Sauce Spirits and Soundbar opened this summer on Lake and Lyndale and per the name and what I had heard about it I assumed it was a place to get drinks and listen to live music. I had visited only briefly not long after it was opened and saw there was actually a dining area in addition to the stage. I stopped by again, essentially by accident when trying to try out the new Lyndale Tap House which had its opening party the weekend previous but stayed closed the day I arrived to open the next day. Bummed, I looked at the menu posted at the door of Sauce a few doors down and noticed pizza.
Not only pizza, there’s more of a full menu here and it felt more upscale than I anticipated. I ordered a pepperoni pie and a pint of Fat Tire. When my pizza arrived, I was a bit surprised that it looked like midwestern bar pizza. In fact, it reminded me of Dulono’s Pizza a couple doors down.
Tasting this pizza, however, is anything but Midwest-style. Sure, it’s tavern-cut into squares but the amount of cheese wasn’t over the top — it was quite balanced with the sauce. The sauce, for a place named Sauce, was actually the most pronounced ingredient: “zesty,” the bartender described it as and I can’t find a better adjective. It’s spicy and hot but doesn’t overpower. I asked what was in it and was told it was a secret. My guess is that red pepper plays a large role here. The crust was cracker-like and there wasn’t really any grease to speak of — a rare find amongst pizza that looks like this.
In other words, the pizza at Sauce Spirits and Soundbar has all the positive qualities of Midwest-style pizza without any of the negatives. Weird, and impressive.
With numerous options for pizza within just a couple blocks, Sauce is one of my new favorites. There’s also pizza by the slice on weekend nights until late, a free jukebox and a large vending machine with various CDs from local artists. Cute. Happy hour has $3 taps and wine from 4pm until 7pm. Yes, $3 wine.
If I’m not here soon for a show, I’ll be back for happy hour.
Sauce Spirits and Soundbar
3001 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-822-6000
Comments 6
I’ve had a couple of sliced there late night and they’ve been pretty tasty. I would say go to sauce for the happy hour but don’t waste your time on the music. Their sound system is horrible, and even my friends who aren’t audio professionals agree.
They pour a great drink though!
Posted 05 Oct 2009 at 10:35 ¶Great timing. Alison Scott is playing there Sunday night and she just happens to be my other halfs cousin by marriage, along with incredibly talented and that pizza looks divine as well as very close by! Thanks for the review!
PS-In sad news Pizza Italia on Nicollet and 46th closed
Posted 08 Oct 2009 at 09:02 ¶hey Aaron- not sure how else to write to you- I wondered if you’ve been to the new Home Made Pizza Co. store near Market Plaza on West Lake and Whole Foods, actually it’s in Calhoun Commons, address is 3054 Excelsior Blvd.
http://www.homemadepizza.com
they had samples out recently, both on a very good whole wheat crust. I really liked one with mushrooms and fontinella cheese. I’d love to know what you think!
Posted 08 Oct 2009 at 23:38 ¶Considering that the Homemade Pizza Co. closed in Apple Valley partly because it’s another stupid home baked pizza chain and also because they like to try marketing through blogs (by offering coupons to bloggers to give away or use themselves as well as posting astroturf comments) I doubt that anyone really cares about it–especially a MSP renowned pizza blogger who has enough locally owned places to try and report on.
Posted 09 Oct 2009 at 07:44 ¶Faith, Bill- I have tried HomeMade Pizza Company and I just reviewed HomeMade Pizza Co here:
http://twitter.com/s4xton/status/4734678019
Let’s keep future comments related to Sauce Spirits & Soundbar. If you have other comments, hit me directly:
http://s4xton.com/contact/
Posted 09 Oct 2009 at 07:54 ¶Staff is very friendly, bartenders are good, almost mind-reading good. Caught a show there a couplke weeks ago, first band sounded awesome, crisp soundsystem overall, really nice sound, but the second was a bit off…one of my favorite local bands too, but it didn’t sound right. I think the sound guy took the hour off, never saw him in the booth. Third band was killer, female lead…can’t remember the bands name but they blew my socks off! Sounded great! Overall a great bar to call a rock club! Sounds way better than the Uptown bar, which I always thought was too loud and overbearing….just always seemed dingy and dirty too, but Sauce is nice, new and fresh! Really cool artwork too, they have murals, paintings and photos all over.
Posted 24 Jan 2010 at 21:03 ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 1
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