Last week’s poll asked, “when do you like to vacation?” Those of you that responded were split between ‘Winter’ and July. I suppose that when it’s 20 below vacation somewhere else sounds like a really good plan during the winter and while my wife and I have vacationed elsewhere in the winter, it’s usually to visit family and thus we end up in only slightly warmer destinations than here. I think we may need to being to rethink our yearly vacations in July :)
Anyway, on to this week’s poll… On Friday I went over to Ramy’s Pizza in Apple Valley for lunch and as I posted before, I had the pleasure of trying their pizza. After previous discussions about how I wasn’t a huge fan of their marinara, I was apprehensive about the pizza but as soon as I saw it I knew that I’d be back time and time again.
Ramy’s Pizza serves NY style pizza which is my personal pizza choice. Not only do they cut it correctly but it’s greasy, tasty, and something which evokes real warm and fuzzy feelings about my childhood. That said, I know that there are other favorites out there and I’m wondering what type of pizza you guys like to eat.
I’ve listed a few different options coming from the biggest types of pizza (I left out options like New Haven or Old Forge pizza figuring the majority wouldn’t even know what they are) but you are free to choose ‘other’ and explain why it is that you prefer that choice over another. I’d especially like to know where you find these other less-known pizza types in the MSP metro so that I could get over there and try them out myself.
Favorite Pizza Variation
- Chicago (50.0%, 24 Votes)
- Neapolitan (19.0%, 9 Votes)
- New York (15.0%, 7 Votes)
- Other (6.0%, 3 Votes)
- Greek (4.0%, 2 Votes)
- Lazio (4.0%, 2 Votes)
- California (2.0%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 48
Loading ...So, go ahead and vote and then comment on letting us know what type of pizza you prefer, why, and where you believe you can find the best interpretation of it here in the area. After that please be sure to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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June 28th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
New York style, Cosetta’s.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Chicago. Giordano’s.
June 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Chicago; my favorite is from the original Uno in River North in Chicago. The chain locations are OK, but not as good as the original.
June 28th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Lazio pizza, without question, from Pepino’s in Rome (the favorite pizzeria of my childhood), followed closely by the pizza at Nautilus Pizzeria. Really, I haven’t had a pizza that measures up since we moved back to the states.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Other: I don’t have a specific pizza I like. It just has to be good. And have pepperoni as a minimum. Italian sausage is usually a good addition.
Favorite pizza places: Broadway in Richfield, Rocky Roccocco’s up in Brooklyn Park, Pizza Lucé in downtown Minneapolis. Old World Pizza in IGH was pretty good, but have only been there once.
But a friend and I are always looking for new pizza places to try when we have the money to spend on pizza. We’ve been to pizza places in the Twin Cities from up in the northern parts (White Bear Lake, Brooklyn Park), to down south in Owatonna. From various places in St. Paul, over to Minnetonka. As long as it’s not a major pizza chain, we’ll try it out.
Dang, I think we need to start a database to keep track of them all…
June 29th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Back home in Ohio, there was a type of pizza called Brier Hill Pizza, which uses romano cheese instead of mozzarella, peppers, and copius amounts of sauce. Unbelievalbly good.
Here, however, my favorite place to get pizza is Punch Neapolitan Pizza. I rarely eat it but it’s the best place around here I think. Since pizza is by far my most favorite thing to eat, I appreciate a good slice. :)
I will defintely be going to Ramy’s–especially after you posted that pix on Twitter. :)
June 29th, 2009 at 8:02 am
i’m with nils!!
bb
June 29th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Unfortunately for me, my pizza choices were highly influenced by my childhood. That means various frozen pizza’s: Totino’s at home, Red Barron at the grandparents, and Jack’s when attending high school. So not exactly being the world traveler of pizza, I find my current favorites to be Ole Piper Inn in AV (our standard delivery call) , or Broadway Station in AV for their deep dish sausage pizza. So I guess Chicago Style, or St. Louis Style are my current faves.
That said, I do plan on stopping by Ramy’s some evening, with the Wife, to give it a try.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Mikeh, I have had Ole Piper’s pizza and it’s your typical Midwestern style pizza. Ramy’s also delivers a full menu (which has been recently updated, I’ll have to post the new version online) so if you end up enjoying it, it might be a better option than Ole Piper for you.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Oh man, this is an impossible question. If I had to choose, it would be Neapolitan style. The nod goes to fresh ingredients. Around MSP, I like the St. Paul location of Punch and Bricks in Hudson, WI. Black Sheep Pizza on Washington in the Warehouse District is excellent as well. Finally, the takeout location of D’Amico by my office here in Golden Valley does an excellent job too.
Tied for 2nd are deep dish (I like Giordano’s but Gino’s East’s original location is my favorite), the flat square-cut style of Brianno’s and the NY Style that Bill describes.
Behind that, Old World Pizza in Inver Grove comes the closest to a lesser-known style of pizza called “Saskatchewan Style”. It’s a thinnish crust buried in, literally, 3-4 inches of meats, cheeses and vegetables. Lots of places call it the “kitchen sink” pizza. Old World’s is called the Top of the Line. A large Top of the Line is the gift that keeps on giving. You’ll have leftovers. We used to live right up the street from their original location.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I like several kinds of Pizza, so not sure of a favorite, but depending on mood:
Old Chicago Double Deckoroni Pepperoni Deep Dish or Meat Me
Broadway thin crust pepperoni
Broadway, Itallian Pie Shoppe or Red Savoy thin crust Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Ronnallys thin crust pepperoni
Once in a while if the mood strikes, a deep dish “The Works” from Davannis is good, but has to be eaten fresh at the restaraunt. And for some reason, I think because its what we ate from time to time growing up, Godfathers Meatlovers Pizza.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Gyros Pizza from Basil’s Pizza in Northfield.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Here are a couple places I think of when I think of great pizza. In some cases I ate there when I was sober and lucid, and I know the pizza was fantastic. In other cases, it was years ago when I still drank, and I may be experiencing nostalgia.
Anyone else been to any of these places?
Hernandos Pizza, Winter Park, CO
Beau Jo’s Pizza, Idaho Springs, CO
Windy City Pizza, Sioux City IA
Town House Pizza, Sioux City IA
June 29th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I will second Beau Jo’s Pizza in Idaho Springs, CO. I have been there probably 6 times, the most recent was 9 months ago when I rode my motorcycle to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, so I was sober as well. Gotta love a pizza place where you drink out of mason jars, write all over the walls / napkins that get posted, order your pizza by the pound and they server their pizzas with bottles of honey to put on the crust. We also had a great time with the manager as there was no remote control to the TV we were watching and made her get up on a barstool every 5 minutes to change the channel for us. After the fourth request for her to stand up on the barstool to change the channel, she told us where to go…..
June 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I love Punch and Luce and I’m interested in trying Black Sheep.
I make a mean pizza myself, with about 30% whole wheat crust (home-milled flour), fresh tomatoes, and whole-milk mozz. I hate that when tomatoes are in season I’m cranking my oven to 550.
June 30th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I wish there was a Punch or Pizza Luce in the South Metro. I had a Buffalo Chicken pizza at Pizza Luce in Duluth on Thursday that was awesome.
My favorite little Greek joint, Gyropolis in Bloomington, makes some great little pizzas that are perfect for lunch. My new favorite is the “Fiery” with Gyro meat, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, and provolone.
Locally, I prefer Carbone’s, but the rest of the family likes Davanni’s.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I voted Neapolitan, thinking of Punch, and a few other spots in town with good hot wood burning ovens to turn out a standard Italian style pie.
I will be going to Chicago over the 4th to the inlaws… on Thursday night they order about 10 pizzas from Lou Malnati’s, but really I dont like Chicago style pizza, too much mediocre dough/bread. I tend to stick with hot dogs in Chicago, as that they do very well.
Otherwise NY style is great, but I grew up eating the thin crust stuff served in Hurley Wisconsin at the Bell Chalet (and variations of it at various bar/restaurants on the Michigan side of the border)… great homemade garlicky sausage, decent mozzarella(not fresh white stuff , but real dairy standard issue)… edges blacked with burned cheese and crust. Goes well with cheap lager.
I think this is the style you would find at Fireside in MPls and also Carbones thin crust… or close to it. Brianno’s Deli in Eagan makes a pretty close copy of the Bell Chalet too, with some pretty good ingredients.
I always thought the difference between a Midwest (Wisconsin/MN/Michigan) pizza and the standard NY style seen elsewhere is the pieces are cut differntly, the thin crust midwest old style is a cross cut of small pieces, whereas NY style and most USA mass style places have the pie wedge cut.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Savoy’s Pizza opened in the Cub area mall at Burnsville 13th and Nicollet.
I am told this is an outpost of Red’s Savoy Inn of St Paul. But we have not yet ordered from there.
Also heard they have a similar location in Eagan?
June 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Yeah, it’s by that new bridge to nowhere over 35E. You can see it when you’re heading South on 35E.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Mulch,
It’s right across the street from Home Depot and behind Bylery’s, just north of Yankee Doodle Rd.
Bill,
Bridge to nowhere is right, however it lets me bypass all the traffic on Yankee Doodle when I need to get across Pilot Knob. Although at one end is a death/traffic circle, which people still don’t know how to use. Perplexing.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
People here can’t merge into normal traffic using a device that’s been in play for decades, you really think they’re going to be able to learn to utilize a roundabout? I don’t.
June 30th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I ordered from Red’s in Eagan the other day. The pizza is just like the downtown st paul location.
And while in that roundabout, we had a dude wave us into the circle in front of him when he was already in it and he had the right of way. I’m not looking forward to the roundabout at diffley and rahn opening…
June 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Bill,
Notice from your pictures on the side that you were at Interstate State Park recently. Also was there earlier this month, and to keep this on topic, ate at Schoony’s Malt Shop & Pizzeria in Taylors Falls. They had pretty good pizza there. It was a thin crust, somewhat crisp with the normal sauce/meats/cheese toppings. They also had a very large selection of sodas. Some that I hadn’t heard of, some that I haven’t heard of in a long time.
We’d consider eating there again when we go up there, but there looked to be a few other local restaurants we’d also like to try.
July 2nd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
GJB I agree with you on Rocky Rococo. Wish we had slice of the day in the south metro. I cant believe no one has opened one in the south yet. Anyway I’m going back to cheese land in a few days so I might stop in Eau Claire or Wausau for some Garden of Eatin’. Beyond that Ole Piper(Lakeville) supremes are good. and so is Red’s Savoy in Saint Paul.
I guess one of my indicators of a good pizza is how well it tastes the next day after being refrigerated. Ole Piper and Savoy pass this test. Subpar crap like Papa Johns tastes like cardboard. You know what I mean. I guess more grease is the ticket.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:52 am
[...] week’s poll asked what your favorite pizza variation was and Chicago came out the clear winner by a wide margin. Other than Old Chicago’s Double [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
NY style -”A Slice of New York” on 24th/Nicollet (across from McDonald’s) in Mpls. Nothing fancy, just straight forward and greasy as hell.