Authentic New York-style pizza is hard to come by in these parts. There are a couple of places in Portland that get it right, but here on the coast it’s never quite the real deal.

Recently, I was cruising Broadway and my wheels spun slow. I was in search of an open sign after 8 p.m. and I noticed some neon in the window of the elephant ear place on the corner across the street from the arcade. We parked and decided to have a look-see. My expectations were low, as I’d been in this little junk-foodcourt before. Someone’s always making a go of it, and the renters of the three kiosk counters that don’t sell elephant ears come and go. If I remember correctly, last time I checked there were gyros, hot dogs and cheesesteaks there; now there’s ice cream, a Mexican place, and Pizza Express.

On this particular night, Pizza Express was the only inhabited business. I smiled at the depth and creativity of the name. I decided we should walk in and ask a few questions first, lest we invest time and money in the Panda Express of Italian food. But soon I understood that we were in good hands, as the chef/owner was in the back throwing dough. I worked in a good pizza place while attending culinary school, and immediately felt a kinship as I noticed his technique.

When you first learn to shape, stretch, and spin dough, you have no idea what you’re doing. Your first few pizzas are oblong, with tears and thin spots throughout. You use too much flour or not enough. But within a couple of weeks, you’re spinning them high into the air with sure-handed skill, distributing ingredients precisely to the boss’ specifications, and sliding them off the peel and into the 600-degree oven in one deft motion. Whenever I visit my old job, they still let me go in the back and show the rookies how it’s done, and it’s like riding a bike – the skill never leaves you.

It turns out that the owner, John Kozlowski, is a veteran pizza maker who comes from New York, and was trained in the business by old-school pros. He saw the place for rent and opened up. Unlike his former mentors, Kozlowski doesn’t use canned tomatoes for his sauce, preferring rather to cook down fresh plum tomatoes. It’s well worth the extra work. New York-style pizza is usually light on sauce, as it’s more about the dough and the cheese. New York pizza isn’t loaded with lots of toppings either, usually just one, if any. The dough is relatively thin, soft, and chewy, a little dark on the bottom, and cut in large, wide slices; basically the polar opposite of what Fultano’s sells across the street.

A lot of places in our area offer pizza Margherita, but Pizza Express is the first so far to get it right. Though the menu didn’t state it, I saw John slicing up the balls of fresh mozzarella and laying them out on the lightly sauced dough. Sliced plum tomatoes would follow, and after it emerged from the oven, torn fresh basil. Real Margherita is cheesed in patches, and there are gaps of exposed sauce. Most places I go, they top it with the regular shredded mozzarella and call it good. Here it’s as thin as it should be, and absolutely authentically topped. Bravo!

Authentic as it is, Kozlowski is smart to offer a wider variety of toppings and options. You can get broccoli on your pizza, or fresh clams, meatballs, pineapple, eggplant, cheddar, bacon, sopprassata, ricotta and artichoke hearts, as well as the usual suspects.

You can get it by the slice or in a variety of sizes. Pizza Express also offers calzones, pizza rolls, Sicilian-style (thick-crust square-cut pizzas), salads, sub sandwiches, pastas, fried appetizers and entrees like chicken or eggplant Parmesan. I tried it all, and it’s all good.

Calzones ($9.99 + $1 per filling) are soft and full of ricotta, mozzarella and the fillings of your choice. These aren’t hand calzones either; knife and fork material all the way. I had a wonderful mushroom calzone. The mushroom slice baked onto the top was a nice aesthetic touch, which is also useful for I.D. when baking several at a time. A traditional warm marinara is served on the side, as is customary.

A Greek salad ($8.99) was packed with goodies. Atop a bed of chopped lettuces lay feta cheese, kalamata olives, pepperoncinis, carrot, bell pepper and tomato. All traditional dressings are available, but I recommend the balsamic vinaigrette. The antipasto salad ($8.99) is just a great idea – a classic selection of meats, cheeses and pickled things on top of greens. I found provolone, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto ham, pickled carrots, peppers and cauliflower and soppressata salami, as well as tomato wedges, sliced red onions and shredded carrot. This salad had a better variety than some antipasto platters I’ve encountered. Again, the vinaigrette works best here. The Caesar salad ($6.99) is classic here, and devoid of any unnecessary artistic flourishes.

I can recommend the subs as well. The chicken Parmesan sub ($7.99) is served hot, with a breaded chicken breast, provolone and marinara. The cold turkey sub ($7.99) is meaty, with lettuce, tomato, mayo and cheese.

Pastas are also praiseworthy. A recent order of ziti with meatballs ($13.99) was tossed with marinara and chopped meatballs, topped with mozzarella and baked. It took a little longer because he boiled the ziti fresh to order, but it made the dish. Side salad and garlic bread accompany.

Given the name and location, I easily could have dismissed Pizza Express and sought alternative supper arrangements. But in this line of work, you have to take chances and fall on a grenade or two so the readers don’t get burned. When you judge by appearances, sometimes what you see is what you get, and sometimes you’re way, way off. Pizza Express is exceptional.