Week 20: Fireside Pizza (Richfield, MN)

I traveled almost 1,000 miles for our 20^th consecutive week of pizza consumption.  I’d been away on business for almost a week, completing an important but not particularly pleasant task, and it was one of those weeks where anything that could go wrong did.  Between mainlining Linsinopril (every princess’ choice to treat hypertension) in an effort to thwart certain stress-induced heart failure / stroke; shouting out colorful words and phrases that often included words that rhyme with duck and pucker; and wondering if I’d inadvertently broken a mirror recently, my business trip was hardly uneventful.  It was, however, exhausting.  After white-knuckling it about 20 miles to the airport through rush hour traffic, in the rain, in a rental car best suited to a member of the Golden Girls’, I battled the longest airport security line I’ve ever seen, growing increasingly anxious about missing my flight home. 

Thankfully, the good people at US Airways sensed my anxiety, and after finally making it through security, redressing myself, and jogging through the terminal, I learned that my flight was not only departing from a completely different (translation: much further away) gate, but that it was departing at least an hour late.   I sat in the gate area, sweaty and exhausted, and found that my fellow travelers were even more annoying than normal.  From the guy sitting next to me with the runny nose who clearly needed a Kleenex to the gal a few seats away with the dry, hacking cough who would have benefited from a lozenge to the weird guy who kept staring at me while I grew increasingly antsy, I wanted to bathe myself in Purell and put a bag over my head.  

When I finally boarded, I crammed my bag underneath the seat in front of me, folded myself up like Gumby, and realized I left my iPod shuffle in my hotel room.  Seated to my right was the gal in need of a throat lozenge.  Behind me, an unhappy infant.  And in front of me, a minister and his wife and the world’s most obnoxious drunk guy.  My preflight mood was beyond Mayor of Crankytown.  I was president.  Without my iPod to drown out the sounds of my fellow traveler, I was forced to listen to drunk dude pick a fight about Jesus, religion, and politics with the minister next to him.  At top volume.  The poor pastor was innocently trying to read his Holy Bible when drunk dude decided to tell him exactly where he’d like Jesus Christ to go, citing many examples and using lots of circular and flawed logic.  When the flight attendant served him a Jack Daniels, I cringed.  When I realized the sound of his voice was preventing me from taking a nap, I felt rage.  At one point, I considered breaking the window and leaping to my freedom.  Instead, I sat, seething, and eventually, the plane landed at MSP and I ran to freedom.  Actually, I ran to baggage claim, where I waited an inordinately long time for my damn suitcase and eventually, I was reunited with my hubby and headed home.

After a quick stop at McDonald’s (I was starving) for an artery clogging McMeal, I finally returned home, donned my jammies, and got into my bed, where I remained for the next 19 hours.  Under normal circumstances, my hubby would have forced me from my sleep chamber and demanded pizza, but an out-of-town funeral had him on the road, and we agreed to postpone our pizza date to Sunday night.

Rested but still feeling an underlying sense of doom, we hopped in the car Sunday evening and headed 12 miles south and east to Richfield, MN to dine at Storm’s Fireside Pizza, recommended by two of my friends who are former Minnesotans now dwelling elsewhere in the US.

Pre-Pizza Moods:  The very act of getting dressed and leaving the house was more than I was ready to tackle.  I had this low-grade level of anxiety and gloom and doom that I just couldn’t shake.  My pre-pizza mood was hovering around a 3.

My hubby spends his Sundays watching football and screaming at the TV.  Our pizza date interfered with his ability to watch whatever game was currently capturing his attention, so his pre-pizza mood was about a 5.

Parking Situation & Exterior Appearance: Fireside Pizza is located in Richfield, MN, just minutes from the 494/Penn Ave intersection. Richfield is an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to the east, Bloomington to the south, and Edina to the west.  The city boasts seven square miles and 35,000 residents, whose median age is 36.2 years and whose median household income is $45,519.  There are over 40 restaurants in Richfield, ranging from old neighborhood staples like Fireside Pizza to brand new places like our week 13 destination, Pizza Luce. 

Fireside Pizza is located in a small square-shaped building, sandwiched between Penn Auto Care and a gas station.  A small patio with outdoor seating is available in warmer months – photos on their Facebook page make it look very welcoming with umbrellas and patio tables – but in the colder months, the outside of this building isn’t much to look at.

The parking situation is okay.  Fireside Pizza shares their lot with the gas station next door and the parking lot is small, but we had no problem finding a spot.

Entrance/Welcome: Walking into Fireside Pizza is an assault on your senses.  If you're anything like me, you won’t be able to figure out what to look at first.  Your eyes will dart from the giant tree in the middle of the restaurant to the booths with curtains for romance to the sports memorabilia to the giant cardboard cut-out of some dude peddling Dos Equis beer to the many flat screen televisions broadcasting sports.  I did not notice a fire or hearth, but again, I may have been distracted.  You’ll smell garlic, pizza, and cleaning supplies.  You’ll hear the sounds of the kitchen and the din of other diners.  And eventually, your eyes will focus in the dim lighting and someone will greet you and offer to seat you.  Our hostess graciously agreed to seat us someplace where my hubby could watch football.

Clientele/Overall Vibe: Fireside is a place that caters to locals.  They obviously haven’t updated their décor since their grand opening in 1960 and they cater to Richfield residents as well as nostalgic couples who had their first date at Fireside back in the dark ages.  We were the youngest diners on site the night we visited.

Wait Staff: Our server was pleasant, keeping us in beverages and food.  She was definitely more engaged than week 19’s Breanna, but neither the best nor the worst pizzeria server I’ve encountered.

Menu Selection: Fireside Pizza offers a variety of specialty thin crust pizzas, and like any good pizzeria, you can also make your own.  Not in the mood for pizza?  What’s the matter with you?  But in the event that pizza’s not your thing, you can also order pasta, calzones, salad, or sandwiches here as well. Fireside now also offers breakfast, served Saturdays and Sundays from 8 AM – 2 PM with both traditional breakfast items and even a breakfast pizza!

We ordered something called the Pizza Delight, a Fireside favorite that features Italian sausage, fresh green peppers, and mushrooms.

Food Wait Time: Our pizza arrived in less than 30 minutes, piping hot and served, interestingly, on a cardboard placemat – similar to what happens when you pop a frozen Red Baron pizza in the oven at home. 

Drumroll, Please . . . the Pizza Itself: Fireside Pizza claims to have the “best thin and hand-tossed pizza in the Twin Cities”.  I read it on the internet so it must be true.  As previously mentioned, the pizza is served to you on a round cardboard base, all the better to soak up the grease, I guess.  Since thin crust is their claim to fame, my expectations were high.  The crust was thin and crispy, yes – but it had that slight saltine cracker taste that I first encountered at Aurelio’s and then again at Sammy’s.   

The toppings were fresh and plentiful, and the sauce was both tangy and sweet.  The Italian sausage was a little on the salty side - which, coming from the Princess of High Blood Pressure, is saying something.  Washed down with a nice, cold Blue Moon beer (or two), Fireside’s pizza filled my tummy and tasted pretty good. 

Was it the best thin crust pizza I’ve eaten?  Hell no.  But it certainly wasn’t the worst, either.  They are obviously trying to compete with places like Red Savoy, Tasty Pizza, and Latuff’s – all of whom serve a more delicious thin crust than Fireside.  In summary, Fireside served us a relatively decent yet unmemorable pizza served in a weirdly kitschy restaurant with a giant tree in the middle of it. 

Price & Value:  Much like the pizza, the price and value here are okay.  A large pizza, two beers, and iced tea for my hubby cost about $34 plus tip – about average cost for a pizza date night.  Maybe if I had a coupon, I would have felt more favorable about Fireside . . .  I did, however, appreciate the old school, handwritten guest check.  

Post-Pizza Mood: We left Fireside much the way we came.  We were full, we enjoyed each other’s company, but neither of us was ready to take on the world.  Two beers and a belly full of grease managed to help relax me and my post-pizza mood was about a 6.  Fireside gives you delicious peppermint taffy as a parting gift and its fresh and unexpected deliciousness helped improve my mood.  Plus, my hubby hates peppermint so I got both pieces which also helped propel me to a post-pizza 6.

My hubby enjoyed whatever was going on with that football game he was watching over my shoulder and enjoyed his pizza, leaving him at a post-pizza mood of 7.

Bottom Line: If you like Red Savoy, Broadway, Latuff’s, or Tasty Pizza . . . do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  And do not waste your time visiting Fireside Pizza.  But if you live in Richfield, have a hankering to eat in a curtained booth with a big old tree, or love peppermint taffy – Fireside Pizza is the place for you.  And, if you happen to be looking for work, I noticed that they are now hiring for all positions, so you may want to stop in for an application.  

Week 19: Tasty Pizza (Columbia Heights or Hilltop - you be the judge)

When we embarked on our pizza eating adventure a mere 19 weeks ago, I was ignorant to the number of pizza consuming options that exist here in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that there are enough pizza joints in this geography to keep us in a different restaurant every single week for the next three years.  But this blog is about more than just pizza.  It’s about an intentional weekly adventure.  It’s about making sure that, as a married couple, we spend quality time together doing something outside of our normal routine.  And, as an added benefit, it has provided us a connection to our family and friends both near and far, as we’ve relied on our networks to help us fill our pizza eating dance card.

It’s hard to believe we’re over 1/3 of the way through our pizza experiment already.  What started as an idea made in jest has become a weekly tradition – and one that we look forward to all week long.  One of my favorite parts about this pizza experiment is the glimpse inside the lives of our family and friends.  When you recommend a pizza place to us, it’s a little bit like you’re joining us for dinner.

Week 19 took us to Columbia Heights, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis, which it borders on the south.  Known for its hilly terrain, Columbia Heights features one of the highest points in Hennepin, Ramsey, and Anoka counties at the intersection of 47^th Ave NE and Stinson Boulevard.  The city of Hilltop, population 744, is a small enclave contained within the city of Columbia Heights whose claim to fame is that it is one of only two cities in America that consists primarily of manufactured housing. 

This history and geography lesson is important because Tasty Pizza and Hangar 45, our week 19 destination, may be Hilltop’s other claim to fame.  Or it might just be part of good old Columbia Heights.  Wherever it is, Tasty Pizza was a recommendation from my cousin Jhanel, who was looking for redemption after shaming me into signing up for adult ballet class.  I’m about as graceful and coordinated as a drunk hippopotamus.  But that’s off topic.

Pre-Pizza Moods: It was a dark and stormy night . . . no, wait.  That’s incorrect.  It was a dark and wet late afternoon when we departed for Tasty Pizza, which means that it was after 4:30 PM when we headed out for date night, thus reversing the trend of pizza linner that’s become the norm lately.

We took the scenic route, not because our GPS didn’t work but because we’re as much about the adventure as we are about the food.  While we could have hopped on the highway, we elected to take the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway from Theodore Wirth Parkway to Victory Memorial Parkway, which is a beautiful drive that happened to take us right by the house I grew up in and some of my old childhood haunts.  And you know I like a little nostalgia, so my pre-pizza mood was a solid 7.

My hubby, who probably would have preferred to take the highway so he could show the world what that expensive German automobile can do, was at a pre-pizza mood of 6.

Parking Situation:  Tasty Pizza is located in a nondescript strip mall that may or may not be located in Hilltop.  If you’re in the market for dollar store goods, ethnic groceries, or used video games, this is the mall for you.   It has a large but crowded parking lot, so the parking situation is okay but not ideal.  The parking spots are all at an angle, and I can see that when it gets busy, you could easily get run over here.  We almost did get clipped crossing the parking lot to enter Tasty Pizza.

Exterior Appearance: It’s not much to look at from the outside, but that’s okay.  After almost getting run down by someone in a rush to get to Pooja Grocers, I was more interested in getting to safety than in admiring the outside of Tasty Pizza.

Tasty Pizza was founded in 1963 by Louie Sigorney and Daniel Luleski.  Luleski sold his share of the business shortly after their grand opening in 1963 and Louie took on a new partner, Duane Estrem.  A shrewd businessman, Duane was actually not a pizza lover when he bought into the business.  After tweaking the recipe to his taste, Duane became a pizza convert and his recipe is the one Tasty Pizza uses today. Tasty Pizza is now operated by Duane’s son and daughter in law, Todd and Tawyna.

Entrance/Welcome: Although Tasty Pizza proudly boasts their recent addition and remodel – they added on a sports bar called Hangar 45 – when you walk through the door, it’s like being catapulted back to the 1970’s.  When you enter, you’ll see a sign inviting you to seat yourself.  So we did.  Our first table was too close to a screaming toddler, so we relocated to a second table featuring a faux granite laminate surface and sharp booth springs that assaulted my delicate backside.

Clientele/Overall Vibe: This is a place that draws a local crowd, and while we dined, we noticed a steady stream of takeout customers.  Other patrons appeared to be Minnesota Vikings fans as evidenced by their choice of apparel.  There were families with small children, extended family gatherings, and there was even a birthday party going on a few tables away from us.

Wait Staff:  Have you seen those Gallup studies that cite how something like 70+% of American workers are actively disengaged?  Actively disengaged, by the way, is fancy talk for people who are emotionally disconnected from and/or apathetic about their work.  They are less likely to be productive or enthusiastic, and there is a high likelihood that these actively disengaged workers will piss me off.  Breanna, our server at Tasty Pizza, was a poster child for actively disengaged.   The very act of having to interact with us was clearly distasteful to her, and she was among the least friendly and least helpful pizzeria employee I have met lo these past 19 weeks.

Menu Selection:  Tasty Pizza has a large menu that features sandwiches, pasta, ribs, chicken, and of course, pizza.  You can build your own thin crust or you can opt for a specialty pizza like Taco, Buffalo Chicken, or a Nordeaster (featuring Polish sausage and sauerkraut).  We opted for the “garbage” pizza which is a design-it-yourself featuring up to six toppings.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention Tasty Pizza’s surprisingly vast selection of local and regionally brewed craft beers.  From the outside, you might surmise that this is the kind of joint that features Miller Lite and maybe Budweiser.  And you would be wrong.  They also have interesting craft beers from around the country like Epic Hopulent, Boulder Mojo, and Green Flash Bullet.  I opted for a Saga IPA from St. Paul’s own Summit Brewery and enjoyed every last drop of it because it nicely complements a garbage pizza! 

Food Wait Time: It took about 27 minutes from order to tableside delivery.  I’d like to point out that Breanna did not in fact deliver our pizza to us, as she was probably busy hating her life somewhere.  A much friendlier gal dropped off our pie.

Drumroll, Please . . . the Pizza Itself: While Tasty Pizza may lack in the aesthetics department, you’ll forget all about that booth spring violating your backside as soon as you sink your teeth into their thin crust pizza.  In fact, their pizza was so delicious that I’m starting to develop a hypothesis that states that the more delicious your pizza, the more horrific your restaurant can be.  Must I remind you of Red Savoy’s?  Or Latuff’s? Or even Broadway Pizza? 

Our garbage pizza was loaded with Italian sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, black olives, and jalapeño peppers.  After our recent experiences with onions, we wisely steered clear of them on the menu.  This pizza, cut into delightful squares, had a tangy sauce, an appropriate ratio of sauce to cheese, and fresh toppings.  It was . . . tasty.  Yeah, I said it.  In fact, it was so tasty that it may have edged its way onto the top ten list.

Price & Value:  I didn’t have a coupon, but we licked the platter clean on this pizza.  There was nary a crumb left on the table when we finished.  Our bill came to just over $30 (excluding tip) and I did leave the disengaged and unpleasant Breanna a tip, but I’m not going to lie to you.  Although I am normally a very fair and generous tipper, leaving at least 20% and more when service exceeds my expectations, I only left Breanna 15%.  Because she was that unpleasant. 

Post-Pizza Mood: How could we not be on top of the world after this tasty experience?    We left Tasty at a post pizza mood of 9 for both of us.  It might have been higher had Breanna not tried to kill me with her eyes and if I hadn’t been violated by that booth spring.

Bottom Line: Cousin Jhanel – you have redeemed yourself.  Tasty Pizza is TASTY PIZZA.   But the joke’s on you anyway, since you have to be seen with my clumsy, heffalumping self at ballet class every week and I am clearly bringing shame to the family name in my dancing endeavors. 

If you like Red Savoy, Broadway, or any of the greasy thin crust delicacies around town, you won’t be disappointed by Tasty Pizza.  And – if you happen to be a craft beer connoisseur, you’ll be even more pleased by the very tasty experience that this Hilltop pizzeria has to offer.

Week 18: Joey Nova's Pizza (Tonka Bay)

My Grandma Ginny was the epitome of a spunky, sassy, independent gal.  When life tried to knock her down, she jumped right back up and punched life in the nose.  Or the arm.  Or on the backside.  Although she was barely five feet tall, you did not want to mess with Grandma Ginny – and not just because of her mean right hook.  She survived the Great Depression; raised seven children; traveled to exotic places like Japan because my grandfather had an itch to see the world; but never got her drivers’ license.  

I have so many memories of this amazing lady, but some of my favorites include the time she locked herself out of her townhouse and scaled her deck like Spiderman; her penchant for wrapping Christmas gifts in empty cereal boxes; her giant, adult-cycled tricycle; and her willingness to hop on public transportation to go downtown when she wanted to go shopping.  And who could forget taking Grandma Ginny grocery shopping?

Since she didn’t drive, we often took Grandma grocery shopping, where we would invariably lose her in the aisles.  On one memorable occasion when I managed to keep pace with her at Holiday Foods, I caught her in the cereal aisle giving the hairy eyeball to a box of Raisin Bran.  I vaguely recall a steep rise in the price of boxed cereal around that time – a type of inflation that infuriated Grandma Ginny.  Her response to $4 Raisin Bran?  “I’ll just eat toast for breakfast!” Thus began the great cereal strike of the 1990’s.  (Side note: her refusal to buy $4 cereal impacted her gift wrapping, as she no longer had old Cheerio’s boxes to wrap gifts in.) 

While I often am compared to my Grandma Mary (my dad’s mom), I definitely inherited Grandma Ginny’s frugal nature.  I love a good Groupon (who doesn’t?) and I’m not opposed to using a coupon or two to save a few nickels and dimes.

“Is there a point,” you ask?  I’m getting there.  Our 18^th week of pizza consumption was inspired by a $5 off coupon, spotted by my dad, who knows that I love pizza eating as much as I love saving money.  And that is the story of how we found ourselves at Joey Nova’s Pizza in Tonka Bay on the very same day that our coupon expired.

Pre-Pizza Moods:  Not surprisingly, we were starving due to missed meals throughout the day and at around 4 PM, one of us may have wondered aloud how the dog would taste.  That was the signal to exit the house immediately and head out for pizza.  In spite of our growling tummies, pre-pizza moods were pretty good.  After all, the expensive German automobile was in perfect running order!  We both clocked in at a 7.

Parking Situation & Exterior Appearance: Joey Nova’s Pizza is located in Tonka Bay, a town of just about 1,500 people located between the upper and lower lakes on Lake Minnetonka, a place where the hubby used to spend a lot of his free time.  I’m not built for water sports, so this was my first trip to Tonka Bay. 

Joey Nova’s is located in a nondescript strip mall between a Caribou Coffee and a drycleaners.  There is a large parking lot with ample enough space for even the parking challenged to successfully navigate.  Although I probably couldn’t find Tonka Bay again without the help of Google Maps, I could definitely park at Joey Nova’s if I could find it!

Entrance/Welcome: Joey Nova’s is another counter-service pizza joint.  When you walk in, it’s not abundantly clear what to do or how.  Although we were greeted with a friendly hello, it was hard to figure out what to do.  Should I sit down?  Stand up?  Where’s the menu? 

After standing stupidly for a minute or so, we realized that the menu is up on the wall and that we should place an order at the counter.

Clientele/Vibe: This is obviously a place for the locals, and it is family friendly.  It was quiet at 4-something PM on a Saturday but even so, this place has a friendly, “come as you are” vibe. 

Menu Selection: You can view the entire menu here.  Joey Nova’s specialty is New York-style pizza.  They offer three sizes (medium, large, and extra-large) and boast award-winning fresh dough, whole milk mozzarella, and homemade tomato sauce.  Planning ahead?  You can also order a “take and bake” pizza to go.   You can design your own pie if you’re so inclined or you can opt for one of their specialty pies.  We opted for a large Deluxe which features pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, diced Roma tomatoes, and fresh basil.

Food Wait Time:  We actually remembered to set the timer this week and total running time from order to pizza at my table was about 30 minutes.

Drumroll, please . . . the Pizza Itself: Maybe it was the prospect of saving $5 on my pizza; maybe it was my reminiscing about Grandma Ginny; maybe I was just good and hungry.  I don’t know what the reason but Joey Nova’s exceeded my expectations.  There was just the right amount of cheese, a zesty yet slightly sweet sauce, and the entire pizza exuded freshness.  The basil and Roma tomatoes were a nice counter balance to the spicy pepperoni and sausage.  My only complaint about this pizza is the onions. 

Before I explain further, I want you to know that I love onions.  I can’t get enough.  But, much like the lost art of grocery-bagging (you don’t even want to get me started on that topic), I fear that the art of onion placement may be going the way of the dinosaur.  For the past several weeks, I’ve noticed my pizzas have featured long, thick onion chunks lounging lazily on the top layer of the pie.  This is not how I want my onions to show up.  Slice it, dice it, and mix those onions in with the rest of the ingredients.  Onion should not be a layer of pizza unto itself, because onion is kind of a showoff, and onion will overpower the other ingredients and make me angry.

In spite of the onion layer, the pizza hit the spot and went well with the glass of Chardonnay I treated myself to.  Hubby stayed true to form with his iced tea.

Price & Value: Even without a coupon, Joey Nova is a great deal.  A large homemade pizza with fresh ingredients for $20 is a bargain no matter how you slice it.  (Pun intended).  With our $5 coupon (thanks, Dad!), our pizza date, including drinks, tax, and tip, was barely over $25.   

Post-Pizza Mood:  Saving money always puts me in a good mood, but so does date night with my beloved.  When I can combine saving money with a glass of wine, a delicious pizza, and quality time with my hubby, I’m pretty much on top of the world.  My post-pizza mood was about a 9. 

My hubby was also in good spirits post-Joey Nova.  Being on Lake Minnetonka brought back memories of his misspent youth, and as we all know, nostalgia often leads to good moods.  The combination of pizza and a walk down memory lane had him at a post-pizza mood of 9 also.

Bottom Line:  I love that my dad recommended this place to me based on a coupon he found in one of those Valu-Pak mailers.  I love that he, in turn, mailed me the coupon.  I love saving money, because it reminds me of Grandma Ginny, who was truly a kick-ass little lady.  And I really did love me some Joey Nova’s pizza.

Would I love it without a coupon?  I don’t know.  It’s kind of a long drive out to Tonka Bay, and I could get an equally delicious pie at Leaning Tower of Pizza or Italian Pie Shoppe without the long commute.  But if you’re in the Lake Minnetonka neighborhood with a hankering for old school New York style pizza and $20 in your pocket, you won’t be disappointed by Joey Nova’s.   

And by the way, I sure do miss my Grandma Ginny.  I always knew she was one of a kind, but writing this put it in a whole new perspective.  I might wrap my Christmas gifts in cereal boxes this year as a way to pay homage to the old gal.   

Updated Pizza Eating Schedule! Suggestions Still Needed!

Week #	Pizza Joint	Recommended by
1	Parkway Pizza - Minneapolis	Princess D
2	Latuff's Pizzeria - Plymouth	Princess D
3	Fat Lorenzo's - Minneapolis	Michele Bordo & April Hurley
4	Red Savoy's - St. Paul	Mir Ali, Amy Stern, & Randy Ross
5	Italian Pie Shoppe & Winery - St. Paul	David Leonhardt
6	Pig Ate My Pizza - Robbinsdale	Kris Rosen & Jennifer Butler
7	Aurelio's Pizza - Roseville	Jennifer  Ehrhardt
8	Punch Neapolitan Pizza - Minneapolis	Jhanel Ebert
9	Leaning Tower of Pizza - Minneapolis	Dede Fitzmaurice, Heidi Martens & Mark Marjala
10	Turtle's Bar & Grille - Shakopee	Kim Motz
11	Pizzeria Lola - Minneapolis	Dave Hamilton
12	Sammy's Pizza - Coon Rapids	Mark Marjala
13	Pizza Luce - Richfield	Jean Nitchals
14	Original Broadway Station (Broadway Pizza) - Minneapolis	Mark Marjala
15	Element Pizza - Minneapolis	Jen Main, Jon Hamlow, and my mom
16	Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza - Minneapolis	Joe Matheis, Lyndsay Nelson & Kimberly Murrin
17	Cossetta's Eatery & Pizzeria - St. Paul	Charlie Bui
18	Joey Nova's - Tonka Bay	My dad
19	Tasty Pizza - Columbia Heights	Jhanel Ebert
20	Fireside Pizza - Richfield	Mark Heydt, Keith Glasch
21	Carbone's Pizza - Minneapolis	Keith Glasch, Trainer Aaron
22	Lake Harriet Pizza - Minneapolis	Jean Nitchals
23	Jakeeno's Pizza - Minneapolis	Princess D
24	Davanni's - St. Paul	Andrew Craven & Trainer Aaron
25	Galactic Pizza - Minneapolis	Jon Hamlow
26	Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge & Tiki Garden	Hubby & Jon Hamlow
27	Hello Pizza - Edina	Missy Durant
28	Frankie's Pizza - Chanhassen, MN	Jennifer  Ehrhardt
29	Unhinged Pizza - Waconia, MN	Becca Rausenberger
30	Mozza Mia - Minneapolis	Daniel, Melissa & Victor Muro La Mere & Jeanne Androsoff
31	Pizza Biga (Turtle Bread Co)	Daniel, Melissa & Victor Muro La Mere
32	Green Mill - Plymouth	Jim & Val Usselman
33	A Slice of New York - Minneapolis	Princess D
34	Ronnally's - Woodbury	Jeff Wehling
35	Crescent Moon Pizza - Minneapolis	MSP Mag
36	Old World Pizza - Inver Grove Heights	Jesse Meyer Ruud
37	Roadside Pizza & Wings - St. Paul	MSP Mag
38	Tommy Chicago's Pizzeria - Mendota Heights	MSP Mag
39	Zeke's Unchained Animal - Minneapolis	MSP Mag
40	Chris & Rob's Chicago Taste Authority - Minneapolis	Hubby
41	American Pie Pizzeria - Richfield	City Pages
42	Beek's King of Pizza - Minneapolis	City Pages
43	Fast Eddie's Pizza - Minneapolis	City Pages
44	Galooney's East Coast Pizza Café - Minneapolis	City Pages
45	Godfather's Pizza	Hubby
46	Pizza Ranch - Lakeville, MN	Princess D
47	Topper's Pizza - Minneapolis	City Pages
48	Yianni's Pizza - Minneapolis	City Pages
49
50
51
52

Week 17: Cossetta's Eatery & Pizzeria

Our 17^th week of consecutive pizza consumption coincided nicely with Election Day here in these United States (I point this out just in case you’re reading this from China or some other exotic locale.  One of the cool features of Blogspot is that it provides me with fun facts about my blog.  For example, did you know that Pizza Every Week has been viewed over 1500 times?  Or that it’s been accessed six times from China?  World domination shall be mine!), so a trip to our state’s capitol city of St. Paul seemed like an appropriate way to recognize this important political milestone. 

Although St. Paul is a mere 15 miles from our front door, it took us two trips, two cars, a lot of foul language, a silent novena, and a heck of a lot of antacids to successfully arrive at our dinner location.  Let me explain.  The hubby has a taste for the finer things in life and motors through town in his expensive German automobile – a car that I bought after we bet on whether or not he could quit smoking.  (He did.  And I followed through on my end of the bargain.  His lungs are worth more than any expensive car, German or not.)  Now, if you know me at all, you know that I’m not typically one who is status or label conscious.  I like nice things but I also like money, and I have a hard time reconciling spending the equivalent of the US median household income on something that depreciates the second you drive it off the car lot.  I do recognize that an expensive luxury automobile has a few more bells and whistles than, say, a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid, but at a price tag upwards of $40,000, I’m going to need more than a fancy stereo, heated seats, and a back-up camera.  At that price, I’d like the car to drive and park itself and maybe throw in the occasional load of laundry. 

But I digress.  The moral of the story is that we are a two-car household.  One of those cars is a battered and abused 2008 Honda Civic with over 100k miles and a lot of parking ramp damage.  The Honda gets a full tank of gas once a week (not the fancy stuff, either); a car wash a couple of times a year or when I can no longer see out the windows, whichever comes first; and maintenance when the dash lights up and scares me into making an appointment.  It’s not fancy, but it does get 35-40 mpg and while I don’t have heated seats, I do have a furry pink steering wheel cover.  (Available at Wal-Marts everywhere.  You know you want one.)  My car isn’t winning any beauty contests or races.  The other car is the hubby’s aforementioned expensive German automobile.  His car gets hand washed on a regular basis; waxed (!); special expensive gasoline; different tires depending on the season; and god forbid you park too close to him.  A sweet elderly man who may have dinged the expensive German automobile in a Chili’s parking lot experienced the hubby’s wrath.  You won’t like him when he’s angry.  The hubby’s car is more expensive than mine, shinier than mine, and it goes a lot faster than mine.  Plus he finds my pink steering wheel cover emasculating, so when we go out, we take his car.

This fateful Saturday was no different.  We piled into the expensive German automobile and headed east.  However, about halfway through our journey, the car’s dash lit up like a pinball machine while the car itself began to shake violently and lost a significant amount of power while we were cruising along at 60+ MPG on the freeway.  Horrified, we made the decision to return home and prayed that the car would make it.  (Okay, maybe I was the only one praying.)   Needless to say, moods were tense.

We got home, sorted out the expensive German automobile (sort of) and because we were still damn hungry, restarted our journey but this time, in the trusty old Honda. 

Pre-Pizza Moods:  Do I need to spell this out for you?  Car problems – especially those involving expensive imported cars – are a sure-fired recipe for a lousy mood.  To say that we were at a pre-pizza mood of about 2.5 is generous, if we are rounding up.

Parking Situation: Moods were not improved when we arrived at Cossetta’s to discover what I can only describe as gridlock, leading into their Munchkin-sized parking lot.  Cossetta’s does offer limited off street parking in their lot, but it’s first-come, first-served, and there was a line of six or seven cars trying to enter as we pulled up.  As Mayors of Crankytown, we lacked the patience required to navigate this and instead, pulled into the large Allina/Children’s Hospital parking ramp across the street.  The ramp is not affiliated with Cossetta’s and therefore, you will pay for your parking spot.  Mine cost $4.

In other news, a person with my limited driving and parking abilities is not fit to navigate either the Cossetta’s parking lot or the Allina ramp across the street.  The only way I can ever eat at Cossetta’s again is if I take public transportation.

Exterior Appearance:  From the outside, Cossetta looks like exactly what it is; a celebration of old world Italian delicacies that has anchored this corner of St. Paul for over 100 years. 

Entrance/Welcome: From the moment you push open the doors, you’ll be swept up in the hustle and bustle of Cossetta’s. While you might be tempted to stand completely still in order to deeply inhale the aroma of authentic Italian herbs and spices, I can’t encourage you to do this, because you’ll create a roadblock.  You’ll be in good company, though, as I noticed a large number of human obstacles in my way as I bumbled into Cossetta’s and tried to figure out what to do, where to go and how to get a meal.  Put another way, it’s not abundantly clear how to proceed once you enter.

Clientele/Vibe: Cossetta’s clientele was a mix of families and a surprising number of tweens and teens.  It’s definitely a “come as you are” kind of place where anything goes. It’s loud, it’s crowded, and there is a buzz in the air.

Wait Staff: This is no sit-down restaurant.  Rather, Cossetta’s is a cross between a mall food court and University Dining Services, who fed me during my years of dorm living.  If you’re not comfortable with a cafeteria tray and plastic eating utensils, this isn’t the place for you.  If you don’t like to wait in line to be fed, you should probably go somewhere else.  Here at Cossetta’s, you’re your own waiter . . . and you will wait, in line.  To be honest, you’ll wait in several separate lines depending on what you decide to eat. 

Menu Selection: No matter what you’re craving, you can probably get it at Cossetta’s.  Salads, pastas, sandwiches, sausage and peppers, soups, desserts, and of course, pizza . . . they have it all.  And probably some more stuff I failed to mention.

Since we’re committed to our vision of eating pizza every week, we got down to business and ordered the house special, which is a 17 inch, four topping pizza.  You can make your own or you can select from their specialty pizza menu.  Pizza is sold by the pie and by the slice.

Food Wait Time:  We placed our order at the counter and then went upstairs with our plastic forks to find a place to sit.  About half an hour later, our pizza was ready and the hubby trotted back downstairs to retrieve it.

Drumroll, please . . . the pizza itself: You can’t beat hand-kneaded dough made from scratch for a nice pizza crust.  The sauce was zippy and the toppings were amazingly fresh.  Our house special featured Cossetta’s own Italian sausage, black olives, green pepper, and onion.  And. It. Was. Huge.

I give Cossetta’s high marks on the freshness of their ingredients, but this wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever tasted.  They were a bit too liberal with the onions, which were cut into long, thick slices that reminded me of french fries.  They also stuck in my dental work and my throat.  It was a good, solid pizza and if I were going to give the pizza a performance appraisal, I would say it met expectations.

Price & Value: Keeping in mind that I had to shell out $4 to park the car and another $45 to be my own waiter, the prices here are high.  The value is decent – they use a lot of locally sourced and organic products, but that kind of quality doesn’t come cheap.

Post-Pizza Mood: I might not be a gal who needs an expensive German automobile to be happy, but I do like a nice meal that I don’t have to cook or serve myself.  I don’t like eating in the cafeteria at work, where I believe our meals are partially subsidized, and I certainly am not one who wants to get up close and personal with a bunch of friends I haven’t met yet banging into me with their plastic trays while shelling out top dollar to do so.  I left feeling full, but also feeling decidedly “over it”.  My post-pizza mood was about a 4.

My hubby, who interestingly is the more negative of the two of us, also tends to rate his moods higher.  However, he was still feeling pretty anxious about the fate of his expensive German automobile when we departed, so he was hovering around a 3. 

Bottom Line:  Like Fat Lorenzo’s and other iconic pizzerias, this is one of those places that has a nostalgia factor for many people.  And those people hate me a little bit right now because I don’t love Cossetta’s the way they do in their memories.  The only way I’ll be back is if someone else drives and picks up the check.