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Tag Archives: Minneapolis

Parkway Pizza, Minneapolis, MN



Parkway Pizza Pepperoni Pizza, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

The other day a guy called me after Googling thinking that I was Parkway Pizza. I gave him two suggestions for better pizza in the area. Feeling a bit bad about this situation, I figured I should give them another shot.

I’ve had a bunch of mixed experiences with these guys. They’ve been decent, they’ve been bad, they’ve had some weird service, and I was at Ed’s house a month or two ago and they ended up delivering the wrong pizza there. I’ve even had weird comments from them and about them on my site, many under pseudonyms.

I called them to order deliver and the line was busy. I guess that’s a good thing for them, right? Five minutes later I get through. He verified that I was “Aaron” but didn’t have any more information about me in his computer. I gave him my last name and my address. We got disconnected for some reason and I called back. I verify the rest of my information and then he asks me to hold. Then someone else picks up and asks for my phone number, then verifies my information with me again.

I order a 14″ Pepperoni, figuring I’ll have half of it now and reheat the rest the next day. I put it on my credit card and I’m asked if I’d like to put a tip on the credit card. I’ve never pre-tipped pizza delivery before. I said, “sure, put three bucks on it” figuring if it’s worth more than a 22% tip I’ll give the driver a couple more bills. I’m told I’ll get it in 30 to 45 minutes.

24 minutes later I get a phone call from Parkway Pizza asking to verify my order of a 14″ Pepperoni and another large pizza with mushrooms, sausage… “woah, woah, woah!” I interrupt and explain that I only ordered the one pizza, “and you put it on my card for like 13 bucks, right?” “Yes, of course,” they said.

38 minutes after I finished my original order I got another call asking if I got my pizzas fine and everything is in order. I didn’t get any pizza “and I only ordered one” I explained. I was told that he’s just trying to get down to the bottom of the mixup.

43 minutes after I ordered the pizza arrived. I asked to verify it before the driver left and he understood. It looked like it took the long trip around Minneapolis even though I’m 13 blocks away. The pizza was warm, not hot.

The pizza itself wasn’t all that photogenic. The pieces on the edges didn’t have cheese on half of them and it slides right off when you try to eat it leaving just huge piles of sauce. The crust is thicker than most thin crust pizza and it’s soft, foamy and flavorless. I don’t really like this pizza at all. That’s all I’m going to say about it.

I love supporting local, independent pizza places but Parkway Pizza needs to shake things up. I’ll give them another shot in about six months.

Parkway Pizza
4457 42nd Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-729-9090

Posted 11 May 2008 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: ,

Water Power Park



Water Power Park, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

It’s funny how sometimes one doesn’t end up seeing some of the sights of the city you live in until you have an out of town guest to show them to. Rachel had an extra couple hours and we decided to head down to St. Anthony Main. Although our plan wasn’t to walk around I noted that I had never been to Water Power Park before. So we went.

Water Power Park is was created by Xcel Energy as part of their agreement to continue operating the Hennepin Island Hydroelectric Plant at the same location. The plant was built in 1882 and currently generates about 12 megawatts of power.

The park, which opened last summer, gives good views of the falls, the Stone Arch Bridge and parts of the Minneapolis skyline.

Posted 05 May 2008 § Minneapolis ‡ Comments (4) ° Also tagged: ,

Golooney’s East Coast Pizza Cafe & Sub Shop, Minneapolis



Golooney’s East Coast Pizza Cafe & Sub Shop, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

After enjoying some cupcakes, Courtney, Max, Alexis, Rachel and I went to Golooney’s East Coast Pizza Cafe & Sub Shop.

Golooney’s has been around for as long as I can remember and at one point I thought they were rather representative of New York pizza. This was before I had ever visited New York. I’ve only visited twice since and haven’t been a fan.

I was surprised that Courtney suggested we go here especially as we were with Rachel who is actually from New York. To give Courtney credit, she hadn’t been in over four years. Either way, it’s probably the worst idea for an out-of-town guest from the east coast.

Put simply, our service was slow (especially for a slice shop), the people were rude and worst of all was the pizza. I ordered a plain slice. It hardly had any sauce and the cheese was almost tasteless cheese although it was piled on excessively. It wasn’t easy to fold or hold like I would expect out of a slice shop with the Twin Towers in their logo. In fact, this pizza was the worst I’ve ever had at Golooney’s. Courtney and I agreed that it was actually poorer than we remembered.

I was taking a few shots and I was scolded for taking photos and was asked to put my camera away. He said I needed to ask for permission first and to be fair, I should have done that. I promptly put my camera away. Unfortunately to make matters worse, he goes to his co-worker after scowling at me and exclaims “I hate that fucking shit.” Classy. We joked our table that the generally male-dominated staff are stereotypically rude to male clientele but “all hey baby” to women. In our experiences, at least.

Humorously while we were waiting the 10th Global Marijuana March was across the street. The gathering wasn’t terribly well organized as many of the protesters wandered in and out of Golooney’s getting a slice. My advice? Keep on marching down 24th Street and eat at Leaning Tower of Pizza.

Golooney’s East Coast Pizza Cafe & Sub Shop
2329 Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-377-8555

Posted 03 May 2008 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (7) ° Also tagged: ,

Arezzo Ristorante, Minneapolis, MN



Pizza Margherita at Arezzo Ristorante, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

For the Aliveness Project’s Dining Out For Life day, where participating restaurants donate a percentage of their proceeds to the organization, Sarah and I went to Arezzo Ristorante. I hadn’t been before, and honestly I’m usually not down in the 50th and France area of Minneapolis and Edina.

While Arezzo is technically in Minneapolis, Edina is across the street and the crowd is to match. We were seated near people that were barely murmuring to each other and we had a hard time maintaining a comparable volume. I also muttered a vulgarity in conversation and the family behind us, including the head of the family in a full business suit, turned to stare at me. My mistake, but the point is that one doesn’t get away with poor manners here.

Our server was shy but formal and prompt. We ordered a bottle of Allegrini Valpolicella which was quite tasty. Overall their wine menu is well rounded out mostly with Italian wines. Their dinner menu is full of Italian cuisine and their brick oven pizzas are surprisingly tucked away on the bottom part of one of the pages. I wrongly assumed, as they invested in having a brick oven for pizza, that they would put it on the menu more predominantly.

Our Neapolitan-style pizzas came quickly. I got the Margherita. I noticed first that their pizzas are a bit larger than most pizzas of this style. The cheese tasted quite fresh and held together well. It didn’t have much basil but the sauce was tasty and sweet. It wasn’t too oily and had good consistency. My favorite part was the crust: chewy, a tad bit doughy, not too sweet and a slight crispy edge to it. The cornicione of the crust was just the right size and was enjoyable like a small breadstick at the end.

Our server multiple times made sure our wine glasses were full and was very attentive. Overall great pizza, and a good experience but priced a bit on the higher end. Certainly worth trying if you’re in the area.

Arezzo Ristorante
5057 France Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55410
612-285-7444

Posted 25 April 2008 § Food, Drink and Dining § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: , ,

Spring Is Here



Spring Is Here, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Here it comes: “Snow. Snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Storm total snow accumulation of 5 to 7 inches. Highs around 35. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.”

Posted 21 March 2008 § Minneapolis ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Flying Around



Minneapolis, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

My old pal Seth who was stationed overseas for a few years in Kosovo and Iraq came home with the drive to learn how to fly. After instruction with Will Outlaw, a great local flight instructor whom I’ve flown with before, Seth is now a full private pilot.

Now that the weather is starting to pull out of winter, we took a quick trip from Crystal Airport down to Winona. Glad to have someone else to fly with and it’s good to get back up in the air again. I hadn’t flown in a few months.

Got a couple shots including Red Wing, Afton Alps and Minneapolis. See my slideshow or the individual photos on Flickr.

Posted 13 March 2008 § Minneapolis § Miscellaneous § Travel and Transportation ‡ Comments (2) ° Also tagged: , , ,

Clicquot Club Cafe, Minneapolis



Formagio Quarttro at the Clicquot Club Cafe, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

Brian and I decided to have lunch at the Clicquot Club Cafe today. For those that have been following awhile, I’ve been frequently since they opened in January 2006. If my records are accurate, 17 times.

The Clicquot Club Cafe is pretty convenient to my home in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis. They’re in the “Orange Crush Building” and do indeed serve Orange Crush.

For a café, they have an extensive menu but naturally my favorite is their Formagio Quattro pizza. Their pizzas are individually sized with a crispy “Napoli style” crust. You can taste most of the cheeses pretty well and none are all that overpowering. They’re a bit light on the sauce, which for this style of pizza, great for me. I think it’s a rather unique tasting four cheese pizza and every now and then I’ll crave it, causing me to go back to the Clicquot but not exploring much more on the menu.

Brian had the Gorgonzola Frittata, liked everything a lot but didn’t think the egg part was that great. We both left satisfied though.

One caveat about the Clicquot Club Cafe is that they are not speedy. If you want to have a relaxing brunch, lunch or evening snack and chill out for awhile, it’s a fantastic place (the WiFi is strong and fast as well). Just don’t go if you’re in a big rush. It seems like they have one or sometimes two people waiting tables that also have other responsibilities behind the counter. They keep busy but attention gets spread thin when the Clicquot Club Cafe fills up. It’s not a problem for me but it might be frustrating if you are expecting café speeds when their timing is sometimes more like a larger restaurant. Ordering pizza every time might be part of my problem.

I’ve also talked with co-owner Bryan Maher numerous times while I’ve been there in the past and he’s extremely friendly. At times he’s subtly hinted at dreams of starting other places around town. I hope he does because I really dig the Clicquot Club Cafe.

Clicquot Club Cafe
2929 25th St E
Minneapolis, MN 55406
612-724-4700

Posted 03 February 2008 § Minneapolis § Pizza ‡ Comments (3) ° Also tagged: ,

Dora - Windom Park, Minneapolis



Dora on Flickr

(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)

Name: Dora
Nicknames: Theodora, Isadora, Theodora León
Born: 29 Jul 2007
Lives in: Windom Park, Minneapolis
Lives With: Amelia Cohoes, Emily Neuwald, Lydia Stevens and two other cats, Abel and Annabelle

Dora was rescued from the Animal Humane Society in Saint Paul when she was about 12 weeks old. When she came to live with Amelia and her roommates, she “purred constantly for the first 48 hours.” Likely happy to be in a nice home.

Dora likes cuddling and following around her “uncle” cat Abel all day. Wherever Abel goes, Dora seems to show up. On her own though, she’ll strangely jump into the bathtub after a shower and enjoys walking around the wet tub.

Dora has a lot of kitten in her yet and enjoys tearing up everything. She recently poked holes in every piece of plastic window insulation that was put up on the windows of the house. She gnaws on plants and recently chomped up some dead flowers. She loves digging through groceries when they’re brought in from the car and finding stuff to chew on. Dora will also eat some vegetables such as tomatoes and lettuce. She does normally eat good food that’s meant for her though.

Amelia adds, “I love her so much that I cook chicken gizzards for her, and I don’t even eat meat.”

Amelia is a recent University of Minnesota graduate with a focus on Art History. She is applying to grad schools to study Library Sciences. She currently is paying the bills by working at the recently James Beard Awarded Al’s Breakfast.

More photos of Dora, Annabelle and Abel can be found in Dora, Annabelle and Abel’s Flickr set.

Posted 12 December 2007 § Cats ‡ Comments (0) ° Also tagged:

Google Street View Twin Cities

Google Street View

As Julio Ojeda-Zapata posted last night and wrote in today’s Pioneer Press, Google Street View launches today in the Twin Cities. If you’re not familiar, you can now look at an address from the street. For example, here’s my house. Notice my poor lawn care but my lawn gnome is hanging out!

This lead me to wonder, when were all these photos taken? The State Theater is advertising shows for very early August 2007, right after the 35W bridge collapse on August 1st. You can drive under the 35W Bridge and you can actually drive on it too, seeing some of the construction equipment. Here’s a shot of the skyline from the bridge with a portable toilet in the foreground. This is probably only days before it collapsed. Rows of news vans line Main Street SE after the collapse.

You can drive through the Lowry Tunnel and you can see storm damage in Acacia Park Cemetery. Take a stroll up US52 over the Lafayette Bridge into Saint Paul. If you keep clicking the NW arrow you can chase a light rail train in reverse. There’s some workers rebuilding East Lake Street.

For more in Saint Paul, check out the state capitol but you can’t see the forbidden-to-photograph oven at Punch Pizza.

Surprisingly, a lot of Highland Park isn’t available for Street View as well as White Bear Lake. But you can visit St. Olaf College down in Northfield. Here’s a guy that looks like he just left Sex World. Heh.

They have my office to see too. One of the owners parked his Mazda 6 out front and my manager’s VW Bug is in the lot. Who knows where my car is!

Find anything interesting strolling around Street View in the Twin Cities? Please comment! Remember when linking Google Maps, click on the “Link to this page” link to get the proper URL.

Posted 11 December 2007 § Media, Blogging and Technology § Minneapolis § Saint Paul § Travel and Transportation ‡ Comments (27) ° Also tagged: ,

C. Bac - Ericsson, Minneapolis

C. Bac - Ericsson, Minneapolis

(Post originally on Minnesota Meow)

Name: C. Bac
Nickname: Canadian Bacon, Grey Cat
Born: June 2003
Lives in: Ericsson, Minneapolis
Lives with: Erica and Terry Johnson and another cat, Roni

C. Bac, short for “Canadian Bacon,” was rescued from the Humane Society when he was a kitten after Erica saw a news story about a large influx of cats that needed to be placed in homes. His original name was Edison but as Erica’s sister had a cat named Chovie (short for “Anchovie”) and they are all devoted pizza fans, Edison got named Canadian Bacon. Chovie has since run away but C. Bac now lives with another cat, Roni (short for “Pepperoni”).

As Erica describes:

C. Bac’s the kind of cat that sees you looking at him from across the room and will coming running and beg to be pet. And no minor petting will do — he needs the full-on attention. It gets so bad that at some point you have to hide your hands so that he can’t rub his face on them to encourage you to pet him more!

One of his most bizarre habits involves licking plastic bags around the house. Nobody’s sure where he developed this interest but Erica says “it needs to stop.”

We’ve never thought of C. Bac to be very smart. We love him, as the big oaf that he is. When he and Chovie escaped the house we were surprised that C. Bac was the one that found his way home. We were sitting in our family room above our garage and heard a “meow, meow!” coming from outside. We looked out the window and on the hood of TJ’s car in the driveway was C. Bac screaming at the window. Unlike Chovie, he knew well enough not to wander far and did everything he could to get our attention and get back in the house. It was very sad when Chovie didn’t come home — and C. Bac roamed around the house crying for his friend.

C. Bac lives with his best friend Roni as well as TJ and Erica who are newlyweds that moved to Minneapolis a year and a half ago. TJ works as a application developer for Four51 and Erica work as a graphic designer and event planner for Public Affairs in Hennepin County. They enjoy playing ultimate frisbee, are avid Minnesota Wild fans, love movies and eating out. They’re looking forward to adding to their family soon — this time with less fur.

More photos of C. Bac can be found in Erica’s “Kitties” Gallery.

Posted 19 November 2007 § Cats ‡ Comments (1) ° Also tagged: