Food Spotlight – Red’s Savoy Pizza

November 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm (Uncategorized)

Last time I covered what I consider to be the best place to get a burger in the Twin Cities.  I figured I’d stay within the junk food theme and turn my attention to pizza.  Really, really amazing Pizza.

Enter Red’s Savoy Pizza in St. Paul.  In recent years, this unique pizza joint has expanded into Uptown and other locations in the ‘burbs, but the original, and still the best, is an aged greasy spoon-style building downtown St. Paul  The interior is something out of a 1950s diner…not the charming version with swirling colors and soda machine, more like a workman’s cafeteria that time forgot.  It’s cramped, loud, and the smell of grease and cheese instantly reminds you that you’re about to make a delicious mistake.

I live just a few blocks from this pizza Mecca, so I rarely have cause to actually dine in.  It takes them about 45 minutes to cook a pie on an average night, so calling ahead is the key to success.  As far as I’m concerned, nothing else on the Red’s Savoy menu matters except for the pizza, and even that doesn’t matter unless you order your pie with American style bacon.

This isn’t cured meat that Canada is trying to pretend isn’t ham, this is breakfast bacon crumbled up and mixed into thick, tangy pizza sauce.  On top of that, a generous layer of mozzarella cheese and big chunks of whatever topping you desire tops off a pie that 90% toppings, 10% crust.  Perfect.

Red’s Savoy bakes that pizza until the cheese begins to turn golden brown along the edges.  That longer bake ensures that everything stays together, which is especially important because they cut their pies into squares, not wedges.  Take a look along the side of one of those squares and you’ll see that they don’t skimp on the toppings.  You want pepperoni?  Get ready for layers.  You want sausage?  Get ready for nickel-sized chunks.  It’s all intensely flavorful, as greasy as it gets, and completely addicting.  You’ll be visiting the fridge later that night for seconds, assuming you have any leftovers at all.