21st Century Pizza; A story of uncertain endurance.

I am 25% Italian. Everybody likes pizza, but I feel like it’s in my blood to spend a little more energy on ensuring that the pizzas I let in my life hit a certain standard of quality. My first job was at Garlic Jim’s, a gourmet pizza delivery place that was, okay, I guess. When I got older I learned to cook pizza pretty well at home, given I could get my hands on a decent dough. And let me make a suggestion; if you like cooking, learn how to make pizza from scratch. It is an incredibly rewarding meal to cook at home.

In my mid to late twenties, I lived four blocks from 21st Century pizza for a good year and a half. It was a time in my life when I was changing a lot as a person. I lived alone, worked at Whole Foods and spent most of my free time wandering the streets of Portland. Pizza was a treat for me during this time, but I ate it as often as I could on a Whole Foods salary.

The first time I had 21st Century pizza, I was appalled at the quality. It tasted like Chuck E. Cheese had quit and hired his lazier, more corrupt nephew. And for 4 to 5 dollars a slice? What in God's name was wrong with this place? They also weren't open on Tuesdays, one of my most frequent days off of work. The times I did order full pies my orders were frequently wrong, or they had completely forgotten the order until I was at the counter asking to pick it up 45 minutes later.

Regardless, it was the only place I could buy 2 or 3 slices of pizza within walking distance, so I returned again and again. After a few weeks, it started tasting good. Real good. It wasn't like other pizza places. The ingredients didn't seem real. The line between bad good and good good began to get blurred. It tasted like it was going to kill me, and that became part of the appeal. I wanted to taste something that greasy, that arguably not even real food. It became, at the time, one of my favorite places to go when I wanted to spoil myself.

I now look upon 21st Century with fondness. It's taken pizza beyond a greasy, unhealthy, rich delicious food and taken it to a new place. It reminds you of being a child, not knowing or caring what it is you are putting in your mouth. It brings back the wonder of the days where it wasn't about the quality, the price or the health of the food. It was about disassociating from life a little more with each bite. Or, to put it another way, it was about forgetting your problems in the warm crust of a hot, crackery bed under smoldering red sauce and Chuck E.-style cheese.

21st Century pizza is at 1221 SW Jefferson St in downtown Portland. Their website slogan reads “Finally a Pizza that Likes to Party.”