Restaurant Review: Black Sheep Pizza (Warehouse District Location)

Coal fired or wood fired pizza? That is what debate over the best pizzeria in Minneapolis comes down to. If you like wood fired, Punch takes the cake; if you prefer coal fired then Black Sheep is what gets your mouth watering. Having already tried Punch earlier this summer Mark and I made time to trudge back over to the warehouse district for some coal fired action.

Obviously Black Sheep had some big shoes to fill. Mark and I loved everything about our pizza from punch, this might not seem fair to Black Sheep for having to go second but someone had to do it. Trust us, as with all restaurants we went in with a completely open mind. Walking in felt like we had just entered a friends' basement, which was a good thing. There was a bar and a bunch of custom-made tables; we were sat at one of the tables. This was fine by us because it gave us a chance to admire the pictures on the tabletops.

One thing I really liked about Black Sheep is that, besides some appetizers, their menu consists of just pizza. That's not to say you don't have choices; there are, but all have to do with pizza toppings. We decided to order two 12 inch pizzas and share so that I could get mine meat-free. Mark went with a hot salami & dried chili pepper because salami is amazing and we had never had it on a pizza before. I chose the tomato & oregano pizza from the menu, but it didn't come with cheese so I went big and added ricotta & artichoke.

Look at the ricotta blob goodness

Pretty Damn Healthy Vegetable Pesto Pizza

Pizza is our Kryptonite, as if you didn't already gather that. Strangely, I rarely ever make it for dinner; mixing and rolling out the dough, assembling the toppings.... It can get to be a lot of work, and I like to leave that work to the local pizzerias (I get all of the reward for doing none of the work). However the other day I just so happened to have some pre-made pizza dough and pesto in the freezer (don't you just love when that happens?).

If all that I needed to do was chop and sauté some veggies, grate a little cheese, put it on pizza dough, and throw it in the oven there was no excuse in my mind.

Chop chop

Sauteed fresh summer vegetables, doesn't get much better

Restaurant Review: Sweet Taste of Italy (Crystal Location)

"Please form a single file line." Anyone else remember
hearing that all through elementary school?

Way back in July, after our day at Canterbury Park with Daren and Jeff we went out to eat at a place called Sweet Taste of Italy in Crystal. I think the Crystal location is their second shop because it was tiny, like the seating area must be navigated in single file tiny. For some reason Mark and I enjoy restaurants with small kitchens connected to the order counter and limited seating. I think we were born cafe type people.

For being in such a cramped space it's got quite an extensive menu: sandwiches, pastas, wings.... All of which we wanted to try, but lets be honest Mark and I went for the pizza. We have a duty to the great people who happen to stumble upon this blog to show them the way to great Minneapolis pizza. It's a tasty job, and we are more than happy to do it. No "thank you" necessary :)

Sandwiches, pasta, and wings will have to wait for another day.

Back to the pizza. They do both by the slice and full size pizzas, which makes it a great spot for a quick snack or ordering take out. On the day we visited we were in a bit of a hurry to catch a movie so we went the pizza-by-the-slice route. This worked out well as it allowed us to try more toppings.

Mark ordered a slice of sausage & onion and I got a green pepper & onion. When our two slices came we were pleasantly surprised to see that each "slice" was the size of two normal sized pieces. They were thin crust pizza slices with a respectable amount of sauce, cheese, and toppings. And when I say a respectable amount of cheese I mean quality mozzarella oozing off the sides. As for the toppings: the green bell pepper was fresh and had really good flavor, the rings of red onion were cut thick and not skimped on, and the sausage was marble size (some bigger) and spicy.

Absolutely delectable.

We devoured them alongside a tossed salad (that makes it healthy, right?) and it ended up being the perfect amount of food for dinner.

Look at the size of Mark's one "slice" and those sausage bits.

A "slice" of pizza with 2 toppings of your choice comes at a price of $3.75. The choices available for toppings are lengthy , especially for the size of the place.

For our rating:

1. Crust: 6 - Remarkably sturdy for a thin crust but nothing to blow you away.

2. Sauce: 8 - Mild, good amount, and not overpowering. However, it wasn't on Buca's level.

3. Toppings: 7 - Both of us were big fans of the sauce & cheese but would need to try more topping to give a better rating.

Overall Sweet Taste of Italy gets a 7, the pizza was pretty tasty but the cheese and size of toppings were the only parts that really stood out. Above average and a steal for the price.

Not bad.

7.7.12

Restaurant Review: Punch Pizza (Wayzata Location)

Recognize this picture? It's the blog background!

Like I previously explained, we are on the search for some awesome metro pizza. Anyone you ask says that Punch Pizza is the place to go in Minneapolis. And despite living here for almost two years, Mark and I had yet to try it. That all changed one evening in May after a day of hanging out with Daren and Jeff.

The restaurant we originally wanted to go to was closed for some reason so we settled on Punch because we had never been and Daren hadn't been in a long time. We drove the long 7 minutes back to Daren's hometown of Wayzata and pulled into the Punch lot.

As we were walking in we noticed a huge pile of wood by the door and when we entered the restaurant it all made sense. In the back of the counter area stood a huge wood fired oven heated to 700 degrees. Right then and there we knew this would be an intriguing pizza eating experience.

Restaurant Review: Buca di Beppo (Maple Grove Location

Most of us at Buca fro Daren's 25th birthday

Back in June our good friend Daren turned the ripe age of 52... I mean 25. It was a big one because he is the first of my friends to do so. If you couldn't already tell, we are pretty tight with Daren and his family. We try to get together once a week, and you will often find us over at his house where Mark will be playing MLB The Show with Daren's little brother Jeff. So when his birthday rolled around he and his family kindly invited us along for a birthday dinner at Buca. If you recall, Mark and I had recently tried Buca for the first time and were anxious to try it again.

We went with Daren, Jeff, their parents (Daryl & Sue), their aunt (Cheryl), and her roommate (Patty). Once we were seated the complimentary bread basket was delivered. Forgetting our previous experience, we made the mistake of eating some. It was a regrettable decision; sorry Buca two strikes and you are out with the bread basket.

Next we started looking at the menu, which turned into Mark and I getting schooled on the way Buca works. As it turns out each entree serves at least two people and there is still a good chance you will have leftovers. So Mark and I sat back and let Daren and his family take care of the ordering because we were rather lost.

Restaurant Review: California Pizza Kitchen (Maple Grove Location)

Lunch date at California Pizza Kitchen

Every Sunday we take Chloe to the dog park because it's our day off from running and she deserves to be able to sprint at her speed every once in awhile. We usually take her to the Fish Lake dog park over by where we go grocery shopping. It’s a nice fenced in area within a big park, but sometimes we like to spoil her and make the drive over to the massive Elm Creek dog park.

The Elm Creek dog park is 30 acres of fully fenced dog paradise. It also has a swimming pond for the dogs to cool off in so yes, this is quite the treat for Chloe.

One Sunday at the beginning of June (6.3.12) I needed to go to Victoria’s Secret to look for a strapless bra and there just so happened to be one located relatively close to the Elm Creek park meaning on this day Chloe would be a lucky dog.

Getting ready to run into the pond

Cooling off at Elm Creek dog park

Fast-forward past wet, smelly dog and success at Victoria’s Secret and it was lunch time. We usually try to plan when we eat out as it keeps us conscious of the fact that we are doing it. Something that has helped our overall physical and financial health, but when hunger calls we listen.

Restaurant Review: Buca di Beppo (Downtown Minneapolis Location)

Mark has a pretty big family so every year on Thanksgiving we draw the name of one adult in the family to buy a gift for on Christmas.

This year one of Mark's older sisters and her husband drew both of our names. Instead of buying us separate gifts, his sister asked for ideas of things we could use together. So obviously I gave her a list of a bunch of restaurants that we had been meaning to try because you MUST go if you have a gift card, right?

Sure enough on Christmas morning we received a gift card to Buca di Beppo. We were thrilled because it was one of the restaurants on the top of our list. Not because it looked extravagant of anything, but they had a bright marquee sign with their name on the building and it intrigued us. 

One Sunday afternoon in March (3.25.12) we just happened to be hungry AND in the vicinity of the downtown Buca location. Naturally we stopped in for lunch to use that gift card that had been burning a hole in our pockets for months.