History

Chef Ann Kim opened Pizzeria Lola in Linden Hills in 2010 and Young Joni in Northeast in 2016, then earned the James Beard Best Chef Midwest award in 2019, the first Korean-American to win that category. Her La Parisienne pizza at Young Joni, a wood-fired pie with prosciutto, cream and arugula, sits next to korean fried-chicken pies on the same menu, and the formula has spread across the Twin Cities. Wood-fired pizza in Minneapolis now reads as the Ann Kim style: thin Neapolitan crust, Asian-influenced toppings, run hot.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Soy

Make it at home

Yield Makes 2 12-inch pizzasHands-on 40 minTotal 24 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 350g 00 flour
  • 230g cool water
  • 1g instant yeast
  • 8g sea salt
  • 200g fresh mozzarella, torn
  • 100g kimchi, drained and chopped
  • 100g braised pork belly, sliced
  • 2 tbsp gochujang thinned with 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds, 2 scallions sliced
  • Olive oil, to drizzle

Method

  1. Mix flour, water, yeast and salt to a shaggy dough. Knead 8 minutes until smooth.
  2. Rest covered at room temperature for 4 hours, then refrigerate overnight (12 to 18 hours).
  3. Divide into 2 balls. Rest at room temperature 2 hours before baking.
  4. Heat oven and a pizza steel or baking stone to maximum (500F to 550F) for 45 minutes.
  5. Stretch each ball to a 12-inch round. Brush with gochujang glaze. Top with mozzarella, kimchi, pork belly.
  6. Slide onto the hot steel. Bake 5 to 7 minutes until crust is charred at the edge. Finish with sesame seeds and scallions.

Tip from the editors. No pizza steel? Use a cast-iron skillet pre-heated upside down on the rack. Crust comes out browner than on parchment and closer to the Lola char.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat wood-fired korean-american pizza

Wood-fired Korean-American pizza in Minneapolis

Young Joni ★ 4.7

Wood-fired pizza, Korean$$$northeast

Ann Kim's Young Joni on 13th Avenue NE has run Northeast Minneapolis's defining wood-fired pizza room since 2016. James Beard Best Chef Midwest 2019.

Signature: Wood-fired pizza, Korean fried chicken

Order: The Korean-influenced pizza La Parisienne and the kimchi-glazed wings.

Tip: The unmarked back bar entrance is on the alley off Madison Street; weekday wait is 30 minutes after 19:00.

165 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413 Book →

Pizzeria Lola ★ 4.6

Wood-fired pizza$$linden-hills

Ann Kim's Pizzeria Lola on Xerxes Avenue has run wood-fired Neapolitan-Korean pizza in Minneapolis since 2010. The room that put Kim on the James Beard track.

Signature: Wood-fired Margherita, Lady ZaZa

Order: The Lady ZaZa pizza with Korean sausage and kimchi or the wood-fired Margherita.

Tip: Reservations on Tock; walk-ins go on the list at 17:00. The photo-booth dating from 2010 still works.

5557 Xerxes Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55410 Book →

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