I searched my whole life for the perfect pizza. I was sure I’d find it in New York City, where large men with names that end in vowels serve acres of pizza per minute. I was disappointed to find New York-style pizza too flimsy, in need of folding in half lest it should buckle and lose all its toppings. And the large men were surly.
In Chicago I found pizza which couldn’t be handled without the aid of a garden trowel. In St. Louis I found pizza with crust as thin as a coffee filter. In Japan I found pizza that someone who only had a vague idea of what pizza should be had covered with corn and shrimp.
Thus disheartened I moved to Minnesota, a land of countless blessings and nearly as many lakes. And lo, what did I find? The perfect pizza which I had so desperately sought out for decades. You guys were hiding it at Red’s Savoy Pizza all this time!
Red’s Savoy Pizza was founded by Earl “Red” Schoenheider in 1965. Red tended his little pizzeria on East 7th St in St. Paul seven days a week until he went on to eternal life in 2017. In that half century he perfected the ‘Sota-style pizza, with a crust that is thin yet substantial enough to support copious toppings. Red’s style of sauce has been dubbed “passive-aggressive,” a tribute to that uniquely Minnesotan ability to seem like someone’s best friend while secretly … not caring for them too much, we’ll call it. Red’s sauce hits you up front with a sweet savoriness, which it follows up with a piquant whack to the taste buds. It’s not overwhelming, but just enough to elicit a hushed “Uff da!” from the Minnesotan trying it for the first time.
To skimp on cheese so close to America’s Dairyland would be criminal. Each of Savoy’s pizzas is positively buried under nearly one pound of the stuff, so you can rest assured every bite will stretch behind it several tendrils of hot, beautiful cheese. Two different types of cheeses, as a matter of fact – because why not?
But only children and ascetics would consider a pizza complete with cheese and cheese alone. Red knew this better than anyone else, so the pizzaiolo saw to the production of his own spicy sausage and made certain no other ingredients of his pizza could be visible beneath its mountain of toppings.
Savoy’s Meat Raffle pizza, which is named after a cherished tradition observed in fine bars throughout this great state, is piled under nearly a pound of their original sausage, pepperoni, hamburger and Canadian bacon. The Red’s House Special offers up more of that famous sausage and pepperoni, but also mushrooms, peppers, onions and green olives. I tell myself that the vegetables make the Red’s House Special a health food and reward my responsible dietary choices by eating a Meat Raffle pizza.
These are only my two favorite specialty pizzas at Red’s Savoy. Those with well-rounded palates will want to try their Hammer, Eastsider, and Hawaiian pizzas as well, and of course their Inferno, which complements Savoy’s original sausage and pepperoni with giardiniera, a spicy Italian relish made with pickled peppers and jalapeños.
With their wide selection of toppings, they will make any kind of 10” or 14” pizza you could conceive of. They even have gluten-free crust for those among us with constitutions that don’t agree with wheat.
Red’s Savoy offers all the other traditional pizzeria fare as well. They have salads for those of us who actually understand what health food is. They have baked pastas that will give any Italian grandma’s lasagna a run for its money. They also have wings, pizza fries, and the “meatball boat” – three meatballs smothered in sauce and served with the garlic bread requisite for mopping the plate. Heaven help us.
Red was hesitant to franchise the pizzeria he had spent so many years building up. He finally consented under one condition: “Whatever you do, don’t [mess] with my pizza.” (His precise wording might only be inferred.) Go to any one of Savoy’s 16 locations throughout the Twin Cities and you will see their management has kept their promise to Red.
Go to the Eden Prairie location specifically. There you will meet Kris Residence, who began managing the pizzeria in 2014 and eventually bought it.
“It feels like just yesterday that I left my hometown with nothing to my name except a pair of shorts and a towel,” said Kris. “Thanks to God, a little luck, and the awesome support of the Eden Prairie community I now have my own successful pizzeria. I’ve also had four kids since I first started out, and number five will be here soon!
“This year has been tough, but it’s also created an opportunity to give back to a city that had already treated us so well. When COVID first started we created a Facebook post offering a free pizza to anyone too elderly or at risk to leave their home. We didn’t expect too much to come of it. Somehow our little offer became local news, though, and we were soon delivering pizzas to pretty much everyone affected by the pandemic.
“I’ll never forget one 96-year-old woman we brought a pizza to. She was in tears thanking us. To see how much a simple pizza can mean to someone … well, it was just a little bit humbling.
“Red’s Savoy launched the Love Large campaign after that, where for $10 anyone could order a pizza delivery to whoever they felt could use the comfort. By asking for a price that only covered our costs we were able to deliver over 2,500 Love Large pizzas to all the essential workers in the community. We brought Meat Lovers and Infernos to hospitals, daycares, veterinary clinics, fire stations – anywhere a pizza could do some good.
“Our Love Large campaign is over now, and I hope things are returning to normal. Still, I could never forget how much everyone loves each other here in Eden Prairie.”
Red’s Savoy Pizza is located at 582 Prairie Center Dr, just across the way from SCHEELS. They are open seven days a week, just like Red would have had it, and are available to deliver big, delicious pizzas throughout our fair city. You can give them a call at (952) 944-3020 or find them online at savoypizza.com.
