Friday Food - Fondly

I found out this week that a favorite pizza joint (I started to write "restaurant" but that didn't sound right) in St. Paul is going to be changing hands later this month. Or, rather, it has already changed hands and is going to be having a full makeover - both of the decor and of the food - within the month.

The place is called Grandpa Tony's. It's been around for years and has really really good basic pizza. The thin crust pizza has a cracker-y crust around the edges, and the sauce is really good. And, well, there's word that the pizza will no longer be on the menu.

I'm guessing that Grandpa Tony's decided to call it quits because, a couple of years ago, a Little Caesar's pizza went in right across the street. So you had the old, good, more expensive pizza place across the street from the new, really pretty awful, cheap place. And, it seems, cheap but pretty awful has won.

So Christopher and I made a pilgrimage over there tonight with his sister (who will remain unnamed since I didn't ask if I could put her name in here) who lives in the area. The pizza was still basically the same, although there was a bit less pepperoni on it. But we had the same waiter we've had in the past and overall it was good.

The menu is definitely beginning to change (they've now got a wine list) and the decor has been re-done. And they now have 2 desserts on the menu, one of which was an amazing fresh, warm, gooey chocolate brownie with (not quite enough) vanilla ice cream.

We left having enjoyed the evening, although we are kind of worried that too many more changes might not be in our favor. We'll keep trying again, though, and hoping for the best. At least for now.