Andrew H.
Yelp
Portland has become one hell of a pizza town. It seems like in the past year a new crop of restaurants and carts have sprung up all across the area. Neapolitan, Sicilian, Detroit, soft crust and each seems to be just as good as the next. So, what does one do to stand out from the others? How about the Asian inspired pizzas from Hapa Pizza in Beaverton.
It's only fitting that my first review of 2024 is pizza, because, why not?
Hapa Pizza has been a staple of the Beaverton Farmers Market for three years now, but a little less than a year ago they added a brick and mortar in the Old Beaverton area across the street from Loyal Legion and Lazy Days Brewing (formerly Ex Novo).
Now it's simple, the start of a great pizza is the crust. If that's not good then forget about anything going on it. The crust at Hapa is crazy good. Chewy with a little crispness to it and even a slight char on the bottom. All of that's possible with a brick oven. Then you get to the Thai or Vietnamese toppings??? Or at least what was offered on our first visit there.
I've seen pictures of Massaman Curry pizza or Tom Yum or even Pork Belly Kimchi pizza and I'd hope that those rotate back on to the menu, but that's not to say that what we had wasn't amazing.
The three of us opted for three of the four Asian pizzas on the menu but also know you can get a pepperoni pizza or a Margherita one as well, but why?
We got the Bahn Mi with bbq pork, pickled veggies, cilantro, a white sauce and sriracha aioli. A peanut sauce pizza with a Thai peanut sauce, grilled pork, mozzarella, Thai basil, red onions and peanuts and a Thai steak pizza with a Thai tamarind sauce, beef, crispy roasted rice, chili flake, red onions, mint, green onions and ngo gai (culantro). The pizzas are listed as 12" pies, but they were definitely slightly larger than that and we were able to have two slices of each one.
The Bahn Mi tasted exactly the way you would expect it to taste. The pickled veggies (carrots and radishes) added such a freshness. We each had our first slice as is and added sriracha on the second. The hot sauce made it even better. We asked about fresh jalapeño but because not many ask for it, they were going bad while in their fridge, so currently they do not have it, but one never knows if they could bring them back.
The Peanut Sauce pizza was sooooooooo good. I could drink that sauce, if given the opportunity. The grilled pork was great on top and the basil and onions added additional contrast the to peanut sauce.
The Thai steak pizza was the most interesting. The flavor profile and texture were both unique because of the use of tamarind, which I'll admit is largely unfamiliar to me but also the crispy rice added really great crunch texture. The beef steak was stand out.
All three pizzas had great qualities and I'm still having a hard time picking my favorite. I guess I'll have to go back and have more or even try the Pho pizza.
The staff was genuinely happy that we had a great experience trying these very different pies. I know that the three of us want to bring others to enjoy this food. So good.
As always, enjoy and support local!