While we were gallivanting about Nordeast Minneapolis one beautiful Saturday afternoon, we were in such of some grub. As we passed by Element Wood Fire Pizza, I wondered why I hadn’t heard of it before. As Rob drove, I looked up Element’s menu online. It sounded delicious. So tell me again, Why hadn’t I heard of this place before?

In the Twin Cities, we all know about Punch, about Black Sheep, about Pizzeria Lola, about Pizza Lucé. I’d never heard of Element. Maybe you have. Maybe I’m just clueless.

But when Rob’s first choice to dine didn’t pan out, I began reading him the menu from Element. He conceded {either because it sounded good to him, too, or he just wanted to shut me up.}

It’s a tiny joint with maybe a half of a dozen tables. I imagine that they get more to-go and Bite Squad orders. It’s located in a part of Nordeast where lots of condos and apartments are situated. I can imagine taking a short walk to pick up a wood-fired pizza like this any day!

You order at the counter. Once your pizza is assembled, they put it in the wood-fire oven. If you are eating in, take a seat. They’ll bring your pizza out when it’s ready.

There are a few beers on tap, but we ordered a bottle of wine because their prices were very reasonable.

I loved the simple names of the types of pizzas on their menu. They follow the Element theme, too:

• Element
• Water
• Fire
• Wind
• Earth
• Nordeast – They had to make one of these, of course!

And there are many more. It was hard to choose. Rob first considered the Primo which was made with olive oil, mushrooms, garlic and mozzarella. He then decided against it because he thought that to make that one work, a pizzeria would have to do it really well and he wasn’t sure about this place yet. Instead, he chose the Nordeast.

The crust was perfectly done, especially for Rob, who doesn’t like the burnt bubbles on the crust edges found on many wood-fired pizzas. Everything had very good flavor! But then we tried mine…

I ordered this one because I fell in love with salami on pizzas when we were on The Honeymoon in Italy. I don’t see salami as a pizza topping option very often in the U.S.

Rob immediately had pizza remorse.

This one had even more flavor! The garlic and fresh basil did it. Rob was kicking himself because why on Earth {ha ha!} would he order a pizza without garlic?! I offered to share my pizza and all was right with the world. The salami was a little different and not as flavorful as I’ve had in Italy, but I wasn’t complaining. The pizza here is still underrated!

Of course, we took leftovers home. And I didn’t do the pizza the injustice of putting it in the microwave when we ate them. Instead, I set the oven to 350, brushed the crust with garlic olive oil and baked the slices for about five minutes or so. It was devine. And Rob got his garlic after all.

Sure, Pizzeria Lola is still our favorite. Punch still makes a killer classic Neapolitan. But Element is a pizzeria that shouldn’t be left in the dust. They use fresh ingredients and have pizzas with flavor. That impromptu visit was worth every morsel. Our only gripe? The wine was warm, almost hot. It’s hot in there with that pizza oven! A wine fridge may be in order.

In your opinion, what’s the most underrated restaurant where you live?

Cheers~
Carrie