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Earlier this week, vegan, wood-fired pizza cart Baby Blue Pizza announced via social media that it will close at the end of January.
“Unfortunately we have found ourselves in the same position that many other small businesses have. With the pandemic, an especially slow winter, and the rising cost of, well, absolutely everything, this just isn’t something we can pursue any longer,” Baby Blue operators wrote.
After opening in summer 2019, Baby Blue earned a dedicated following due to its housemade faux meat specials (recently evidenced as the “house vodxa sauce and fried chicky” laden Drunk Bird pie and a Thanksgiving-themed pie, dubbed the Pardoned Turkey). The 12-inch pies were easy to scarf in one sitting or mix and match with friends. Since the news broke, the cart—currently located in the Rose City food cart pod at 5235 NE Sandy Blvd. has been selling out every day.
A wood-fired pizza cart should never close. This is a failure of our society.
“This winter has been brutal for food carts,” owner Odie O’Connor tells WW. “And last summer was not great either with the fires and seemingly endless heat waves, so the cart’s been in trouble for a bit now. Down the line, I’m hoping to come back with a brick-and-mortar for Baby Blue—but I’m excited to simplify my life for a bit.”
Fans can be grateful that O’Conner isn’t completely snatching his pies from the mouths of pizza-appreciating Portlanders. He also owns vegan Detroit-style pizza parlor Boxcar, located in the Zipper Building on Sandy. O’Conner told WW that Boxcar isn’t closing. In fact, it was recently nominated for best pizzeria by vegan lifestyle magazine VegNews.