We have had the profound pleasure of seeking out the best pizza pie in the Mississippi Valley, MN and WI.
As many of you already know I am a Chicago girl and I have had exposure to some of the best American pizza
in the world. There was a dive in a near northside fringe neighborhood called Chester’s that had the most delicious piled high pizza ever according to me and anyone who ever ate there. Then there is the famous Gino’s which doesn’t turn me on that much, but dh says they have the best pepperoni…not my thing, but I hear it is s America’s favorite
topping. Then Uno and Due’s, two separate locations, but one owner, which I think is very, very good, but I
always had the deep dish and that’s just more like a full nine course meal than a pizza. It’s hard to beat that,
as long as you are using fresh ingredients. But that’s Chicago and that is not my home now.
We have already hit Sammy’s in Winona which I rated very high in my book. And the pizza place in Wabasha.
Also, very good, but less good than Sammy’s. So, yesterday we visited Papa T’s, and we found it disappointing
in atmosphere, more like a to go place than stay, but they did have ten tables or so, several of which were filled
with people waiting for their to go order while watching the fellows behind the counter take turns twirling pizza pie dough. Very entertaining.
Papa Tronnino’s pizza was very, very good. I had the vegetarian and it didn’t have that kind of vegetable taste that some have, it was more like the veggies were sweetened a little by the sweet sauce and the cheese was nice, very smooth,
good texture, at little stringy, but in the good melty way. Dh had the pepperoni which he liked very much. While we were there, we saw the meat delivery guy and meat being delivered. It was not SYSCO, which is a great supplier to many, many restaurants and why many of the main fare dishes taste the same from place to place. No, this was a small white van with an old farmer type looking fellow delivering a product made by hand. Yep, their secret sauce is this guy. We had also been told a head of time that the chicken broasted, was super. Have to check that out. The bad news is that this pizza is a bit more expensive, but we got 2-3 times more pizza, took some home and had another couple of meals with it. So, I guess it depends on your gourmet palate v. get some grub focus at the time.
as to whether you’ll head into Big Bear’s or Papa T’s.
The day before we went to Big Bear’s Pizza and Bait shop, also in Lake City. We went there because we were headed to Papa T’s, but even tho we called the night before to get the hours, the kid told us the wrong hours and we were three hours early as a result. Haha. I don’t like that, but Haha. We made the best of it and had a nice, cheap, quick lunch at Big Bear’s.
For that we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that it was cheap…salad bar and big slice of pizza for $5. The salad bar had some nice items, fresh, too. Like chicken and red peppers. What! The chicken was decent, all white strips. I ate that without a care. D did too. It was great. The bad news is that the pizza by the slice was pepperoni and the pizza had that orange sort of oily greasy thing with too much cheese and bread on it…it was however edible and we were happy we at least got something to eat.
The waitress at Big Bear also told us about hand made lunches, like pork chops and hamburger steak that they offered every day. Although this was another sit down and go quick sort of place, it held some promise.
Big Bear Pizzeria and Deli
402 S. Lakeshore Drive
Lake City, MN
651-345-2102
Papa Tronnio’s Pizza
124 S Washington St,
Lake City, MN
(651) 345-3540
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