Pizza Geography

     Naples, Italy is the undisputed birthplace of pizza.  It was there that local pizzaiolis began topping dough with tomatoes and cheese and hand firing it.  Gennaro Lombardi is credited with creating the first New York style thin crust pie in his grocery store on Spring Street in the Big Apple in 1905.  Rudy Malnati first baked a deep dish pizza in Chicago in the early 1940s.  And in 1979 Rose Totino ushered in the age of frozen pizza when she and her family teamed up with the folks at Pillsbury to patent the dough for it in Minnesota.

     Minnesota?  A pizza mecca?  We are all familiar with both the New York and Chicago style of pizza.  But is there a Minnesota style?  Apparently so.  It has been described as having a thin crust and it is cut in squares, not pie cut.  And as an August '14 article in Mpls.St.Paul Magazine states, "You really need to be from here to understand it."



     There just may be a Minnesota style pizza and the Twin Cities probably should be considered as a pizza lovers destination.  Move over Big Apple and Windy City and make room at the table for another contender for the best pie in America.

     The article, aptly titled, "PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA!" described no less than 3 dozen locales within the MSP metro area that are producing world class (and unique) pies.  Take for example Carbone's Pizza, called by some a Minnstitution with 32 locations in the state.  They define the category with a thin crust, sweet and tangy sauce and a mantle of cheese.  Broadway Pizza includes sauerkraut and two kinds of bacon (regular and Canadian) on one of their offerings.  Fireside has a Pepper Special that is topped with pickled banana peppers, green and red bell peppers and pepperoni, while Leaning Tower Pizza has a Hot Tower special that tantalizes the tongue with a hot and spicy sauce, crushed red pepper, pepperoni, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese.  Perhaps the most unique pie is produced at Pizzeria Lola where the Sunnyside Pizza is topped with 2 eggs sunny-side up and was featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives."  And for a local Scandinavian twist, Pig Ate My Pizza serves up a pie with smoked salmon gravlax and fried capers, salt and vinegar potato chips and spicy nasturtium flowers.

So of course when I was visiting in the Twin Cities last summer I had to see (and taste) for myself the local take on the quintessential American Pie.  More on that tomorrow.