First Look: Odie’s Pizza Opens in Oceanside

It all came together so serendipitously. Odie O’Connor’s friends, Clayton Wheeler and Craig Applegate—co-owners of Encinitas-based Blacktop Restaurant Group—were looking to get into pizza. The 2,000-square-foot corner location at Mission Avenue and Cleveland Street in downtown Oceanside was up for grabs. And O’Connor had been wanting to move back to San Diego from Portland, where he’d been saucing and cheesing for almost 10 years.

So he packed his trusty heirloom sourdough starter (it’s 35 years old) and headed south for warmer weather and hotter ovens. Thus Odie’s Pizza—of which O’Connor is general manager—was born. 

Odie’s Pizza is a classic slice-and-pie shop, California-style. High ceilings, retractable windows, wrap-around counter, plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, two blocks from the beach. Surf photography by Grant Brittain and skateboard decks by Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero decorate the walls, which are black-and-white-subway-tiled for that NYC feel.

But unlike a New York pizza place, Odie’s faces the western sunset, and you can take your slice down to the sand or eat it on the pier overlooking the Pacific. Or bring the kids for soft-serve cones and housemade ice cream sandos and grab yourself a beer to sip on the patio while enjoying the view.

Odie’s took over the former Sublime Tap House space, and it’s gotta fill those 28 taps with something. Local brewers are lined up, on rotation: Artifex, Black Plague, Pure Project, Pizza Port Brewing, and O’Connor’s IPA collab with Burgeon. 

But back to the pizza. O’Connor’s New York– and Sicilian-style pies are available traditional, vegan, or gluten-free. At his Portland shop, Boxcar Pizza, O’Connor focused on developing gluten-free crusts that “don’t have that cardboard-y feel,” he says, and as a seven-year vegan himself, he concentrated on recipes that don’t skimp on taste. The result: GF or plant-based pies that meet pizza expectations. “We want to replicate the experience without compromise,” he adds. 

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As a self-proclaimed “total dough nerd,” O’Connor spent years perfecting what he calls a “fluffy, foldable” feel for his GF crust. And even his traditional version is easier on the digestive system than other wheat-based recipes, since sourdough is allowed to ferment and break down carbs in the dough before it’s rolled out.

O’Connor sources organically grown flour from Central Milling in Oregon; it’s unbleached and free of the potentially harmful additive bromate. “We put so much time and effort into perfecting the dough,” O’Connor says. “And we are also really picky about what ingredients go on top.” 

O’Connor’s favorite pie on the menu is the Dude Ranch, his tribute to California BBQ chicken pizza. There’s also the Good Good Things (yes, named after the Descendants song, for you punks), the shop’s signature white pie with ricotta and basil; the Biggie Smalls with vodka sauce, mozzarella, sausage, basil and grated parmesan cheese; A Praise Chorus (Jimmy Eat World) with pesto and red sauce; and the possibly controversial pineapple-jalapeño-pepperoni Viktor Vaughn. Benny and the Jets is sweet and spicy, with whipped burrata, sopressata, and hot honey. The traditional vodka sauce and mozzarella is called the Rebel Rebel.  

At the Pizza Expo in Las Vegas earlier this year, O’Connor bought himself a new type of Italian-made pizza oven by Fiero Forni for his new place. It cooks the pies super-fast and super-hot on a sort of conveyor, so the crew can crank ’em out without the typical bustling and shuffling that goes on in a pizza kitchen. There’s room to prepare salads (classic Caesar, chopped, wedge, or house) and seasonal extra-special pies topped with ingredients like peaches. 

O’Connor plans to offer an affordable lunch special—a slice and a side salad or two slices with a drink for $9.99, plus $4 lunchtime beers. And an inside tip: Slices will be $2 for the last hour of the night, from 9 to 10 pm. He hopes Odie’s will be a welcoming hang-out all day.

O’Connor is also excited to be neighbors with Craft Coast Beer and Tacos, and he hopes to collaborate. “Maybe a birria pizza? With consomé?” he muses. Why not?

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