Red Savoy's Pizza Reviewed (along with a couple other pizzas)

After a whirlwind tour of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I return to Phoenix wishing for more time and more pizza in Minnesota. Of course, most companies frown on month-long vacations, so we returned after a quick eight days.

Gary (of Rush Hour Rambling fame) and I had planned to meet up on Sunday for pizza and mischief, but that plan was thwarted by a sudden surge in invitations and activities with our families.

Monday, Lady Luck and I went to the Minnesota State Fair and saw a multitude of interesting things, ate interesting things (Hot Dish on a Stick, in case you were wondering, sucks), experienced some new things and generally had a good time.

Naturally, I had to seek out and sample the pizza offered at the fair. After all, the State Fair is where an everyday Joe such as myself goes to find the best hand-held foods. The first pizza I found was at The Pizza Shoppe in the main food building. I had a slice of pepperoni, sausage and mushroom pizza. Sad to say, it was almost entirely lacking. I didn't even bother to finish the crust. Skip this pie and spend your money on another order of deep-fried cheese curds. The Pizza Shoppe gets a generous 1 Crying Lucky.

After eating, we had to work up another appetite, so we set off in search of the much-rumored Buell Motorcycles exhibit. We never found it. We did however, stumble across a tent chock full of Big Dog Motorcycles. I hopped on one and was amazed at the complete lack of comfort to match the lack of taste. I guess I'm just not a Big Dog kind of guy.

Chopper-mocking gave me a powerful hunger, so I was glad to find a pizza stand nearby. A Pizza Wagon, to be exact. For those of you unaccustomed to dining al fresco, fair-style, every kind of food is better from a wagon. The slice of pepperoni from the Pizza Wagon didn't disappoint - it was definitely better than the pizza in the food building. All the same, it was not one of the better pizzas I've eaten. Pizza Wagon gets two Crying Luckies, as the sauce and toppings were pretty good, but the crust was inadequate.

Gary and I were able to arrange our schedules so we could both be in the same place at the same time on Thursday night. Gary told me I had to try Red Savoy's Pizza in St. Paul (Click here for a map and address). Lady Luck and I arrived at Savoy's just in time to see the unmistakable outline of Frogwing roll past.

Upon entering the restaurant I realized I had, actually, been to Savoy's once before. I believe it was about seven years ago, and at the time I'd been disappointed with the quality of their pie.

The interior of Savoy's is dark. So dark that I actually had to stand in the entryway for a while until I could see enough to look for Gary. Fortunately, he'd been keeping an eye on the door and came over to meet Lady Luck and me. We met his wife and daughter and got down to the serious business of pizza (and Grain Belt Premium) consumption.

We got a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, green olives, mushrooms, and green peppers. It was good. Really good. The cheese was cooked enough to be just a little crispy on top but still gooey and delicious on the inside. The crust had that certain something that makes Lucky a happy man.

And then there was the sauce. I'll tell you what, if you want me to show up somewhere, promise me a pizza with a lot of good sauce on it. I'll be there early. As Gary noted on his write up, the pizza could certainly have handled a bit more sauce, but coming from a sauce desert (as it were) I was overjoyed at bounty hiding between the toppings and the crust.

Next time, I'll get a bowl of sauce on the side. Because it's good stuff.

This pizza was so good, it didn't even last until breakfast. It was gone by 10:00 p.m. Savoy's gets a solid 5 Crying Luckies

It was a real pleasure to meet Gary, Amy and Emily. We had a great time at dinner, and checking out Frogwing afterwards. Lady Luck and I are agreed that our garage needs a KLR with a bad attitude. Gary planned to demonstrate some of his curb-hopping, sidewalk-riding commuter skills as he departed, but an officer of the law chose that moment to roll by so ticket avoidance had to be the rule of the evening.

I guess now I've got to start harassing him to get his ass down to the desert. I bet he'll be real easy to convince in March, when Minnesota has been frozen solid for three months, and the next two months look grim.