of bar rafters showing off the steel ventilation duct work. 

I also noticed there were several employees speaking with a strong Italian accent.  Could it be?  A restaurant on the East Side where I'm not being served food by a tattooed, face pierced, 35 year old who drinks PBR out of a tall-boy and rolls his eyes at me when I ask if I can add onions to a pizza?  Interesting...

Of course the first thing to catch my eye was the Sicilian hand tossing pizza dough about five feet above his head expanding the dough to almost two feet in diameter.  Ok, you have my attention.  Skill like that I'm sure is not wasted on bad pizza. 

 We sat down and looked at the menu which had some a modest list of excellent looking pies (I'm not into the white clam pizza but maybe folks really dig that).  They have some impressive Calzones and Strombolis as well.  The best addition to the menu is that you can build your own and the list of ingredients ranges from Walla Wall sweet onions to caper berries.  


I asked what beer they had on tab and the bartender/server/cook walked over showed me the taps, gave me a description of each and, on his own volition, grabbed some pint glasses and poured me some one ounce samples so I could make my decision. 

I was happy to wait content with my carefully select beer and customized pizza.  As we were the only ones in the restaurant at opening, the chef came out and made sure my four year old witnessed the impressive hand tossing of the dough.  He then assembled our pizza and 10 minutes later out came a blazing hot pie.  Most impressive in presentation and taste and takeout is an option as well.  If given the choice, I would rather stay and enjoy.