February 13, 2013

• Pizzeria Lola

  
  One of my sisters was in town visiting last weekend and so we decided to take her out to a new place. There were many options but we settled on probably the most popular and a local favorite pizzeria in St. Louis Park. Pizzeria Lola has a definite neighborhood vibe. We arrived at around 7:20 knowing the line will be long for our party,  and the place was already full. We were told the wait would be about 60-70 minutes for our group.  The staff were friendly and attentive. We moved to the back of the restaurant and had fun taking some pictures in the photo booth while we waited.

  

  

  We started out with the the seasonal vegetable - Roasted Brussels Sprouts with butternut squash, pearl onions & Grana Padano. The Brussels sprouts were excellent, a little charred--crispy on the outer leaves, the sweetness from butternut squash and the Grana Padano accompanied the Brussels sprouts well.

  
  
  Roasted cauliflower with lemon & Calabrian chili. This dish has some fiery kick when you bite into the peppers that were finely sliced throughout. The lemon zest gives the cauliflower and refreshing taste and balance out the spiciness from the peppers.

  
  
  The Iowan - La Quercia prosciutto, ricotta, mozzarella, garlic confit & arugula. This was my favorite pizza that we ordered that night. The saltiness of the prosciutto, the creaminess of the ricotta and garlic confit, and the very subtle bitterness from the arugula makes this pizza  a it at our table.

  

  
  
  The Boise topped with potato, gruyere, fontina, caramelized onion, olive oil & rosemary was our gorup's least favorite. It simply did not stand out to us. Rather, it tasted somewhat bland after having tried the others. I didn't feel like the dose of sweetness from the caramelized onion went very well with the potato.

  

  
  
  Lady ZaZa house-made kimchi and Korean sausage, serrano peppers, scallions, sesame & soy chili glaze. This was a colorful pizza, in looks and in taste as well. It had an array of flavors, a spicy zing from the serrano peppers, sweetness from the soy chilli glaze, and the distinct tang from the kimchi.

   

  

  
  
  House-made vanilla soft serve ice cream drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of fleur de sel. I'm not really into ice cream all that much, or I can't have a lot but I did have a spoonful of the ice cream. The fruitiness of the extra-virgin olive oil brings forth the vanilla flavor of the ice cream, and the sea salt brings out the sweetness of ice cream. I think for ice cream lovers, it would be an awesome dessert to try, but for me who's not big into ice cream, thought it was ok.

  

  Overall, we had a good time here. As busy as this place was, the service was efficient, friendly, and attentive. I'd like to go back again and try some other pizzas such as the The Forager with crimini, shitake, and portabella mushrooms, taleggio, fontina, tarragon & truffle oil, Korean BBQ with Grass Run Farm beef short ribs, mozzarella, scallions, arugula, sesame & soy-chili vinaigrette, The Xerxes with sautéed spinach, sheep’s milk feta, mozzarella, kalamata olives & almonds (minus the olives), and The Sunnyside with La Quercia guanciale, pecorino, cream, leeks & two organic eggs sunnyside up.

  • 10:22 am
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