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Minnesota Monthly
Jason DeRusha’s Top Pizza Picks
By Jason DeRusha,
2024-04-05
The Parma Pizza at OG Zaza
Provided
We are all pizza experts. We eat pizza more than any other type of food. Some surveys show 1 out of 7 of us is eating pizza on any given day. It’s also the fastest-growing type of restaurant in Minnesota, with new pizza styles and new locations opening every month. My list of favorites is constantly changing, depending on my mood, and is very style-specific. The pizza closest to your home, or freshest out of the oven, often is the best pizza. For me, the key to quality is an intense focus on the basics: dough and sauce. Remember when people used to say you couldn’t get good pizza around here? Now, that’s laughable. It has never been a better time to be a pizza lover.
Red Rabbit and Sanjusan are my two most underrated pizza places in town, both with incredible attention to dough. But for sheer creativity, Sanjusan is my pick. The Isaac Becker, with raw tuna, cilantro, and lime, is my favorite, but how about the Okonomiyaki, with shrimp, cabbage, bonito flakes, and kewpie mayo? Executive chef Peter Thillen is a genius at combining Italian and Japanese flavors in ways you’d think would be strange but captivate instead.
Earl Giles
Provided
Neapolitan, Coal, Wood-Fired
• Black Sheep Pizza, 2550 Nicollet Ave. S. and 600 Washington Ave. N., Minneapolis, 612-886-1233 and 612-342-2625, blacksheeppizza.com
• Saint Paul Brewing, 688 Minnehaha Ave. E., St. Paul, 651-698-1945, stpaulbrewing.com
Jason’s Pick: Earl Giles Restaurant and Distillery
1325 Quincy St. NE, Suite 100, Minneapolis, 612-345-5305, earlgiles.com
It’s almost impossible to pick from this section, but right now I’m craving the sourdough pizza at Earl Giles. It has come a long way in consistency and quality: The dough is perfectly balanced with a complex, yeasty aroma, and has an ideal baguette-like combination of crunchy and soft. There are lots of creative topping combos, too, like squash, taleggio, and fried Brussels sprouts on the Animal Lover and chorizo plus roasted poblano cream on the Pizza Indeed.
Is it the special system they installed that tries to replicate the flavor notes of New York City water? I don’t know, but there’s a reason people travel to Plymouth from all over the metro to get a slice at ElMar’s. Nicole and Michael ElMaraghy are bringing that big slice, floppy enough to fold but still crisp enough that you get a little crunch-right-out-of-the-oven game. And that is the best way to enjoy ElMar’s: hot, fresh, and by the slice.
Chef Josh Hedquist’s OG Zaza brings obsessive detail over sauce and dough along with a slightly caramelized (almost burned) New Haven-style edge that explodes with flavor. A five-day process of fermenting the dough gives real character to the crispy/chewy crust, cooked at high heat in a rotating pizza oven inside Rosedale’s Potluck food court. The Lil’ Roni is aggressively pepperoni-packed, and the Parma brings a great balance of prosciutto, arugula, and gorgonzola.
There’s something special about Good Times Pizza. The crust is thin and crunchy and square-cut like a good bar pizza should be, but it’s also…more. There’s more flavor and a more exciting end piece with more oomph than you’d expect. Pepperoni and pickle? Yes. It’s amazing. Salt plus fat plus plus plus. White pie with toasted garlic cream as a base, caramelized onions, and roasted mushrooms? Maybe even better. Good Times feels like a pizza place that has been in south Minneapolis forever, despite the fact that it dates to 2020.
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