It’s the New Year, and I’m doing my best to stick to yet another resolution of healthful eating and treadmill butt-kicking. So what, you may ask, is the one dish that is stalking my daydreams and tempting me more than any other? It is not my favorite food, whipped cream. It’s not linguini with clam sauce, crispy fried perch from a supper club in Wisconsin, chocolate croissants, or charcuterie. It’s a dish at a restaurant here in Minneapolis—the Sunnyside pizza at Pizzeria Lola. There’s a lot of good pizza in town, and I food crush on the #5 at Black Sheep and the Mimi at Punch, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the Sunnyside pizza at Lola is going to be the first pizza I gobble up in 2012.
Pizzeria Lola is relatively new to the Twin Cities, but it’s been around long enough that many have read a few reviews and stopped in for a pie or some of their noteworthy Brussels sprouts. Located in South Minneapolis, they became many pizza lovers’ favorite early on with their wood-fired pizzas, and many appreciate their commitment to sustainability and sourcing of quality, local ingredients such as La Quercia guanciale and Larry Schultz eggs.
Lola’s Sunnyside pizza is reminiscent of a Sunday brunch with crunchy toast, salty bacon, and sunny-side up eggs. The crunchy, chewy, wood-fired crust of the Sunnyside is baked with folds of La Quercia guanciale (unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig’s jowl or cheeks), slivers of melted pecorino, a splash of cream, buttery leeks, and framed in the middle, is a just-set egg. An egg on a pizza might sound a bit bizarre, but it works. Eggs have a tradition of gracing the top of pizzas from southern Tuscany to Hoboken, especially on the Pizza alla Bismark.
When I finally give in to my 2012 pizza craving and the Sunnyside is placed before me, I’ll immediately tear off a hunk of crust with a bit of guanciale attached and dip it in the yolk. And I’ll smile as I take my first bite, knowing a few extra hours on the treadmill will be worth it.
Pizzeria Lola
5557 Xerxes Avenue, Mpls.
612-424-8338
P.S. While we’re on the subject of a new year, I want to thank all you Dara & Co. visitors for reading and contributing in 2011. I wish you the best for 2012!
