Old Town Brewing acquires Baby Doll Pizza
Portland’s Old Town Brewing has reached a deal to acquire the popular Baby Doll Pizza joint at 2835 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97214. Adam Milne purchased the classic Old Town Pizza pub in northwest Portland in 2003 and opened the N. Killingsworth expansion Old Town Brewing as part of their operations in 2008. The name and signature brand of Baby Doll Pizza is not expected to change and will remain a separate - but connected - entity.
Baby Doll Pizza replaced the former Stark Naked pizza nine years ago in an initially tiny space sandwiched between The Goodfoot bar and venue and the Bonfire Lounge. Baby Doll quickly built up a following with the pizzaiolo of Portland as one of the best in town for New York-style pizza. Formerly a tiny pick-up storefront with a few seats, Baby Doll took over the lease at their neighbors Bonfire Lounge in 2016 and added a full bar to the business. Since the pandemic shutdown in March 2020 the restaurant and bar on SE Stark has not reopened for sitdown service.
Baby Doll Pizza
There will be no interruption to Baby Doll operations during the transition of ownership, which already took place 2 weeks ago but is still waiting on new OLCC licensing permits. The huge backlog at the OLCC means it could be a bit before Milne and company can make any updates to the business, which will largely stay intact.
“I am kind of a superstitious person…” admits Milne, saying he won’t make any noticeable changes to what Baby Doll has been doing so far. “They have been doing such a good job here that I want to preserve their following, they have obviously been doing something right.”
The few changes that could be in-store for Baby Doll Pizza are a family friendly seating-area in addition to the adults only 21+ full cocktail bar. Milne does not plan to rebrand it as an Old Town Brewing location, or even change all of the taps over to their own beer other than adding a few more selections. “People like their Tecate and their PBR” says Milne, “who am I to try to change that?”
The pizza at Milne’s Old Town Pizza & Brewing locations is also quite different than what Baby Doll specializes in. Old Town’s is thicker, a bit breadier, and more of a pacific northwest pub-style pie, while Baby Doll has the signature NY-style thin crust with charred crunchier and chewier bread and their own signature sauces and toppings. The pizza will stay the same, and Milne has already spent the last few weeks learning more about how Baby Doll bakes their pies.
Old Town Brewing acquires Baby Doll Pizza
There is one possible game changer, Baby Doll Pizza has three vehicles from which they deliver their own pizzas south to Powell, north to Knott St, west to the river, and east to 60th and after the liquor licensing goes through they could potentially deliver Old Town Brewing beer as well.
The acquisition of Baby Doll does not mean that Old Town Brewing is abandoning their O.G. Old Town Pizza pub in Portland’s historic NW old town neighborhood. Though the pandemic and ongoing struggles of downtown Portland did force the closure of that area staple last July, Milne has no plans to abandon it for good.
“I’m still paying rent, I don’t want to give up on downtown Portland. I probably will wait until the tourists come back….When a bunch of hotels reopen that will be a good sign,” as to when it’s safe to reopen.
In the meantime, keep patronizing Old Town Brewing and Baby Doll Pizza. OTB’s latest is Treat Yo’ Self a chocolate IPA, and an upcoming and equally interesting limited release; Old Town in Space, is a collaboration with Ecliptic Brewing. This is a rare Black Pilsner, but in a twist it’s brewed with orange peel and dry-hopped with Mandarina Bavaria. Is this the first Italian-style Black Pilsner?!