Finally made it up the street to Dove Vivi (2727 NE Glisan), a new pizza place in the space formerly occupied by Kustom Pizza. I had an intense aversion to Kustom, due both to their gross-out heat lamp pizza and to my general disapproval of K-for-C substitutions in business names (WHY!)—but fortunately, the only resemblance that Dove Vivi bears to Kustom is that they both serve(d) something that can be broadly defined as “pizza.”

There’s a lot of pizza on that strip already, of course—Ken’s Artisan, Stark Naked, Pizzicato. Dove Vivi distinguishes itself with a hook: their pizza is made with a dense, crunchy cornmeal crust, for a more deep-dish style pie that requires a knife and a fork and is almost more reminiscent of a savory tart than what I think of as pizza. I tried a slice with fresh corn, marinated onions, mozzarella, and chives, and a few bites of the pesto, with mozzarella, ricotta, fontina, and tomatoes. Both were good, and incredibly filling (I would not attempt to eat more than one slice in a sitting).

The’ve got a list of 8 topping combos available daily by the slice, half pie, or pie (including loads of veggie options and one vegan pie), as well as an ever-rotating specials menu: look for ingredients like eggplant, fresh rosemary, butternut squash, house-marinated baby artichoke hearts, cajun sausage, italian ham, toscano salami… and so on. They offer pies to go (including par-baked pies), and they also serve lasagna, veggie & meat calzones, roasted chicken, and a few types of salad. Wine and bottled beer is available.

The space itself has been totally gutted and redone, and it’s actually really pleasant: lots of blonde wood and understated artwork. Oh, and really super incredibly nice service.

I’m a sucker for a thin crust and minimal toppings, and as such would always choose Ken’s over this place for dinner, but this is definitely a great addition to the neighborhood, particularly for lunch.

2727 NE Glisan, open Tues-Sat 11:30 am-10 pm, Sun 3-10 pm, 239-4444