News: Lovely Hula Hands Owners to Open Pizzeria

(photo courtesy OregonLive.com)

Well well. It would seem that the owners of Lovely Hula Hands, a highly praised restaurant in North Portland, is closing its doors in January and moving next door to open a wood-fired pizzeria called Lovely's Fifty Fifty. Having never eaten at Lovely Hula Hands (perhaps I should while I still can...), I have no idea what to expect, but news of another wood-fired pizzeria opening in the area always puts a smile on my face. So yeah, I'm looking forward to this.

Here's the press release from Lovely Hula Hands' owners, Sarah and Jane Minnick:

Hello friends and fans of Lovely Hula Hands- Our new wood fired pizza restaurant, Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty, should be open sometime in January. There have been a lot of construction setbacks since the beginning of the project, but we are finally awaiting the arrival of the wood oven, ice cream case and other exciting things.

Also, at the end of this month, Lovely Hula Hands will be closing. The reasons for this are many, but in the end it comes down to one thing above all. When we first opened the restaurant six years ago, a family member was our chef. As time went on and this changed, we found ourselves in the position of running a restaurant from the front of the house. That is, we relied on someone from outside the family to direct the kitchen. As you know from the loyalty of our customers and the critical reception that Lovely Hula Hands has received, we have always been lucky with the talented people we’ve chosen. But now it just makes sense for us to focus on our new venture 100 % and have more of a hand in the production of the things we serve.

We plan to have a great final month at Lovely Hula Hands and finish strong with the same seasonal menu, cocktails, etc. New Years Eve will be our last night open. We hope to see many of you this month at least one more time and we hope to keep seeing you next door at Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty. It will have a lot of things in common with LHH- a seasonal menu, buying exclusively from local farmers and ranchers, a hefty list of salads and starters, and even one or two wood fired entrees along with the pizza offerings. We will also have six flavors of seasonal homemade ice cream in a big case up front and people can get a scoop or a pint to go. Our current staff will stay with us and work next door, so no one is being put out of work in this economy.

We want to deeply thank all of our loyal customers and staff for the last six years. It has honestly been a pleasure running this restaurant.

Finally, please note that we will be honoring Gift Certificates for Lovely Hula Hands next door at Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty. If you have one and can’t get in this month, please use it there.

Sincerely, Sarah and Jane Minnick