Camacho Watcho

My first thought was “coal fired…really?” But I was willing to go for it since it was a place I hadn’t tried and we were meeting some friends for dinner who had picked the place. These friends are Warehouse District lovers through and through and I don’t blame them. With markets, restaurants and coffee shops continuing to open, the Warehouse District has dramatically changed in the four years that I’ve lived downtown.

But back to pizza. Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza just recently opened on the October 20th on the 600 block of Washington Avenue. Walking in the building, you turn directly to right and then enter the restaurant down a short flight of stairs. My first impression was great. There were plenty of dark wood tables and booths in the two good sized eating spaces. The selection of tap beer looked plentiful (Surly on tap, for you Surly lovers) and the kitchen was bustling.

We sat down and studied the menu. There were appetizers (meatballs, roasted veggies and salads) in the $6-$7 range and two sizes of pizza (12″ or 16″). There is a short list of pizzas with pre-determined toppings and there is the option to choose your own toppings from an extensive list of ingredients (from Kalamata olives to fennel to clams). We decided to go with two salads, one large pizza and one small pizza for four people. This was a good size order, as I was definitely hungry. In the future for a light appetite for two, I might go with one salad and one 12″ pizza.

While we waited for our pizza I took in our surroundings. My initial impression remained in tact with the exception of one thing - the kitchen. It just lacked personality. It was just white and, well, blah. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t need a colorfully tiled pizza oven to do it for me but I would prefer not to look over and see a white drop-ceiling with a couple tiles punched up and the duct work showing (not artfully showing like you see in lofts). And unfortunately from the booths in the side room, you don’t get much of an impression of the kitchen except for the tops of the cooks’ heads and ceiling. On the plus side, it was definitely bustling and the food coming out of it looked great.

Back to the food…Our spinach salad with blue cheese arrived and we dug in. This was definitely a great salad - fresh spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, creamy blue cheese and good sized blue cheese crumbles. (The Kalamata olives in the picture are from our friends’ house salad…how can you not like olives?) We didn’t try the house salad, but it looked like Andy and Sarah enjoyed it as well.

Pizza was up next. Unfortunately there was some confusion with our order (first we got someone else’s order and then one of our pizzas was wrong), but we weren’t in a hurry, so it wasn’t really an issue to wait 7 minutes for the pizza to be remade. Our first pizza arrived and it looked good. This was a 12″ oyster mushroom, smoked mozzarella and rosemary pizza. I was very happy with this pizza, especially the fresh rosemary! The next pizza was a 16″ cheese and sausage pizza, again another good tasting pizza. We were very pleased.

So, you might be wondering about the crust, sauce and cheese - I know that’s what I like to hear about when I read about pizza. I’ll start with the crust. It’s crisp but chewy in the center with the slightest hint of a sweet, sourdough flavor - a flavor that is definitely alright by me. There is one choice of sauce, which is crushed tomatoes. Again, another great choice, although I would have liked to have had a slight bit more. The cheese? This was my least favorite. It tasted pretty good, but it managed to congeal a bit even though we ate the pizza quickly. I prefer the fresh, gooey mozzarella that stretches into a steaming string as you try to separate your slice from the rest of the pizza. But, overall Black Sheep’s pizza is nicely done and the bill for the four of us (because I know you’re curious) for two pizzas, two salads, two glasses of wine and two beers was $52 before tip - not too bad.

As we were leaving, Jordan (the owner) asked us if we’d like to see the oven. He took the time to explain why he chose coal, rather than wood, to fire the oven (it has to do with the consistency of heat and even cooking temperatures, rather than the taste it produces) and gave us a short history of coal-fired pizza ovens in New York. I love that he took the time for us, even as he and his cooks were juggling pizzas in and out of the oven.

Overall I enjoyed Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza. Pizza Nea is still #1 in my downtown pizza ranking, but Black Sheep has secured a solid #2 spot for me.

Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza
600 Washington Ave. N
Minneapolis, MN
612.342.2625