Lovely's Fifty Fifty — Restaurant in Portland

Was interested in checking this place out after seeing it on Netflix. Being new to Portland I've been pushing myself to check out as many new spots as possible but also, who doesn't love Pizza and Icecream? Note that Lovely's Fifty Fifty (LFF) is open 5 pm - 10 pm and doesn't take reservations so we made sure to get there around 8 pm. We weren't yet hungry but wanted to ensure we had a seat. The place was full but the wait was pretty standard. The aroma of the pizza filled the area and built up the anticipation in our stomachs. Once we were able to get a good view of the place once we were seated. It's an open concept so you can see the front door just as clearly as you could see other tables. The dining area also gives you a full view of the kitchen as well which is something I've not seen before, I believe it helps fill the room with all the dishes. They have music playing low enough volume that enables you to hear the music without having to yell to the people at your table. Though the restaurant is essentially one big room the dim lighting helps create an intimate experience. Daniel was our waiter and he was by far one of the best waiters I've had in Portland. We'd not been here before so he gave us a rundown of the pizzas and helped us settle on Rainbow Chard as well as the Potato Pizza. Both are meatless options and though I usually settle for meat I wanted to get the full experience. I noticed an "Orange" option under the sparkling wines and Daniel gave us a sample. I'd not had an Orange before and it was very good. The pizza did not take too long and was very good. Daniel stirred us right. The potato pizza, my first time having such a pie, was filling and creamy. The Chard was more of a traditional pizza taste but fresh and green. I fully enjoyed both of them and would order again but I'd say the Chard was my favorite of the two. LFF also serves ice cream. We decided to go Salted Caramel, Malted Milk, raspberry, and Lemon. All four were very good. The lemon reminded me of a fresh birthday cake. Both the Salted and Raspberry started soft [salt for and berry] but finished with a strong aftertaste; caramel and raspberry respectively. The Malted was a solid flavor but more traditional with the vanilla and chocolate being very balanced. Combining the Salted and the Malted more than doubled the flavor. As we were winding down we let Daniel know he made my partner's birthday dinner very pleasant. He didn't know we were there for that reason but as we left he gave us an unexpected treat for the occasion and it really was just a surprise and delight. You really don't see that kind of attendance these days. It was just true kindness. Now LFF doesn't give takeout boxes for their pizza, instead they wrapped them in a wax paper. The pizza grease and juice does not seep through so rest assured. I know this was long winded but I wanted to really capture the experience. If nothing else, remember: food good...

Worth The Hype

Seeing this on Netflix and this place being the only one from the series close to where we live, we decided to give it a try. Netflix advertising made it a bit pricey, but given the amazing dough, I would give $30 even if they served it without any toppings. It’s sourdough wood fired, and while deviating from the Neapolitan golden standard, it is much bigger pleasure than most of the Neapolitan pizzas I’ve tried. Which sounds funny, because in the show the lady said she opened the place and she still didn’t know how to make pizza dough.

Quality of toppings is pretty good, it’s evident she has spent a lot of effort in choosing the arsenal of high-quality ingredients and has established a good collaboration with farms. The potato pizza is a great example - I would never expect that such a starch overload could have such a rich taste and such a delicate texture. She deserves a street named after her for that one.

The balance is something that was quite unique and unexpected. First, her basic tomato and cheese with ham has done very poorly on the balance. It just didn’t feel cohesive, as you would expect from such a common combination. But her veggie pizzas… The balance is achieved by a single unique and powerful vegetable taste, on which other milder herbal, buttery, or other veggie tastes are built up. Truly unique and positively surprising.

What I didn’t like was wait time - we signed up for the wait list, were told that we need to wait two hours, and it actually turned a bit more. For this I blame Netflix, and their romanticized story of a girl going from nothing to making a great pizza, while it really looks like the work of persistent experimentation by a devoted culinary genius (or few of them).

Finally, my judgment on their ice cream. It’s fine, the taste is well balanced, and the sugar is avoided to bring more delicate flavours to the taste buds. There she figured out the thing that is wrong with most American ice creams. But the scoops are ping-pong ball tiny - so looks like she didn’t figure out one thing that is right with most American ice creams. It’s either that she’s catering to lactose intolerant population by allowing them to just try and not really eat ice cream, or she figured out her popularity can sell a micro-dose of ice cream for the price of a Snow Goose Produce double scoop.

Overall still 10/10, worth driving to Portland just for the...

There are many things that Portland does right from a food perspective. One of those is pizza. You’ve got plenty of household names where you truly can’t go wrong. Our latest pizza excursion took us to Lovely’s Fifty Fifty on Mississippi. There are a number of great restaurants to choose from while on Mississippi – Lovely’s is one that should not be missed. We were hoping that by going out on a Monday night, the wait would be less… We were wrong. While there was no line, there was still roughly a 45min - 1hr wait to be sat. We were committed, so we waited. Walked up and down the street a few times until our name was called. It is a cute, intimate area. Not a lot of seating, so it made sense why the wait is so long. While we waited, we had already scoured the menu and were ready to order once we got to our table. Please note that the menu does change. We started with the curly kale salad with creamy garlic dressing, breadcrumbs, and reggiano. It was delicious! The creamy garlic dressing with the breadcrumbs took the salad to the next level – would have licked the plate! As for the pizzas, we went with the chanterelle mushrooms with spinach spring onions, etxegarai & gremolata and then the house made fennel sausage with lacinato kale, sleeping beauty & rosemary with a side of the herb-y ranch. We paired the meal with their house made elderflower soda. After our first couple of bites, it became clear why there is always such a long wait and why people rave about Lovely’s Fifty Fifty… the flavors are insane and the ingredients well accompanied. Not sure if it is simply the fact that they serve 100% organic farm direct produce or that their dough is naturally leavened with 35% Oregon grown whole grains, but the dough is truly out of this world. It has crisp, crunch, softness, truly everything you’d want in a pizza dough. To finish everything off, we tried their seasonal Huckleberry Honey Ice cream. It was pretty good. Stars of the show were definitely the pizza – could have done without the ice cream. While it was great pizza I will say that $32 for a 12 inch pizza is pretty steep no matter where you are… Again, loved the food, just think those prices are on the higher side – would expect more of a fine dining experience to match the prices. Food great… Value ehhhh… Overall, it was a great experience. It was worth the wait and did not disappoint....