Good morning and welcome to Pizza News, your only dedicated resource for ingesting multiple pizza-related Twin Cities news items in one place. Our top(pings) stories today:
Pig Ate My Pizza Destined for Pizzeria Heaven
That’s right: Popular Robbinsdale pizzeria Pig Ate My Pizza will close at year’s end, the crew at Travail Kitchen & Amusements announced Wednesday. "We’re taking this as an opportunity to get back to the humble beginnings of Travail where things were loose, creative, and extremely personable,” the announcement reads. The imaginative, high-end ‘za shop returned from renovations earlier this month with a barebones menu, much to the horror of its pork-nugs-loving fans.
Turns out this pizza-purgatory state is simply a placeholder for Travail’s next vision at 4124 W. Broadway Ave.: Nouvelle Brewing.
Set to open next month, Nouvelle will be realized with “a more beer-forward lens,” according to Travail, which is always a savvy move when rebranding as a brewery. Travail's ex-chef de cuisine, Andy Goettsch, will approach the suds program with "his refined palate and chef-minded approach"; chefs Nat Moser and Ben Feltmann will cook up "a new avant-garde, chef-driven menu"; and exec pastry chef Alexandra Althoff will concoct "new savory and sweet creations.” PAMP menu items may pop up at Nouvelle, where beer drinkers can expect “an elevated, laid-back experience with an emphasis on value and service.”
Travail will “give PAMP the long Minnesota goodbye it deserves” by slingin’ pies until its big New Year’s Eve party that’ll double as a launch event for Nouvelle. Travail HQ, of course, is located just across the street in Birdtown.
Turn Your Home Into a Train-Themed Pizza Palace
Last month we alerted you to the closure of Broadway Pizza in north Minneapolis and the historic preservation of its iconic caboose. At the time, we heard a common refrain from Racket readers: How can I transform my single-family home into a retro, train-filled pizza parlor?
Now’s your chance, weirdos, since basically everything inside the ol’ Broadway is on the auction block. We're talking vintage railroad lanterns, a painting titled Ballard of Iron Horse, a whole lotta throwback suitcases for some reason, TVs, neon Grain Belt signs, lamp posts, model trains, posters depicting close-up photography of spaghetti... hey, just check it out for yourself.
The auction, which runs through next Monday, is being conducted (train term) by Auction Masters, the same auction house that helped liquidate Electric Fetus Duluth, Nye’s Polonaise Room, Porky’s Drive-In, the Roller Garden, and the Minneapolis Auditorium. Broadway Pizza will continue to operate its 12 other metro locations.
Thus concludes the first, and possibly last, installment of Pizza News. Take us out, Olsen twins:
