Midwest Pizza

First good pizza I’ve had in Portland. I’m from Michigan and this reminds me of Jets/Buddy’s. Owner told me that his cheese is a little different because the Wisconsin «brick cheese» that they use in Michigan is impossible to get out here. Still better than anywhere else I’ve been in Oregon!

I wanted to love this place but it was just meh. The photos and menu they use show/​say it’s like a real Chicago dog and they advertise the poppyseed bun and the long Vienna all beef hotdogs that have a nice snap when you bite into them.
These dogs were just normal dogs on normal buns and definitely not steamed. The man that helped us did say he had to cook up some hotdogs and that it would be a minute when we ordered, then he closed up shop. So maybe they are better if you go before 5pm.
I want to try the Chicago deep dish in the future, hopefully it’s more authentic than the hotdogs!

Another Portland native who has never had the real deal, but as someone who loves saucy and cheesy foods, this was heaven. Ordered a whole deep dish with mushroom and sausage. Owner was nice and friendly. For a whole pizza, the wait was 20 minutes but well worth it!

I have nothing but love for the people bringing Chicago-​style pizza to places far-​flung from the Midwest. I was especially excited to discover a cart close by that serves the rarest style of pizza around.
So, let’s start with the basics: yes, this is Chicago-​style deep dish in the classic sense. Giant, honking pieces of pizza with the cheese-​toppings-​sauce stack that you know and love. The sauce is sweet, the cheese is fine, and the sausage was actually quite good.
Where their pie falls flat is with the crust. There are two Chicago crust styles that make my mouth water just thinking about them. The first is the ultra-​buttery richness from Lou Malnati’s. It’s so crispy and buttery delicious, it’s almost like having a biscuit at the end of your pie. The second is the cornbread-​inspired sweetness of Gino’s East. Just delightful.
Sadly, Midwest Pizza Company’s crust is not reminiscent of either style. While the texture is right, the crust lacks much flavor beyond what could be generically be described as «school lunch-​room pizza crust-​flavored.»
It’s a cart, so they sell by the slice (which, if I’m being honest, is not an ideal way to serve this kind of pizza). As such, they offer only two kinds: cheese and sausage. The sausage here is quite tasty (I was also told that if you order a whole pie, they can make just about anything you want), but I’m surprised that pepperoni is not a third option. I understand the desire to keep it simple, but sausage over pepperoni?
So far, the standard bearer of the style is Thick at SE 9^th & Washington downtown (another cart that sells by-​the-​slice). Midwest Pizza Co. is little more than an imitator, but it’s something, I guess.

I can’t say enough about this place, it takes me back to my roots without having to actually travel back to Detroit or Chicago. The pizza is awesome, the dogs are authentic, and they even have Faygo and Sprechers in the bottle. If you love great pizza and Chicago style dogs then you are going to love this place. We got a large Chicago deep dish with sausage and went into the onsite pub, Prost, and ate pizza and drank great German beer. Love this place.

I wanted to write a quick note about Midwest Pizza Co. I can only speak to the pizzas here and I have had both the Detroit Style and the Chicago deep dish. I find them both to be of excellent quality. The Chicago style is very thick, rich and satisfying. For this city it seems to be almost one of a kind. The sauce on the Chicago style was just right and the crust was crisped to perfection. The Detroit Style was also a cheesy wonder and I would recommend that highly as well. In short these pies are big and satisfying!

I’m from Wisconsin, and while Portland suits me better in just about every way, one thing that Portland does get wrong is pizza. Everything here is a flat mundane platform for piles of fancy toppings. Pizza doesn’t HAVE to just be the toppings though, it can be more. In the Midwest we figured this out and created the deep dish pizza. Thick chewy yeasty crust, a slab of fresh mozzarella cheese and chunky garlicy tomato sauce on top. Toppings are great but you barely even need ‘em, this pizza stands well on its own.
So yeah, this food cart, this guy. He’s from there, he gets it. I have to say that his rendition is really spot on. It even smells like home. But don’t get me wrong, even if you’re not from the Midwest, you need to try it. You need to know the full potential of the pizza medium.
My only complaint would be his hours, he’s only open at nights during the weekends and not very late at that. Not that I can blame him but I don’t live or work near NoPo so it stinks for me.

I found my first good attempt at cheesy bread in this city!!! It was close to home with all the gooey and tasty cheese baked into a deep pan to get those crispy sides. The Detroit pep slice was a good attempt too with gooey cheese and saucey. I will be coming back for a little slice of home.

Chicago native, and this place nailed it. Seriously. If you’re from the midwest and a little homesick, come here.
Chicago deep dish was right on target. Wished they had more variety [Seriously though, spinach on the menu needs some love], but it’s as good as it gets from a food truck.
The dogs are exactly what you would expect from back home.
Green River??? Are you kidding me? I totally thought I’d never see you again.
Prices are great, the owner is fantastic to chat with, everything is just right.

I’ve been to this cart a few times, and each time I came away very satisfied. Trip One: Deep Dish here is excellent. Really nice crust, great sauce and an abundance of meat on the combo. My slice must have weighed a pound, It was great. I paired it with a Green River, and that’s the closest I’ve been to being in Chicago, until…
Trip Two: The Chicago dog is the real deal — right down to the peppers and bun. I like to hit the street vendors when I’m passing through the Windy City, and this is the closest I’ve been to that experience. Really great experience, and I was there with a couple of women from Chicago who were in firm (and rowdy) agreement.
Trip Three: A Detroit style slice and Faygo in glass bottles! Nice job on the crust. It’s carmelized. My advice is start from the corner and eat your way in toward the middle. I’m actually from Ohio and Michigan, and I can’t believe how spot on that slice was. It’s very «jets-​like», but maybe better
One more thing. You likely won’t know what this means, but I can’t believe this guy has Ballriech’s chips. They are the bomb, and I’ve never seen them west of the Mississippi. Crazy.
There’s lots of good food at the Mississippi Marketplace, but this place is a new favorite equal to Koi Fusion and Miss Kate’s. Midwest Pizza Company ROCKS! Definitely check it out.

Went back to Midwest Pizza Company, and now they have a Coney Dog. The chili on it is pretty awesome. If you’re looking for a really good wintertime snack, try the coney.

. I’ve never had true Chicago deep dish pizza but everything about this cart is awesome. Both types of pizza and the dogs are amazing. Started to chat with the owner and he was super nice and personable. He eventually wants to do a «brick and mortar» and it seems like it would be a success. Keep it up.

Finally!
I was so happy to have found this place. Yes– my diet will take a hit but it’s going to be worth it!
I don’t eat a lot of hot dogs but being from Chicago this was the first time I’ve encountered a poppy seed bun in the two years I’ve lived here. Very tasty Chicago-​style dog with all the classic fixings.
Also had a slice of the stuffed pizza– it’s the real deal folks! Crust, sauce and cheese are exceptional. I can’t wait to try the sausage.
Next time I plan on ordering a whole pie and enjoying it at Prost next door!
Great food and a very friendly owner.
I can’t wait to return!

I’m from Detroit and this is THE SHIT! You want Shields? You want Buschemis? You want this! Shut up and eat!

ALMOST THERE. The pizza is good but not quite Chicago. The crust is just a little too bready and the sauce could use some work. With that being said, they’ve only been open a couple of months and can work out their recipes in no time and be the pizza king of nopo. I’ll be back in a month or two to try again. Also they run a special for $ 3 slices during lunch.

Love this place! Already it’s one of my favorite pizza joints in town and definitely my favorite for non wood-​fired/​hand-​tossed. Who’d have thunk, from a cart!
Places like Apizza Scholls, Ken’s, Kerns Kitchen, etc are great, but there’s something uniquely satisfying about a hefty, almost daunting, slice of well-​made deep dish, and Midwest Pizza Company does it right. The crust serves as the sturdy foundation, the cheese melts into the dough, top-​notch meats, and topped off with a sauce that has a nice balance of «a little bright, a little bit of bite». If I lived closer to Mississippi I’m pretty sure I’d be packing on way too many pizza pounds!
There’s a Detroit-​style too that might not have the name recognition of «Chicago Deep Dish» but holds its own. It’s a square crust that bears some resemblance to focaccia with a slight crispiness, and the cheese at the edges carmelizes a bit (sort of like Pequod’s, for the Chicago pizza hounds) which is SO good. I usually end up getting a slice of each!
Rounding out the midwest experience are spot-​on Chicago dogs, Faygo and Sprechers to drink, and crazy delicious chips from Ohio.
Five stars!

I have always wanted a good classic deep dish pizza. It is one of the main reasons why I want to visit Chicago so I was really really excited when I saw that there was a food truck that served deep dish pizza. There was 4 of us in the group so we ordered 2 deep dish pizzas and 2 Detroit style pizzas. I asked the owner and he said Detroit style pizzas are square and originally made in a pan that is used for something to manufacture cars. The deep dish was really good. I don’t have anything else to compare to but I really enjoyed it. The Detroit pizza was really really cheesy which I loooooved too! I totally recommend going to Midwest pizza!

Chicago deep-​dish, Detroit Sicilian pizza, and Chicago dogs here.
The owners even fly in chips and sodas from the Midwest, including Ballreich’s chips (Tiffin, OH), Faygo soda (Detroit), Green River soda (Chicago), and Sprecher’s (Milwaukee).
Chicago Deep Dish ($ 5.50): Nice helping of pepperoni, sausage, and bacon. Very tasty sauce. Meat eaters should love this one. A slight crunch when biting into the buttery crust. Each slice weighs over a pound.
Detroit Sicilian Pizza ($ 4.50): Less imposing than its Midwestern brother. A slight crunch, with nice slightly browned edges on the crust. Again, the sauce has great flavor. However, the slice I got may have benefited from extra time in the oven to further brown the cheese. It otherwise looked too ordinary and akin to the pizza I once ate in my school cafeteria (to be fair, this tasted 100x better than said school pizza). If they went a bit further on presentation and made it like the pics on their site (or from doing a basic Google search), I’d be much happier with it.
I might even enjoy these pizzas a bit more if they were extremely fresh. As is, I’d go back based on the flavors.

Awesome! I am coming back for the deep dish, a group at the wine bar just ordered all their pizza. I fluid have a Chicago dog, dragged through the garden. It was exceptional. I have friends from the Midwest who were always on the lookout for Midwest food done right. I think they’d be very pleased with this cart!

I’m originally from Wisconsin and recently heard about a food cart serving Chicago style deep dish. So I thought we should check it out.
We were not disappointed. This is the real deal, with a great thick crust and the sauce on the top. Just like deep dish should be. We ordered the 14 inch cheese and it had great flavor and even though they are made to order it came quickly. I also had a slice of special meat pizza which was equally good.
They also serve a variety of Midwest pop. The Sprecher root beer was really, really good.
I highly recommend stopping in for a slice or a whole pie.