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Pizza Biga, Minneapolis, MN



Margherita at Pizza Biga, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Pizza Biga is an appendage of Turtle Bread’s Chicago Avenue location dedicated to pizza, salads and wine. It isn’t as separate as the other Turtle Bread-related restaurants Trattoria Tosca and Cafe Levain — Pizza Biga feels more like a side room of the main bakery.

I enjoyed Pizza Biga last April and didn’t write about it immediately as I felt like all the ingredients were good but the pizza didn’t seem to come together right. In a recent visit I came to the same conclusion.

The Margherita I ordered from their wood-fired oven was chewy and had crispy edges. The previous visit my crust was thinner and more crispy all around. In both cases I expected fantastic crust from Turtle Bread’s dough and wasn’t that impressed. Fairly plain, in my opinion.

However, the mozzarella on both visits tasted quite fresh and I was surprised to find what I thought was cheddar in the mix of cheese in my most recent visit (compare photos). I’m not sure if I’ve ever had cheddar in a Margherita. Is this Wisconsin-Neapolitan? Either way, I’m glad they weren’t sticking to the rules and it gave a flavor that was new to me in this style of pizza. The shredded basil, however, was decorative and the sauce would be best described as sweet. Neither bad, just lacking much depth. On average, good ingredients but just lacking the magic and balance of a great pizza.

I can’t actually complain, but I did get frustrated with their cylindrical water glasses. About two-thirds through my glass I ended up spilling water all over myself through the magic of ice cubes sticking together and pushing to the other end as I tilted the glass towards my mouth. Upon scrambling for a napkin I remembered I made the exact same error on my previous visit. I wondered if I’m really a klutz or if a number of other Pizza Biga patrons experience this.

I might recommend Pizza Biga more if the pizzas weren’t as expensive. It was $11.50 for my Margherita and for even the Pepperoni, which contains the same ingredients minus the basil and with pepperoni is $13.00. They feed one hungry person or two people eating rather lightly.

Pizza Biga
4762 Chicago Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55407-3515
612-823-7555

Posted 04 February 2010 § Pizza ‡ Comments (5) ° Tagged: ,

Kate’s Pizza Amoré, La Crosse, WI



Pizza Margherita at Kate’s Pizza Amoré, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

On a recent weekend trip I visited Kate’s Pizza Amoré in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It’s the sister location to Kate’s on State which serves Italian in the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse area. Pizza Amoré is new and fairly packed when we arrived. Without a reservation we had about a 45 minute wait. No fear, however, as there are numerous great bars in the area, notably the Bodega Brew Pub to grab a drink and come back.

It was clear the staff was hustling: our waitress wouldn’t let one of her tables sneak out behind her without saying goodnight and there was a little sweat on her forehead when she helped us order. Without a beat she explained her favorites and explained the pizza sizes while coming across relaxed and very personable. Well done.

I ordered the small Margherita, which according to the menu contains “extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh roasted garlic, basil pesto, and a light sprinkle of our secret blend of cheeses.” Wow, garlic and garlic!

Upon arrival, the first thing I noticed was the pesto. It’s drenched in it and tasting this pizza was more garlic and pesto than cheese and tomato. It wasn’t what I was expecting for a Margherita but it was quite good and not overbearing. The crust is thick and chewy but crisp on the edges. It’s a great take on California style and all the ingredients popped out and shared the stage. It’s well balanced, fresh and flavorful. A little sweet, perhaps, but I liked it. The “secret” blend of cheese seemed to be predominantly mozzarella, although quite good mozzarella. If you’re from Minneapolis, Saint Paul or Duluth, think of what Pizza Lucé would be like if it was less greasy and the crust was better.

My date ordered the “Spinach Surprise” pizza as recommended by our waitress and the quality of it kept getting brought up throughout the rest of the weekend. As a small pizza here is a bit much for one person we had some of it boxed and it was quite good reheated.

I can’t wait to go back to have it again although next time I’ll call ahead to get a reservation and skip lunch so I have room to try an appetizer too.

Kate’s Pizza Amoré
212 Main St NE
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-782-6673

Posted 19 January 2010 § Pizza ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged:

Downtime Bar & Grill, Minneapolis, MN



Pepperoni Pizza at Downtime Bar & Grill, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Downtime is situated on the University of Minnesota campus in the same building as a student bookstore. It’s a bar with a few tables and a stage for live music and feels like a place you’d only find fried bar food. I never thought to check it out until Kyle, who works at the University, told me I needed to stop by to try the pizza. Surprisingly, there’s wood-fired oven here and as I found out, the pizza is much better than one might expect.

I sat at the bar and ordered a Guinness thinking it was on tap but she pulled a special can out of the fridge and put it in the machine in front of me, the “Guinness Surger,” which uses “ultra-sonic” powers to simulate Guinness from a tap. It still tasted like Guinness to me, for what that’s worth, but next time I’ll explore some of their taps as they have a few good locals. Ordering is done with a marker and a laminated menu where you fill in boxes. I indicated a small pizza with pepperoni and red sauce.

The pizza took a bit of time to arrive — I think they had to get the oven heated up just for me. This pizza was thin crust but nicely charred on the bottom and crispy. The edges were airy. As it’s the midwest, there is a lot of cheese and grease here but it isn’t overboard. The pepperoni was quite flavorful too. It’s wood-fired Midwestern if there is such a thing and is far better than your regular bar pizza. Students must know how great this is already but if you’re not at the U, it’s worth a trip to the campus to try this. As far as I’m concerned, it’s far better than the insanely popular Mesa Pizza by the Slice a couple blocks away.

I’ll be back soon.

Downtime Bar & Grill
1501 SE University Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-379-1224

Posted 18 January 2010 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

The Loop Bar and Restaurant, Minneapolis, MN



The Harvester Pizza at The Loop, Minneapolis, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

I visited The Loop in Minneapolis’ North Loop recently on a weekday afternoon when it was almost empty. I’ve been here before and it can get rather filled up in the evenings. The menu here does not have many economical options with almost everything, aside from sides, is ten bucks or more. Pizzas are $10.95 and I ordered their Harvester: “fire roasted roma tomato, basil, garlic and fresh mozzarella.”

What I received was a thin, chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges pie with chunks of tomato, mozzarella and pesto. Close enough. The tomatoes were fairly ordinary but the cheese was quite good although not very flavorful. Even though the crust was firm and crispy on the edges, it would droop in the middle unless folded, which required cracking the crust, causing the pesto to drip everywhere. It’s not exactly bar-pizza friendly. It’s quite filling, however.

Nothing extraordinary to report here, although on Thursday nights all pizzas are half off and really are worth trying for five and a half bucks. That’s when I had my first pizza here and it went quite well with drinking, watching sports on TV and hanging out with friends.

The Loop Bar and Restaurant
606 Washington Ave N
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-340-0010

Posted 13 January 2010 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged:

Lake Harriet Pizza, Minneapolis, MN

Lake Harriet Pizza, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Lake Harriet Pizza, was described to me by a dedicated reader as “a staple.” I recently ordered it for pickup and arrived early to chat while my pizza was being finished up.

Lake Harriet Pizza is in a tiny strip mall near 50th and Penn, across the street from Broders’ Pasta Bar. On a blistery January evening the florescent lights made their part of the building glow through the completely fogged-up windows and door. The oven was filled with pizzas and I was told it’d be a few more minutes. While a delivery guy busted through the door with red cheeks to pick up more pies, the man behind the counter said “you’re smart to do pick-up” noting the below-zero temperatures, slick roads and forecast of perhaps the lowest windchill of the winter that night. When you’re delivering three at a time, it’s a really hard to keep that third pizza oven-hot, he told me, although they try as hard as they can. They were moving fast and the energy in the room was high.

When I got my pizza, I think everyone in the place thanked me and I was charged as if I brought in the dollar-off coupon I didn’t have. Very friendly service.

At home and opened, everything about a Midwestern style pizza is here: the cheese being the predominant ingredient, tavern cut and a bit of grease. The cheese was thick and stretched, sometimes requiring a knife or fork to separate from the other pieces. The crust was just thick enough to be a solid base and had chewy and sometimes airy edges. Overall on taste, the cheese was fresh but nothing profound, the sauce was perky but nothing loud, and the pepperoni was flavorful but nothing extraordinary. Overall it’s filling, satisfying and a bit sloppy. Although ordinary, it’s not plain or bland.

If there was a certification for Midwestern style pizza as there is for Neapolitan, this place would earn it and train others. It’s a staple of the Midwest and Lake Harriet Pizza does a great job.

Lake Harriet Pizza
5009 Penn Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55419
612-920-7717

Posted 09 January 2010 § Pizza ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Glaciers Café, Minneapolis, MN



Pizza at Glaciers Café, Minneapolis, MN, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Every time I’ve visited Glaciers Café near East Lake Street and Minnehaha I’ve wondered, “why isn’t there more people here? This is great!”

Perhaps it’s that “café” is in the name and by a first impression you may not notice there’s a larger kitchen behind the counter. There’s Wi-Fi and an extensive amount of power outlets available. A selection of four different varieties of Peace Coffee sit ready for dispensing near the cash register next to self-serve filtered water.

I stopped by recently on a Monday afternoon and had their flatbread pizza. Anything other than their “Glacier Goodie” pizza with chicken, caramelized red onions, basil and Applewood smoked bacon is a custom order. While I have had a few other combinations before, to compare apples to apples this time I ordered the pepperoni with their cheese blend. The edges were crispy like a thick cracker, the sauce was a bit spicy and had a nice edge to it. The cheeses and pepperoni were flavorful and fresh. Sure, it’s a bit greasy but it isn’t much to complain about. Overall the pizza at Glaciers Café is light, yet filling. It’s very well crafted.

While it’s not stated on the menu clearly, the pizza is not for one person. My recommendation is to split it with one or two people and save room for the frozen custard. Actually, saving room for the frozen custard is an order. Do not leave without trying it. They usually have chocolate, vanilla and a seasonal flavor on deck — always ask what it is because it’s usually very, very good. If you play the “I’ve never been here” card, they’ll generally give you a small free sample.

Glaciers Café is an under-appreciated neighborhood gem. I need to make myself more of a regular.

Glaciers Café
3019 Minnehaha Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-746-1504

Posted 28 December 2009 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged:

Il Gatto, Minneapolis, MN



Pizza Margherita at Il Gatto, Minneapolis, MN, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

I admit it: I like cats and pizza. For Parasole to recently rebirth Figlio as Il Gatto, or “The Cat,” I was naturally aroused. If you’ve been to Figlio before, the bar area has been fully redone and the dining area has been freshened up a bit.

The wood fire oven in the back I saw while walking in was stealing my focus while our waiter was describing what he likes on the menu. It didn’t take long to realize that the staff here really knows this menu well and our waiter had a long list of favorites from all sections of it — except for the pizza which he never even mentioned.

I ordered the Margherita pizza anyway. If you’re going to start offering pizza with a wood fired oven in the back, you’re at least trying, right?

Our table received some bread and one of the most beautiful yet concise presentations of olive oil I’ve seen. A tiny square dish with a little garnish, yet the perfect amount for the bread we received which was strangely cold. Not room temperature, but cold. It was quite tasty nonetheless, especially with the bottle of Angeline Pinot Noir.

My date and I kept scanning the menu which was littered with double entendres and sexual innuendo. If there was a way to wrap “kitty” or “pussy” into the description or name of something, it has been completed in menu form at Il Gatto. I also can’t imagine that the drink named Smitten Kitten was any sort of coincidence noting the popular sex toy store with the same name a couple blocks down. The “Twig and Berries,” a drink I ordered on another visit had a literal phallic and testicular reference in the drink itself.

On the back of the menu you can read about the “Italians’ reputation for unrushed lovemaking” which is a paragraph that references Pope Paul III, American taboos about masturbation, “truncated mutual pleasure” and how many Hail Mary prayers could be recited during an Italian lovemaking session all in one swoop. I couldn’t tell why I was giggling to myself: was it how frat boy humor could be written so seriously on a restaurant menu or was it the fact that frat boy humor inspired the menu in the first place? Oh, and how do you choose between ordering the “Pistol Tease” and the “Sour Puss” without being sarcastic?

My pizza arrived and it was a strange-looking but incredibly appetizing thing: it’s what might define Neapolitan-Midwestern pizza if there was such a creation. It has many of the signatures of a Pizza Margherita but the the mozzarella is house made (and quite good but very different than mozzarella di bufala), the sauce had an almost barbecue twinge to it and there was oil all over, even on top of the basil and edges of the crust. The crust was nicely charred on the edges and chewy. The edges were buttery, salty, sweet and greasy at the same time. I couldn’t help thinking something was wrong as I was dealing with the dichotomy of staunch Midwestern and Neapolitan influences in the same pizza. What seems like olive oil might be grease — or maybe it’s both. I’m not saying this is bad, however. In fact, before I could even figure my thoughts out on this pizza I had devoured the entire thing. I did say there was a bit of barbecue flavor in the sauce, right? Regardless, this thing was tasty.

Upon completion, our waiter told us about the desserts and that the house-made Limoncello shots were worth it just for the presentation. On another visit my date and I ordered these Limoncello shots for four bucks and the presentation is worth seeing once just so you can think how funny it is that someone not only thought it was a good idea but that someone else that works there recommended it. Don’t worry, it’s still worth it as the Limoncello is quite good.

The Bomboloni, which is a fancy Italian name for fancy doughnut holes, is a very tasty dessert. This was echoed by James Norton of the Heavy Table in his observations of Il Gatto which I recommend reading. I should note that they give you more dipping sauce than doughnut, however. I felt like I should have been able to ask for more of the bomboloni just so we could use the rest of the sauce.

Overall I like Il Gatto. What makes it uncomfortable and mysterious in its menu and food is fully compensated by its very friendly and knowledgeable staff and the large photos of cute cats on the wall. A lot of “huh, really?” followed up with “well, yum, not bad.” Something new, right?

I’ll be back, meow.

Il Gatto
3001 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-822-1688

Posted 13 December 2009 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , ,

Grand Grill & Pizzeria, Oak Park Heights, MN



Four Cheese Pizza at Grand Grill & Pizzeria, Oak Park Heights, MN, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

If you’d like an obnoxious pile of some of the cheapest, synthetic-tasting cheese around Stillwater while watching Fox News, you should try Grand Grill & Pizzera instead of the Pizza Hut next door.

Four Cheese Pizza at Grand Grill and Pizzeria

This pizza is not for me. If this is your thing, give it a shot.

Grand Grill & Pizzeria
14587 60th St N
Oak Park Heights, MN 55082
651-439-2172

Posted 05 December 2009 § Pizza ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: ,

La Strada Ristorante Italiano, Palo Alto, CA



Pizza at La Strada Ristorante Italiano, Palo Alto, CA, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

La Strada Ristorante Italiano is in the heart of Palo Alto on University with a lot of people walking by but few people inside on a recent Sunday evening. When entering, the first thing my eyes gravitated towards was the beautiful wood-fired oven on the other side of the bar. My stomach growled.

After being seated we were given white bread that was almost flavorless. Our waitress apologized twice for assuming she might be rushing us even though she wasn’t. Eventually she took our food order before our drink order. Perhaps we were giving the wrong message by keeping our heads in the menus.

I ordered a glass of Tenute Rubino Primitivo from their fairly decent wine list. My Pizza Margherita arrived fairly quickly and was cut into 6 slices. The buffalo mozzarella blended together with the sauce almost seamlessly — in a way uncommon with Neapolitan-style generally. The crust was firm but chewy and slices could be picked up and held without drooping. The pizza wasn’t very wet, which allowed for a fully finger-food experience. The edges of the crust were floury and a bit sugary, chewy and a bit crispy. Not much char. Interesting take on Neapolitan.

Overall, quite satisfying actually.

La Strada Ristorante Italiano
335 University Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-324-8300

Posted 30 November 2009 § Pizza ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

AcquaPazza Ristorante, San Mateo, CA



Pizza at AcquaPazza, San Mateo, CA, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

It’s usually a good sign at an Italian restaurant when the staff and some of the clientele are speaking in Italian. Upon walking into AcquaPazza Ristorante we were greeted promptly and seated at the table of our choice. San Mateo isn’t known for great restaurants and while Acquapazza doesn’t dispel this stereotype it does a decent job of overcoming it.

My dining companions ordered pasta dishes and I ordered the Pizza Margherita “Recipe Da Michele,” referring to the famous Da Michele in Naples which is high on my to-do list.

We were served bread with a bowl of olive oil with large clumps of garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. My pizza was larger than I’d expect and quite wet. The sauce and oils came close to creating a soupy mess but was saved by the blocks of buffalo mozzarella holding things into place. Rather enjoyable to eat but the eight slice cut is deciving as this pie requires a fork and knife. There was nothing interesting in the flavors, however. The sauce, cheese and basil were fairly plain. The crust was crispy on the edges and chewy. Nothing negative to say but I couldn’t find anything that would help it stand out against others. The sum of its parts were equal to the sum of its parts, so to speak. In summary: satisfying.

I can’t compare this pizza to Da Michele but I can say from what I know of San Mateo, not bad. For another visit it might be worth to explore more of the menu — the diners present that were speaking in Italian weren’t ordering pizza.

AcquaPazza Ristorante
301 E 3rd Ave
San Mateo, CA 94401
650-375-0903

Posted 27 November 2009 § Pizza ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: