Living Large

Cinderella certainly had had her issues. I mean, given any wish by her fairy godmother she chooses to go to a fancy ball? I mean, requesting endless wealth and power aside, what about world peace? Good lord, girl, think outside the box!

But to get back to that fairy godmother, sometimes it would be nice to have someone wave away the endless drudgery of sweeping those ashes or, in my case, making dinner every night. The problem is, for those of us who don't have endless piles of cash, or even little piles stashed in the couch cushions, eating out costs money. And not a little bit at most places.

So it's nice to find a place that doesn't break the bank when a break from the grind is called for. Even better to find a place where the food is really good, the ingredients fresh and preferably local and, best of all, where I don't have to change out of my jeans and sneakers.

I'd heard about Dove Vivi from my friends Evan and Ali of the Little Red Bike Café who consider it their home-away-from-café and had raved the food and the friendliness of the staff. Looking up the menu online, I was able to reassure Dave that they had microbrews on tap, a definite plus. It also had been awhile since we'd dug into a decent pizza.

And this pizza is decent and then some. Baked in deep 12" pans in large pizza ovens, the crusts are made of cornmeal and come out crispy and browned, with toppings piled on top in lush, lovely, fairly traditional combinations. The difference is that most of the produce is sourced locally when it's available, the sausage is Carlton Farms and several of the meats, including the tasso ham and pancetta, are cured onsite.

The interesting part is that you can buy the pizzas by the half in addition to the usual whole and slice, which makes it nice not to have to compromise if you really want the roasted eggplant and your companion loves his pepperoni. (Just as an example, of course.) The salads are also plenty big enough to share and are lively mixes including, on the night we were there, mixed green, beet and an excellent lacinato kale with ricotta salata.

So I'm putting Dove Vivi on our list until that fairy godmother shows up with her wand. Just don't count on me to wish for any glass slippers.

Details: Dove Vivi, 2727 NE Glisan. Phone 503-239-4444.