Happy Six Months, LRBC!

We have two more boxes in our fridge. No joke.

We having a running joke in our house that February was like our "National Pizza Month" Seriously, I think we had pizza something like nineteen times--probably more pizza than I ate in all of 2007 combined. Evan informed me very early on during our dating process that he loved pizza and in all of its glorious forms. He would often refer to his childhood growing up in Northwest Portland and to all of the accessibility to pizza in the area. He declared his absolute affinity to Escape from New York, he sadly recalled the greatness he claimed once resided at Silver Dollar Saloon & Pizza on NW 21st, (something I never could believe having spent one too many occasions in my early drinking years in the smoky bar throwing them back), and he even remembers being a kid when Pizzicato opened their NW 23rd location on his birthday, and he and his mom becoming the operation's first customers. Imagine his delight when I wound up working for the company on-and-off for four years, where it wouldn't be uncommon for me to come home reeking of garlic but bearing the gifts of extra slices or a custom pizza made by friends.

Personally, I was never too big of a fan. Sure, I liked pizza as much as the next gal but too often I was reminded of Round Table soccer parties, where all I really cared about was playing the video games anyways (You know, Ms. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Street Fighter II, etc.) But after nearly eight years together, this boy has us both hooked on pizza and we spent the entire month celebrating this fact.

I'm not quite sure how it all began but I can tell you it certainly didn't help that we happened upon the loveliness that is Dove Vivi one Sunday evening. To put it frankly, it was love at first sight. And then love at first bite. Since then we have spent the last five Sundays in-a-row working our way through their menu. We always begin with a combination of slices and a whole pie, and spend our week snaking on leftovers until the stockpile runs dry and do it all over again. A couple of our favorites? The Fig Pancetta, The Wild Mushroom, The Vegan Corn Cashew, The Pesto, and The Blue Room (Holy Hell is this one good).

There really is nothing like coming home from work completely fatigued and starving and finding this box in your fridge staring back at you. The sweetness and simplistic beauty of the stamp only hints at what awaits inside. In the past month I have eaten this pizza cold, hot, lukewarm, and on the car ride home from the restaurant because I simply can't get it out of my mind.

It's not just the food that's good, (I didn't even mention the salads...don't get me started) because like I said, at first it was love at first sight. Pretty much every detail of the space felt personal to me. Everything from the mason jars, the exposed beams and lightbulbs, the reclaimed wood, the "knock-knock" artwork, the definite warmth and presence of what could only a "family" coming together and making it happen all spoke to me. Familiar, and devotingly comfortable, as though someone had created the night-time version of our cafe. And as narcissistic as it sounds, we fell in love with it/them immediately. The food was just a bonus.

Given that we felt so comfortable here and that it was not unusual for us to spend a lot of time (perhaps too much so) getting lost in conversations with dear and loving friends, laughing wholeheartedly, and relishing in culinary delights, we couldn't think of a more delightful place to celebrate the cafe's six month anniversary than Dove Vivi. After several salads, pies, bottles of wine, and homemade chocolate-chip cookies fresh outta the oven, what was left of the LRBC crew finished the night celebrating with whiskey-gingers, kick-ass juke-box tunes, and a solid game of Apples-To-Apples. To Alex, Alice, AnnMarie, Dekin, Dylan, Joel, Lindsey, Mom, and Tim: Thank you, gang. We heart you tremendously and fully acknowledge that this wouldn't be possible without your presence, your support, your patience, and your wisdom thus far in the journey. Thanks for being with us and making $h*t happen while we jointly pursue our various dreams.

Some highlights from this month:

• A pie fashioned by Joel during a dinner party at his house, made distinguishable by the raw egg he cracked on top just before he finished it off in the oven. Which in turn lead to Oh-My-Goodness-Deliciousness
• The whole large cheese pie we ordered from Escape, made complete by sipping root-beers (my absolute favorite pizza accompaniment) while walking around the neighborhood on a gorgeous night, waiting for it to bake
  
• The fabulous pizza stone I purchased for Evan for Valentine's Day which has already been privy to three homemade creations including this beauty:

My Veggie Lovers: Roasted Onion and Garlic Jam, Roma Tomatoes, Shitake Mushrooms, and Broccoli

• And last but not least, and perhaps our most favorite discovery while studying our ongoing love affair with pizza, our noticeably increasing addiction/crush to/on the pie and our new friends at Dove Vivi. Thanks for making our 6 month anniversary so great, gals and guy. It was everything it needed to be and more! XO
  

And so during this very well deserved and joyous hangover we are nursing ourselves with Evan's homemade hot chocolate and season six of Curb. Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh... It feels good to be Six Months old. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Dove Vivi Pizza
2727 NE Glisan St.
Portland, OR 97232
(503) 239-4444