Dinner at Michelangelo's

On Valentine's Day, I went out for dinner with my roommate at Michelangelo's, a neighborhood pizzeria on 50th and Xerxes in Minneapolis. Just another of the many little establishments I've wanted to try since moving to my new neighborhood.

The space is small - basically one large booth, a smaller booth, a couple of high tops and a few free-standing tables - so it's perfectly cozy.

Being Valentine's Day and all, I decided to treat myself to the cherry coke. I love restaurants that still serve it with real cherries.

I went with the standard dinner salad with bleu cheese dressing to start, and my roommate chose the Caesar (he was a little more enticed by the promise of a healthy dose of anchovies than I was). My salad came with green peppers, black olives, tomatoes and onions on a bed of iceberg and romaine. It was the perfect portion size and a great start to the meal.

To share, we ordered a medium Chef's Special pizza that came with Italian sausage, black olives, mushrooms and mozzarella. While I wouldn't say it cracked the top five of my favorite local pizzas (Punch, Pizza Luce, Red's Savoy, Pizza Nea and Pazzaluna), it was definitely quite good. The sauce was savory with a nice combination of herbs and spices, and the pizza toppings were well-paired.

Michelangelo's has definitely solidified itself as a 'regular' in my restaurant line-up. It's a perfect neighborhood gem, doesn't give the impression that it would ever be overwhelmingly busy and is reasonably priced with nightly specials (next time I might try taking advantage of the Wednesday night pasta deal).

P.S. If you haven't seen Valentine's Day yet, run (don't walk) to the theater. Adorable. Delightful. Hilarious.