Northern Fires ~ Cold weather, hot pizza

Minnesota is well known for cold winters. Now I am not going to say that 19F degrees is extremely cold, but it was windy, snowy, and much colder than the entire previous week. Needless to say, I needed something hot and kissed by fired to warm me up for dinner. Northern Fires was the perfect choice.

Minnesota is not as well known for all the amazing pizza we have to offer. We may not have a signature style, like our burger contribution of the Jucy Lucy, but whatever pizza mood you are in you can find it here. Northern Fires pizza does an extraordinary job of balancing technique, high quality ingredients, and the alchemy of fire to make knockout pizzas.

I ordered the Kingfield pizza, which is essentially a classic Margherita pizza with red onion, housemade sausage, and pepperoni. Other than the tomatoes used for their sauce, they get all their ingredients from local purveyors, which I am a huge fan of. They make a sourdough for their crust which can stand up to the high heat of the fire in the oven. It maintains a chewy and airy texture, while having deeply flavored color on the crust, with beautiful little char bubbles.

I recognize the execution and skill that goes along with making great pizza. The local ingredients and dough style makes it one of the most unique wood-fired pizzas in the Twin Cities. Instead of risking any kind of degradation of trying to rush home to eat it while it was still hot, I sat in my car and devoured it. Such a perfect meal for a cold winter night.

When I got home I thoroughly enjoyed the other items I had ordered. They had a punchy and bright Caesar salad, with a lovely amount of anchovy. A nice cannoli put me over the top but I can’t wait to go back for more pizza, and I highly recommend you do the same. 42nd and Cedar has some great food options and Northern Fires is an amazing anchor for the neighborhood.