Lesley and I decided to check out Yarusso Bros. Italian Restaurant as she's a current and I'm a former Saint Paul resident and neither of us had been before. Yarusso's, as it's more commonly called, has been around for 75 years and many people regard it as an staple of old Saint Paul restaurants. The building is recognizable with a Statue of Liberty on top if you drive down Payne Avenue.

Yarusso's was brought up in a thread on MNspeak and Steve Sundberg chimed in that they are "more famous for their giant meatballs and garlic bread than they are pizza." I would attest that this is likely true as when we arrived we didn't see any pizza at all but many people dining on pasta.

We each ordered a Brewer's Cave Golden Caramel Lager as their menus indicated they were related to the brewer. It wasn't our favorite beer but couldn't exactly put our finger on as to why. Brew52 has more on this beer, including my short experience with it. I'll order it again the next time I'm back. We also got a basket of slices of white bread and bits of butter in pre-packaged containers.

Our pizza arrived it looked a lot better than we expected. The pepperonis were good and it was loaded with cheese. Topped with some grease but not overwhelming. There wasn't much sauce but most notable was the crust: it was surprisingly thick and crispy. We had a hard time comparing it but we kept agreeing it was most like a higher end "self-rising" frozen pizza. We felt bad with that comparison because the pizza was actually good, but it wasn't good enough to avoid the similarity.

One of the owners or managers stopped by our table and asked if we wanted some free carrot cake as well. A nice little bonus.

Overall, not bad. Yarusso's is a well established, family owned and operated joint in Saint Paul and worth a visit if you haven't been. If pasta's your game, you may want to try that instead of the pizza as that's what their known for. Also, for their 75th anniversary they're having "1930's costume night" on the first Thursdays of each month. Sounds like a hoot.

Yarusso Brothers Italian Restaurant
635 Payne Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55130
651-776-4848

Lots of buzz this evening on Brew52, Rett Martin's new project. "Sampling a different Minnesota brew each week for an entire year. Oh for fun!"

Yes, for fun. Week one is August Schell's Snow Storm. Quite a yummy treat. This site could become a bad habit.