Saco OTTO to open July 5!

IMG_1696We’ve been busy putting the final touches on our new Saco location, and we’re excited to announce that we’ll be open for business on Thursday, July 5 (dine-in and take-out only). We will begin delivery operations on Monday, July 16.

Located on 779 Portland Rd, Route 1, adjacent to the Cinemagic & IMAX, this spacious 80-seat location will feature all the OTTO bells and whistles, and then some:

The Saco opening comes hot on the heels of our 9th birthday and the rollout of our new menu, which features 6 new pies, 2 new salads, Everything knots and (at select locations) Hand-cut fries, sliders, baked mac & cheese!

We are thrilled to be serving the best in local and regional craft beers. While there are certainly more great local breweries than we have taps, we will be featuring a rolling variety of breweries over the coming months, starting with:

  • Barreled Souls
  • Banded Horn
  • Austin Street
  • Rising Tide (Oscar Tango Tango Oscar, our spring collaboration brew!)
  • Lone Pine
  • Foundation
  • Maine Beer Co.
  • Gneiss
  • Night Shift
  • and MORE…

We can’t tell you how thrilled we are to become part of the fabric of beautiful, historic Saco, Maine.  Since we announced our plans, we’ve received an outpouring of wonderful messages, calls, emails, and texts, from Saco residents, town employees, and businesses owners. We can’t wait to finally call each of you neighbors.

 

OTTO now serving Violife vegan cheese at all locations!

Violife-Grated-Mozzarella-1As part of our new menu rollout, we are now serving award-winning Violife vegan grated mozzarella-style cheese, which can be added to nearly all of OTTO’s signature pies for a delicious vegan pizza experience.

Violife’s plant-based cheeses are free from common allergens lactose and gluten, as well as being soy- and nut-free. It’s a delicious option not only for vegans, but also for people with intolerances’ or food allergies. Ellen G, writing on Yelp, raves: the “best gluten-free crust with vegan cheese I’ve ever had! (5 Stars).”

Several of our new pies can be enjoyed with vegan cheese, including our Mango-Habanero Cauliflower with House-made Pineapple Salsa. Our Margherita pie and our Arugula, Red Onion and Kalamata Olive pie are also amazing vegan options.

All of OTTO’s non-meat toppings are vegan with the exception of butternut squash, roasted pear, and mashed potatoes. These items aside, there are literally thousands of potential topping combinations for our vegan customers.

For more information on Violife’s mozzarella vegan cheese, including ingredients and nutritional info, click here.

We can’t tell you how excited we are to further expand our dietary options at OTTO, and we look forward to hearing from you, our guests. Let us know what you think. We’re listening.

Hungry now? Order online!

Gluten-free pizza just got a whole lot more delicious

DSC_5216.jpgSince 2009, OTTO has strived to elevate the pizza experience. It starts with the ingredients — high quality, local when possible, and the toppings — creative and comforting. For years our crust has been winning over pizza aficionados everywhere. While we’ve been making our own dough daily for quite some time, we’ve historically sourced our gluten-free dough from others.

While our gluten-free pies have received high praise, we concluded that the only way to truly do it right was to make our own. We’re proud to introduce our very own gluten-free dough. It bakes thin and crispy, and tastes like real pizza crust. We love it.

OTTO’s new gluten free dough is now available at any location — in-house, takeout, or delivery.

Our new gluten-free dough is made in our very own bakery, in its own gluten-free room, and is continuously tested to ensure it exceeds FDA requirements for gluten-free labeling.

OTTO’s new gluten-free dough is vegan, and contains no GMOs, no gums, and no nuts or tree nuts.

Ingredients: rice flour, potato, millet, tapioca, plant fiber, cane sugar, light brown sugar, molasses, salt, ascorbic acid, cellulase, water, canola oil, extra virgin olive oil, and yeast

While the dough is gluten-free, our current kitchen operations cannot guarantee that each hand-tossed pizza will not come in contact with trace amounts of gluten. Therefore, we can only recommend our gluten-free pizza to those with milder gluten sensitivities, and not for those who have been diagnosed with celiac disease.

We look forward to hearing what you think of our new gluten-free dough. Let us know!

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Celebrating New England Craft Beer

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While our main gig at OTTO is crafting an array of delicious pizzas, we also like to celebrate the range of local craft beers we have on tap from breweries across New England. From an Austin Street Patina to a Lamplighter Lucid Nonsense, we’re always seeking out the best local beers to pair up with our pies and slices.

Overwhelmingly we’re serving beers from breweries in the two states we call home – Maine and Massachusetts. Our New England offerings come from as far north as Atlantic Brewing in Bar Harbor and as far south as Stratford, CT, the home of Two Roads Brewing Company. Our Massachusetts beers come from as far west as Big Elm Brewing in the Berkshires to as far east as Cisco Brewers on Nantucket.
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AND, just last year our hometown of Portland was recently named America’s Craft Beer Capital! While the city’s population is smaller than all of the other cities on the list with only about 66,000 people, there’s an average of 25.5 microbreweries per 100,000 inhabitants! Yep, Portlanders like their beer. Each year, droves of beer lovers trek to Maine just to check out the 60+ breweries across the state.

Here at OTTO we also have a bi-annual collaboration going with Rising Tide, our not too far away neighbors in the East Bayside neighborhood of Portland. Each year, we brew two beers with Rising Tide –  Oscar Tango Tango Oscar, our spring collab (coming right up!) and Autohelm, which is released in the late fall. The two beers are available exclusively at OTTO locations and in the Rising Tide tasting room. Our employees enjoy working together with the Rising Tide crew each year to brew these fan favorites.

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Back in the fall, we opened our newest location in Portland (250 Read Street) with our most taps yet – TWELVE. The majority of these taps serve up local Maine beers, but we always offer a few options for those wanting to grab some brews from a bit farther afield like Jack’s Abby and Lord Hobo.

Since we opened our first location in 2009 in downtown Portland, we have enjoyed ‘growing up’ alongside the craft beer scene and supporting our local brewers. We’re proud to be currently serving beer from over 20 New England breweries and cider makers! These local breweries make it easy for the love match between beer & pizza to continue…forever.

MAINE
Allagash – Portland
Atlantic – Bar Harbor
Austin Street – Portland
Banded Horn – Biddeford
Bissell Brothers – Portland
Foundation – Portland
Funky Bow – Lyman
Lone Pine – Portland
Oxbow – Newcastle
Peak Organic – Portland
Rising Tide – Portland
Urban Farm Fermentory – Portland

MASSACHUSETTS
Bantam Cider – Somerville
Big Elm – Sheffield
Castle Island – Norwood
Downeast Cider – East Boston
Ipswich Ale Brewery – Ipswich
Jack’s Abby – Framingham
Lamplighter – Cambridge
Lord Hobo – Woburn
Night Shift – Everett

CONNECTICUT
Two Roads – Stratford

The Verdict on OTTO’s Gluten-free Crust

Since we launched gluten-free crust on Feb. 28, many people have asked, “How is it?”

glutenfree3We tend to have high standards regarding the food we serve, but we figure the best critics are our guests, especially those who are either already big fans of OTTO, or who are gluten-sensitive and familiar with what’s available in the marketplace.

A few comments from those who have tried OTTO’s new gluten-free crust option:

“The crust was buttery and crunchy! My room mate even said if I hadn’t told her the crust was gluten-free she wouldn’t have even known… I ate four whole slices and didn’t get a stomach ache!…Thumbs up for OTTO’s gluten free pizza!” – Gluten Free Babe (blog)

“Probably the best gluten free crust I’ve had.” – Facebook fan

“It was awesome, thank you so so so so much for getting GF pizza dough!!! I’d say it was actually the best GF pizza i’ve had so far.” – Facebook fan

Come to any of our locations and try our gluten-free crust. We’re pretty excited about it, and we’re always looking for feedback. Our goal is to provide the best pizza for gluten-sensitive diners in all of New England (and beyond!), and your reviews will help us ensure that we meet our goal.

Happy eating!