Italian Pizza Group Names Portland Pizzeria as One Of the Best in the World

Have you ever wanted to try one of the best pizzas in the world? Well you’re in luck, because there’s a pizzeria down in Portland that is gaining both national and international fame for their stellar food.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza, 304 S.E. 28th Ave, has been named the 19th best pizzeria in the world by an Italian Pizza Group named Top 50 Pizza. The same group recently named them the third best in the United States, but in their newest world-encompassing list, it seems that Ken’s was able to really stand out. It’s listed in Top 50 Pizza’s global guide, much to the pride of the restaurant staff and their now retired founder, Ken Forkish. Forkish described the award shows as a “thrill”, where he went with current owner Peter Kost and chef Vince Krone. Even though he’s retired and out of Oregon, he’s happy he still gets to “enjoy a few victory laps”.

The Top 50 Pizza organization is a group that is held in relatively high esteem with an interesting way of judging pizzas, and by that, I mean that they judge pizzeria through anonymous “inspectors” collaborating with the project. These inspectors come in, try the pizza to check for quality, see how the beer and wine list is, pay attention to customer service, and then report back. It’s definitely a tough call. I already have a hard time choosing between the four pizzerias in my area, much less the 280,000 there reportedly are in the world according to BoldData. Apparently Top 50 Pizza has a hard time as well, because every round they name 100 pizzas instead of 50. In fact, this time around, they gave us 101 different pizzerias due to Naples’ 10 Diego Vitagliano and Caserta’s I Masanielli being tied for first. Instead of putting the third decision, New York City’s Una Pizza Napoletana, at third place, they put it at No. 2 instead. So, technically, Ken’s Artisan Pizza has been placed at No. 18 on the list, despite being the nineteenth decision.

Either way, you need to go try out Ken’s Artisan Pizza. It’s fantastic.