A Bridgetown Bites tipster pointed me to an announcement from Atlas Pizza: They will take over the Original Dream Pizza space in September 2026. Original Dream will close at the end of August.
This will be the fourth location for Atlas Pizza, and their first in Northeast Portland. Here is what we know.
Original Dream Pizza
Original Dream Pizza was the successor to American Dream Pizza, which opened in 1985 and closed in 2024 after a potential sale to employees fell through. There are still a couple of American Dream Pizza locations in Corvallis. After witnessing the closure of American Dream, super fans Amy and Dan Northrop searched for something comparable but couldn’t find anything. So, they decided to buy the business to keep their favorite pizza alive.
The sale went through, but the owners of American Dream Pizza refused to sell the name along with the business, so Amy and Dan changed it—to Original Dream Pizza. They opened the newly-named pizzeria in summer 2025.
Then a fire hit not long after they opened and that threw everything off. It wounded them financially and it slowed the momentum they had going with bringing back customers to the pizzeria. Essentially, the economics didn’t work out and closing was the solution.
Goodbye
Original Dream Pizza posted this message earlier this month:
”Thanks to everyone who enthusiastically supported us over the last year. We took a big risk, reopening our favorite pizzeria after it had been closed a year. We really tried to bring ‘The Dream’ back to life. Unfortunately, all of our efforts were not enough to justify staying in business.”
Their final day of service is Sunday, August 30.
Atlas Pizza
Honestly, I though the place was going to be another empty storefront, but I am happy to be wrong.
Atlas Pizza announced on Wednesday, August 12 that, “we’re honored for the opportunity to make this storied location the 4th Atlas Pizza.” The pizza will be a little different—Original Dream’s crust was the recipe from the original American Dream Pizza owner’s grandmother. She was Argentinian, and that dough was based on her own empanada recipe. It also had a braided crust (I think Blind Onion also does a braided crust).
Atlas Pizza focuses on NY-style pizza, and large slices, at that. In a message exchange they told us, “We plan to sell our same signature slices made with Nona Ricci’s secret red sauce recipe.”
They also mentioned stuffed knots—which is an “Atlas Original”—and “all the RC cola our patrons can drink!”
“Oh—and don’t forget the RANCH!” they added.
Ranch
Honestly, I did not grow up with this pizza-ranch combination; I think the first person I ever heard about it was from my pal Adam Kuban, who founded the blog Slice way back when, and continues to write about pizza. Further research indicates that the pizza-ranch combo’s origins are with … Domino’s Pizza in 1994.
Ranch dressing has been around since the 1950s, but I remember a kind of surge in promotion of it during the 1980s. A that moment in time, they really pushed shoppers to buy the dry ranch dressing packets and mix them with fresh dairy ingredients.
Later on, prepared ranch dressing in a bottle became more of the norm—and as I learned during Salad Week this year, not all ranch dressings, at least the supermarket brands, are alike.
Fresh ranch is best, and Atlas Pizza makes their ranch and other dressings in-house. And they told me: “The people have spoken, and they want ranch! So we plan to give them the best ranch on the east side of the Willamette.”
Some Atlas Pizza History
They opened up on SE Division Street in 2014, then expanded to N Killingsworth (currently not far from Tulip Shop Tavern, Sad Valley, and Sunday Sauce) and SE Foster (next to 5 and Dime, and near Starday Tavern and Bar Carlo, where I recently had an excellent brunch). Martin Cizmar wrote about Atlas Pizza for Willamette Week shortly after they opened, with this description (as a foil to Sizzle Pie at the time):
“Southeast Division Street gets Atlas Pizza, which keeps earlier hours and favors esoteric bluesman Abner Jay, but which channels the same vibe through three pinball cabinets and old gig posters for Dead Moon and High On Fire.”
Atlas Pizza is co-owned by Eli Johnson and John Ricci, and identifies as a Black-owned business.
Eats and Drinks at Atlas Pizza
They’ve got whole pies and whole vegan pies. In that aformentioned Willamette Week article they highlighted the Sluzrenko pie, named after one of Sean Croghan’s bandmates. Sean was an early hire at Atlas, and he brought with him experience at Portland’s Escape From New York pizzeria. The Sluzrenko is topped with pepperoni, pineapple, and jalepeño (you’ll also find this combo in the It’s Me Nummy pizza over at Red Sauce).
They’ve got 14 omnivore pies and eight vegan pies. They also have some salads—about four of them—and the Greek Salad sounds really good. It is the American style that starts with Romaine lettuce, then adds tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, artichoke hearts, pepperoncini, feta, and their Greek vinaigrette. Seriously, my mouth is watering just reading that.
Of course, they have slices, too: cheese, meat, veggie, and vegan, and the specifics of those change daily. They have a bunch of deals throughout the week, a pizza-knots-salad deal for $45, plus lunch specials. It will be great to have those on NE Glisan.
Stuffed Knots
And then there are the stuffed knots, which I’ve not encountered before, but they sure sound good. These knots are stuffed with a number of fillings: pesto, feta, and artichoke heart; cream cheese, bacon, and jalapeño; vegan meatballs, vegan ricotta, and basil; and more.
You can see the full menu on the Atlas Pizza website.
“Big love and thanks to Amy, Dan & crew for trusting our vision,” they wrote. “We can’t wait to become neighbors with Big’s Chicken and serve the powerhouse crew across the street at Providence Hospital. Stoked to be apart of the Laurelhurst + North Tabor neighborhoods and maintain that the East Side is the best side.”
They plan to open mid-September. I’ll update this when we have a solid date. All the best to the Atlas Pizza folks, and sending every good wish to Original Dream Pizza as they close out the month.
Atlas Pizza [projected opening mid-September 2026]
4620 NE Glisan Street, Portland
Atlas Pizza website | Instagram | Facebook
Meg Cotner
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Thank you for giving this article an entire segment on the history of ranch dressing on pizza and its ignominious origins.
“Oh—and don’t forget the RANCH!” If the place isn’t named RANCH, I’m 100% forgetting it. You have a champion, homegrown comfort food item that’s a friend to dipping sauces: The jojo. Stop wrecking pizza because the place that needed a Will Vinton character to sell its lifeless 16-slice “pizzas” couldn’t make them palatable without salad dressing.
“The people have spoken, and they want ranch! So we plan to give them the best ranch on the east side of the Willamette.” If we’re competing with the west side of the Willamette for ranch dressing on pizza, we’re engaging in a race to the bottom. I desperately want to know what Abby’s, Izzy’s, Fultano’s, Odd Moe’s, or Doryland they feel is setting the ranch bar in the Willamette Valley AVAs or just over the Coastal Range.
I genuinely like Atlas. Along with Sizzle, Hotlips, and Straight From New York, they occupy that doughy middle of the NY-style pack that doesn’t quite have the moxie of Baby Doll, Apizza Scholls, Scottie’s, or Escape From New York, but isn’t phoning it in at the level of Pizzario, Bellagio’s or the suburban chains. But the “hey, we have RANCH” plea? A little pandering for a place that’s paying Division and Killingsworth rent.
Jojos, fries, steak fries, waffle fries, sweet potato fries (BTW, you can get sweet potato waffle fries at Jawfish on NE Airport Way) – all are good with ranch. Some of the best ranch I’ve had is at Sure Shot. The Trader Joe’s fresh/refrigerated ranch tastes strongly of dill and would be good on grilled meats. I know there are people passionate about ranch and it’s a BFD to them; I am not one of them, and that’s ok.
Which would you pick: Atlas or Sbarro?