It's a Beautiful PIZZA

This Portland, Oregon, pizzeria plays a different tune with ultra-fresh toppings and pizzas named for classic rock musicians

PHOTO AND STORY BY ALYS WILLMAN

Anyone who thinks the 1970s are over hasn’t been to It’s a Beautiful Pizza, where classic rock legends are reincarnated into specialty pizzas each day. For instance, you can order the Frank Zappa, the Janis Joplin, the Joni Mitchell, the Grace Slick, the list goes on and on.

    Named for the 1960s band It’s a Beautiful Day, this retro rock-inspired pizzeria is located in Portland, Oregon. Owned and operated by Carl Sandstrom, the restaurant incorporates nostalgia for the relaxed, free-spirited feel of the ’60s and ‘70s with a ‘90s business philosophy. In Portland, called by some the nation’s “most enlightened city,” the combination works.

It Really Is a Beautiful Pizza 

  I’ll be bold, and insert my own editorial here. This is the best pizza I’ve come across. Ever. 

    These pies aren’t just topped, they’re decorated. Feta cheese is artfully sprinkled among tomatoes and olives, and pineapple is carefully nestled between bacon or ham toppings. This is pizza you eat with two hands, the kind that flops over the edge of your fingers. Toppings are liberal, to say the least. On a regular pepperoni pie, the mozzarella cheese is barely visible under the pepperoni. According to chef Seifert, portion control is left up to the cook. 

    Ingredients are delivered ultra-fresh from the market down the street every day. Dough is made from scratch, then hand-tossed and stretched. Sauce is also homemade, tasting of fresh tomatoes and basil.

    Sandstrom says he tailors the pizza toppings to the musical style of their namesakes.

     “Before we opened, I told Paul [Seifert] how we were going to name the pizzas-after rock stars. I gave him some names. Then we tried to pick the names that fit the pizza. All of our vegetarian pies are named after female rock starts and that makes it a little easier to follow. If it’s a female rock star, it’s a vegetarian pie. 

    “The Joni Mitchell, with hearts of palm and artichoke hearts on pesto base with fontina cheese-that just seemed like a good Joni Mitchell pie. The Jimmy Buffet was one of the easiest to do - Pineapple, Canadian bacon, coconut and mandarin oranges. It had to be tropical.” 

    The Janis Joplin pie features marinated black olives, red bell pepper and sun dried tomatoes, and the Frank Zappa is appropriately covered with marinated chicken, black olives and red onions. The Grace Slick is topped with spinach, feta cheese, tomato and fresh garlic, The Ravi Shankar is one of the more exotic pies, topped with peanut tamari sauce, roasted coconut, scallions, shredded chicken and cilantro.

    Sandstrom says he doesn’t change the menu very often, but keeps an eye on how well each of the specialty pies sells. “The slowest seller is always in jeopardy,” he says. “Our slow seller now is the Billie Holiday, with pesto and pineapple. That replaced the delicious but slow-selling dessert pie that we had, the Liberace. It was a flaming dessert pie. We sliced up fresh apples and poured rum on it, and lit it on fire in front of the customers,”

    Seifert says the Jerry Garcia, which as anyone would guess, is piled high with pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, beef, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, onion and pepperoncini; it has been the most popular specialty pizza. “Jerry Garcia is our ‘works’ pie,” he says. “And we make a lot of those.” 

    Specialty pies run $9 for small, all the way up to $22 for a “Sicilian.” Customers can also design their own pies with either tomato or pesto sauce and a host of toppings-everything from anchovies to smoked ham. 

    Sandstrom says customer demand for dairy substitutes led him to offer soy cheese or tofu as topping options. 

    “When we first opened, people would come in and ask for soy cheese. I would say ‘What? You mean imitation cheese? No, we have real cheese here!’ But then I learned more about it. Some people, for either health or philosophy reasons, don’t eat dairy products. So we go through quite a bit of soy cheese.” 

Several deli sandwiches are available for $3.50, and calzones can be built with the customer’s choice of filling, $6 for a medium and $9 for large. 

It’s a Beautiful Pizza offers a selection of juice and soft drinks, in addition to several wines and 12 microbrews on tap. 

To further accommodate customers, Sandstrom providers water pitchers and glasses on a table in the corner so guests can serve themselves if they like. There’s also a sink where most regulars put their own dishes away when they’re finished. 

Local Color 

Sandstrom drew on his wealth of artist and musician friends to create a 1960s atmosphere in the dining area. A psychedelic mural along one wall depicts the Grateful Dead’s characteristic dancing bears and skeletons frolicking on a grassy landscape under the It’s a Beautiful Pizza logo. A 12 by 14 foot tie dyed cloth decorates the opposite wall, made specially for Sandstrom by artist friends. Two other murals are based on Sandstrom’s world travels: a bright rain forest mural painted from photos of his trip to Queensland, Australia, and a colorful painting of the Great Barrier Reef. 

A three-dimensional work on a corner ceiling features plastic streamers splatter-painted in bright colors and psychedelic shapes. Several pizza pans line a shelf near the cash register, with suns and moons painted on them in primary colors to the restaurant. 

Perhaps the most impressive piece of the décor is a ceiling mural entitled “It’s a Beautiful Universe.” The mural begins in one corner as a multi-colored pizza wedge and spreads into a mass of planets across the ceiling. The accompanying explanation defines the work as the “birth, growth and progression of a solar system in the beautiful universe.” It was created by a friend of Sandstrom’s, a local artist who often displays paintings in the restaurant. 

And of course, the background music is always classics from the ‘60s and ‘70s. 

From Pubs to Pizza 

A native of Portland, Sandstrom converted to the pizza business after more than 11 years of owning and managing pubs in the Portland area. He previously owned a bar, the Bear paw, and a bar/grill called The Grateful Burger. But after over a decade in that environment, he grew tired of the bar scene and decided to sell both. 

After spending time in Asia and Australia, Sandstrom returned to Portland refreshed and ready for a change. 

“The pizza business isn’t that big a transition from the bar business,” he says.” “I eliminated a lot of the negatives that I didn’t want to be involved in. To open up a pizza parlor is quite similar to opening up a pub and running it except you’ve got the pizza in there.” 

He recruited a friend, Seifert, also a Portland native, to manage the kitcken and develop the menu. ”Before we first started, there was a lot going on. I said ‘Here’s what I want to do, so get some pizzas worked up. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.’ My pizza expertise was eating it, not making it.” 

Seifert accepted the challenge and developed the menu. 

Sandstrom’s next challenge lay in his location choice. His building had never been a restaurant before. There were dealings with City Hall about building codes and licensing to be settled before they could open. 

Decorating was a challenge, too. “There were completely bare walls, just pure white,” Sandstrom remembers. “So I had to come in here and put the place together. That was a challenge.” 

He recruited several artist friends to help him out with the décor and, in March 1994, It’s a Beautiful Pizza opened its doors. The Restaurant’s success has kept Sandstrom busy, and he says he won’t be planning any expansion just yet. But the perennial traveler has set his sights on a more exotic location than Portland when he does open another store. “We‘re looking at Hawaii as an other location, something a little more tropical,” he says. “But we really do have our hands full here.” 

Happy Days 

Part of Sandstrom’s business philosophy rests on keeping his employees happy. Most employees are students at nearby Portland State University, who need part-time work to finance college. Not surprisingly, many are musicians. “I guess this would appeal to a musician,” Sandstrom says. 

In the three and half years It’s a Beautiful Pizza has been open, he’s seen relatively little turnover on his staff. 

We do have good wages and benefits here,” he says. “Full-time employees have full medical and dental insurance. In his business, that’s unheard of. Otherwise, they get all they can eat before, during and after their shifts. They get plenty to eat. And everyone here likes the microbrews; after they get off work they can have a couple of beers.” 

Sandstrom says it’s not uncommon for several employees to stay after their shifts to enjoy pizza and beer while he finishes up his work and closes the shop. 

And being a seasoned traveler himself, Sandstrom is willing to accommodate hard-working employees who need time off. “Right now my head pizza cook is on ‘sabbatical’ in Italy. I’m saving a spot for him.” 

When It Rains… 

In a city where it rains nearly eight months out of the year, the weather has a significant effect on business. 

“It rains all the time here. When the sun comes out, business increases,” Sandstrom says. “It’s raining most of the time, but when people see the nice weather business picks up… 

“Good weather is conducive to foot traffic. It also changes the traditional dinner hour. In the nice weather it gets dark a little later. Instead of people coming in at 6 p.m., they come in at sunset. 

“Something that’s been a little surprising is when it snows. We don’t get a lot of snow. That brings out foot traffic. It’s something of a novelty here so people want to get out and walk in the snow. So they come in and can have pizza and watch the snow out the window.” 

For those who’d rather not go out in the rain or snow, It’s a Beautiful Pizza offers delivery during dinner hours. 

Funny Business 

Sandstrom’s business philosophy is somewhat unconventional, but it has proved successful for his store. 

“Before I opened, I was traveling and I had to go back to work and the number one thing I knew the business had to be was fun,” he emphasizes. “Number one was fun and number two was to make money. It had to be profitable. But the goal was so set up a place that was fun and had a nice atmosphere.” 

The relaxed feel of It’s a Beautiful Pizza is one of the reasons for its popularity. Years of bartending have made Sandstrom a master of easy, friendly conversation that inspires repeat business. An ”optimist’s creed” hangs on one wall, with advice on positive thinking. If a customer seems down, Sandstrom will send him or her home with a copy of the creed. 

Many of the regular customers are part of several student groups from Portland State University and community groups that use It’s a Beautiful Pizza as a meetings place. One group holds weekly meetings in the restaurant, and Sandstrom sets up a pizza buffet for them. He also donates pizza and gift certificates to local organizations, and brings in elementary school groups to the restaurant for field trips. 

One successful but short-lived promotion was a booth Sandstrom set up at the Grateful Dead concerts in Portland. “Every time the Grateful Dead were around here we were going to go do their shows, but then Jerry passed away,” Sandstrom says sadly. 

Sandstrom also offers flexible hours-another contributing factor to the popularity of the restaurant. The kitchen closes at 10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 p.m. on weekends. But once we close the kitchen, we fill our rotisserie up with slices and have some slices warming there,” he says. “Typically we sell a lot of slices after hours. People can still get a beverage and a slice while we’re picking things up. Until we lock the doors we’re selling slices and beverages.”  Slices sell for $1.75 for a cheese blend, and 25 cents for each additional topping.

But Sandstrom says the store’s success rests primarily on the quality of his product. “Our pizza is underpriced. We buy the best toppings and a lot of preparation goes into it. We’re trying to hold prices down. Our business philosophy is to offer something really good and [that] people will recognize and appreciate, and we’ll be busier because of it. It’s taken a while but it seems to be working… 

“We’ve got a fun, nice atmosphere here but we’ve also got a quality pizza with it. The two together make a package we’re proud of.”. 

ALYS WILLMAN, a former associate editor at PIZZA TODAY, currently resides in Chile.

Owner Carl Sandstrom (left) and his chef, Paul Seifert, have a number one hit on their hands. For example, the Jerry Garcia, inspired by the former Grateful Dead guitarist, is piled high with "the works" and is the most popular specialty pie.