Monday Night Pizza at Ken's

I believe my sister has made it clear that she's an Apizza Scholls girl, but while I have the utmost respect for AS's delectable pies, I must say I'm firmly in the Ken's camp. I think perhaps it's the crust...perfectly chewy, burnt in just the right spots, the ideal thickness. Maybe it's the spicy soppressata--I might be addicted, sometimes I find myself gazing into space Sunday nights, thinking about how we'll be reunited Monday evening at Ken's Artisan Bakery (NW 21st & Flanders) during their Monday Pizza Nights.  I love that you must eat Ken's pizzas within minutes of receipt to get the full effect--one particularly frigid Monday evening we ordered our pizza takeout and were so fearful of losing that just-from-the-oven quality en route  we demanded everyone in the group sacrifice their scarves to insulate the boxes during the six-block trek home. So anyway, four of us convened at Ken's tonight to worship, or rather, eat spicy soppressata (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, and spicy soppressata, of course), margherita (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil), and butternut squash (tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, squash, sage) pizzas, all $12 save the margherita, which is $10.  There was an initial protest from the fennel sausage and roasted onion pizza fans and a mild outcry over the absence of an arrabiata (tomato sauce, roasted fresh chiles, mozzarella, basil), but with the echoes of New Year's Eve resolutions of moderation still ever so faintly ringing in our ears, we reluctantly concluded it wouldn't do to have pizzas outnumbering people at our table. In a nod to our pledge to consume more veggies in 2008, we ordered a Caesar salad, crisp leaves of Romaine dressed with Ken's nicely tangy dressing and strewn with giant housemade croutons, but if you're a dedicated multi-tasker and wish to eat your salad on  your pizza, any pie can be dressed with arugula for an extra $2. While Ken's has a small and reasonably priced wine list (mostly French and Italian reds, a few whites and a rose--priced between $22 and $35 a bottle, half offered by the glass for $7-8) we were in the mood for beer, so we swilled Boont Amber Ale and Stella Artois ($3.50 each) with our pizza. And just as we were about to stagger out fat and happy and run home to curl up around our space heater and dream of next Monday's spicy soppressata, we received thrilling news--we were free to approach the counter and request any loaf of bread in sight--yet another Monday night perk at Ken's. 

-J

PS: If you find yourself pining for Ken's on a day of the week that does not being with M, you of course can hit Ken's Artisan Pizza  on SE 28th and SE Pine Tuesday through Saturday. You're out of luck Sundays. Sorry.

Ken's Artisan Bakery (Monday Pizza Nights) * www.kensartisan.com *NW 21st & Flanders * 503. 248.2202 * takeout: YES, eat in: YES (go early or expect to wait a bit, usually 20 minutes max in my experience), think-you're- clever and call ahead and eat in: NO, you can wait with the rest of the Ken's pizza-loving masses and like it!