Maisha R.
Yelp
While in Portland, we had a hankering for pizza and Otto looked and sounded like a good place to try.
Walking down Congress St, the whole pies in the window will make anyone pause and at least contemplate going in. You can grab a slice to go or sit down, order, and dine in. We did the latter.
I wanted to try their famous masher pizza - yep... mashed potatoes, bacon, and scallions. I was having difficulty imagining what this would taste like because I hadn't seen mashed potatoes on a pizza before. When it came out, I realized that instead of mashed potatoes being slathered on the pizza, there were dollops of it covered by the cheese. This was actually really good. It reminded me of a loaded baked potato. If it had been piping hot, so that the cheese melted and pulled, it would have been excellent.
We also tried their weekly special, which was a lasagna pizza, and a classic pepperoni pizza. The lasagna pizza was topped with tortellini, sausage, red sauce, and herbs. Again, this was very inventive and delicious.
The toppings here are what are most intriguing but a good pie has to have a good foundation and the crust at Otto is top notch. When they pulled our slices out of the oven after a short time warming them, the crust was warm and it had a little crunch to it. Mostly though, it was soft and chewy, which I loved. It's great that they offer pizza by the slice and whole pies.
We really enjoyed our lunch at Otto and we were delighted to learn that they have restaurants in Massachusetts as well. I look toward to trying more of what they offer on future trips up north.