{"id":8586,"date":"2016-04-23T09:35:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-23T14:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=8586"},"modified":"2016-04-23T09:35:38","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T14:35:38","slug":"basils-pizza-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=8586","title":{"rendered":"Basils Pizza Review, an Homage to Joe Szabo (Northfield, MN)"},"content":{"rendered":"

40 years ago, it was called \u201cBill\u2019s,\u201d and it was in the same location.\u00a0 Hasn’t changed much, same counter, same booths, now fairly worn, the faux leather brittle with age.\u00a0 The home-spun murals of scenes of Italy on the walls are fading.<\/p>\n

But would the pizza hold up?\u00a0\u00a0 Did we love it because it was great?\u00a0 Or because at the time, it was the only show in town?<\/p>\n

My sophomore roommate was a guy from Chicago named Joe Szabo.\u00a0\u00a0 Nice guy.\u00a0 Talented artist.\u00a0 Wanted to grow up to be a famous talented artist.\u00a0 Hope he made it.<\/p>\n

Most college roommates experience the \u201ceither \/ or\u201d phenomena, meaning that it\u2019s pretty normal that one roommate has some money, and the other doesn’t.\u00a0 The cycle reverses on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

In our dorm room, whoever had the money had the power to dictate toppings:\u00a0 Joe always got ground beef and diced onion; for me it was Italian sausage and sliced green olives.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Neither of us minded the other\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n

There were a couple of great things about rooming with Joe.\u00a0\u00a0 He had a car.\u00a0\u00a0 And a very tasty morsel of a girlfriend.\u00a0\u00a0 In a college dorm room, it\u2019s hard not to become somewhat \u201cfamiliar\u201d with everything that goes on and Sara was, well (swoon).<\/p>\n

One night Joe let me use his car (unheard of) so he and Sara could have a special \u201cmoment\u201d.\u00a0 He flipped me a sawbuck, too, and said \u201cgo have a \u2018za\u2019, and take your time.<\/p>\n

I started off down College Avenue, it was winter, there were patches of ice, I was very careful with Joe\u2019s pride, a green Beetle.\u00a0\u00a0 I stopped at the RR crossing for a slow moving freight, minding my own business, anticipating the \u2018za, when WHAM!\u00a0 I got re-ended.\u00a0\u00a0 As you probably know, the Beetle has the engine in the back, so a whack can cause serious damage.<\/p>\n

No one was hurt, someone summoned the police, who informed me the drunk driver who just plowed into my roommate\u2019s car was \u201cso and so\u2019s son\u201d, and there was never, ever anything going to come of it.<\/p>\n

And nothing did.\u00a0\u00a0 I got a pizza all by myself, Joe and Sara had their special moment, and if Joe was ever pissed about the accident, he never let on.<\/p>\n

So nearly 40 years later, I show up at Basil\u2019s, order a medium of (my) sausage and green olive, and (Joe\u2019s) ground beef and onion, to compare and contrast as it were, to see if this is great pizza, or just a glorified memory.<\/p>\n

I did notice a couple things while the dude is making the pie, things that (for me) are critical for a good pie: 1) sliced cheese, not shredded, and 2) bulk sausage, pinched by hand, in nice sized pieces.<\/p>\n

The old Baker\u2019s Pride ovens had lost some oomph, it would take a full 15 minutes to bake, with the requisite occasional door opening, and paddle spin.<\/p>\n

I took my hot pies back to my motel room.\u00a0\u00a0 I tried one, then the other.\u00a0 Then the first, then the other.\u00a0 They were superb. Great melted cheese that clings to the crust, a cracker like crust, a big of tang to the sauce, and quality toppings.<\/p>\n

Could I eat two mediums all by myself?\u00a0 Nah. But 40 years ago I could.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Basil's<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Basils Pizza Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

40 years ago, it was called \u201cBill\u2019s,\u201d and it was in the same location.\u00a0 Hasn’t changed much, same counter, same booths, now fairly worn, the faux leather brittle with age.\u00a0 The home-spun murals of scenes of Italy on the walls are fading. But would the pizza hold up?\u00a0\u00a0 Did we love it because it was… Continue reading Basils Pizza Review, an Homage to Joe Szabo (Northfield, MN)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,34,22,26],"tags":[664,2317,2332,2478],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8586"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}