Minnesota's Best Pizza Shop is 90 Minutes from Rochester

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If you're looking for a great slice of pizza you might want to make the 90-minute drive from Rochester, Minnesota up to Minneapolis. There you'll find Young Joni, a woman-owned pizza restaurant that's run by James Beard award-winning chef Ann Kim. It was also recognized by Food & Wine as having the best pizza in Minnesota.

Ann Kim was first an actress but decided to pursue a career in cooking instead and opened her first restaurant, Pizzeria Lola, in 2010 in Minneapolis according to Food & Wine. People were immediately obsessed with her pizza! Next, she opened a restaurant in Edina called Hello Pizza. And finally, her nationally acclaimed restaurant, Young Joni, opened in North Minneapolis in 2016.

The main focus at Young Joni is, of course, pizza since pizza is a love of Ann's, but there are other delicious items on the menu. Some of those include Pork Belly Ssäm, New Caledonia Prawns, and Korean Beef Short Ribs.

I think it's safe to say people go to Young Joni primarily for the wood-fired pizza, though. Ann's incredible pizzas include:

Umami Mama
crimini, shiitake and portobello mushroom, soy, sesame, taleggio, fontina, parmigiano-reggiano
Korean BBQ
beef short ribs, mozzarella, scallion, arugula, sesame, soy chili vinaigrette
Tavern Pie
house red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, jalapeño, honey

You can check out all of the pizzas and other menu items HERE.

And if those delicious-sounding pizzas weren't enough, Young Joni's also has a "secret" back bar. Their website describes it as "tucked discreetly behind the restaurant" where they serve "craft cocktails and pizzas in a cozy setting." To get to the back bar, just walk down the alley that's adjacent to Young Joni and look for a red light. If it's on, that means the back bar is open.

Right now they aren't open for dine-in, just takeout. They will reopen their dining room and back bar on June 1st.

While you're in the Twin Cities checking out Young Joni, you might want to consider making it a weekend. Try out one of these Twin Cities restaurants that Guy Fieri recommends the most!