Pizza Nea
There is something about brick oven pizza…I love how the crust is so crisp and a little blackened and how the cheese is meltingly rich. The toppings with a brick oven pizza stay crisp, allowing each flavor to come through and stand out among the crust and cheese. That is, of course, only if the brick oven pizza is made well.
When I think of brick oven pizza, I think of Pizza Nea. Located in NE Minneapolis, Pizza Nea is such a gem. In the small space located across Hennepin from Surdyk’s, Pizza Nea serves up salads, pizzas, and calzones that are guaranteed to exceed expectations.
Kyle and I visited Pizza Nea recently, sitting at the bar to watch the pizzas being made. The two men tending to the oven moved like a duet. It seemed effortless that they made the pizzas, moved them around in the oven and then took them out at the perfect moment to allow for the crispy crust with a little blackening.
We ordered our standard…caesar salad and a Diavola pizza to share. The caesar salad is fantastic, as I’m not an anchovy fan and this is one of the few caesar salads in the city that doesn’t use anchovy in their dressing. The Diavola is a fantastic pizza with salami, kalamata olives, peperonchinis and basil. The blend of ingredients on this pizza is a salty, sweet, spicy combination that I just can’t get enough of.
Tags: pizza, restaurants, twin cities
