Lovely's Fifty Fifty
Jake is the sourdough starter, and the waiter will name him when you ask what that flavor is. Sarah Minnick builds the crust on locally milled grain and tops it with what the Oregon farms sent that week. The James Beard Foundation nominated her for Outstanding Chef in 2024.
Why go
Minnick opened this room in 2010 with her sister and has been feeding Jake ever since.3 The dough goes out under whatever arrived that morning: greens, foraged flowers, wild mushrooms, and up to five cheeses a pie, some of them from Cascadia Creamery over in Washington.2 Portland Monthly counted seven pizzas a night and four of them seasonal, and rated the seasonal four the reason to come.2 The salads lean on Ayers Creek Farm grain, and the counter scoops the ice cream that gives the place the other half of its name.2 They make six flavors and forty gallons a week.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: whichever of the four seasonal pies sounds least likely. Portland Monthly's rule:
interestingly, the weirder they sound, the better.
2 - Order: the potato pie,
a rugged landscape of sage, roasted Yukons, caramelized onions, farm egg, and grassy, buttery Saint Servais cheese.
2 - Avoid: the house sausage and the salami-olive. Same review:
Least interesting are the pizza standards.
2
What locals & experts say
- Portland Monthly (September 2016):
Sour, chewy, and crackly, smelling of wheat and earth, it tasted like great rustic bakery bread.
2 - James Beard Foundation, 2024: Sarah Minnick, nominee for Outstanding Chef.1
Good to know
- The website is lovelys5050.com. A similarly named domain belongs to somebody else and names no chef, no address and no hours.3
- Ice cream is scooped at the counter and dished at the table, and it runs on the same seasonal logic as the pizza.2
- Booking: walk in.
Verdict
should-visit — The crust is the argument. Minnick feeds a sourdough starter on locally milled grain and the flavor is distinct enough that Portland Monthly's table asked the waiter what it was, which is a better proof than any ranking. The James Beard Foundation nominated her for Outstanding Chef in 2024, and that is a national category she reached from a pizzeria. Two things hold it here rather than higher: the strongest review is from 2016, and the standards on the board are the weak end by that same critic's account. Go on a night the seasonal four look strange, because strange is where this kitchen is good.