Downtown Fargo now has a new pizza place - and it’s got good, cheap pizza, too!

Spicy Pie is a new pizza restaurant on the corner of 4th Ave N. and Broadway in downtown Fargo, where a.k.a. men’s clothing store used to be.  That corner has been under construction for a while, and then I saw it buzzing with people just a few days ago. It was closed on Sunday, so I checked it out today (Monday, May 24, 2010) with my husband.

First of all - it’s not a fancy or gourmet pizza restaurant, although the interior is quite nice with the brick walls and cool tables. There are a lot of TVs, too. Their menu is pretty simple: you can order either pizza by the slice or create your own whole pizza with basic toppings (sausage, salami, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, olives, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, pineapples, green and black olives, jalapenos, and anchovies).  They also offer a few sandwiches (”grinders”), tacos, and tostadas. That’s all. Oh, and a few beers on tap (Blue Moon, Flat Tire, etc.), cocktails and mixed drinks, and some wine options. You order and pay for your food at the counter, then get your number, and the server brings your food to your table in about 5 minutes.

At first I was quite disappointed that they did not have pizza margherita or any special pizzas with unusual toppings. So I ordered a slice of pizza with onion and pepperoni. My husband ordered a slice with pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives and another with japaleno and sausage. And we were both pleasantly surprised at the quality of the pizza. The dough was thin in the middle and fluffy at the edge. It was very tasty without being oily or soggy at all. Also the tomato sauce was very simple and  delicious - it’s like smeared whole tomatoes on the dough rather than a thick sauce with dried herbs and other ingredients. It was not salty or grossly sweet. I loved it! (They had a lot of big cans of “Alta Cucina” tomatoes on display: this is a canned plum tomato for restaurants.) The only quibble was that the sausages were too big, and they were more like meatballs. However everything else was far better than any other pizzas we have eaten in this area, except Stella’s. I even went back for dinner and got a slice of mushroom and onion. The onions were sprinkled more evenly than what I had for lunch.

And the best part is the price. A slice of pizza with tomato and cheese for $2! Additional toppings are only 25 cents each. The slices are quite big as you can see in my picture. Canned soda is $1. I am sure the beer and cocktails are priced nicely as well.

Usually great things are not cheap, and Spicy Pie is no exception. Their great pizza at a very low price comes with a small problem - they serve everything on a paper plate, and there is no real silverware in the restaurant besides the cooking tools. I would be happy to pay $1 more if that would help them serve on a real plate. I mean, it would still cost only $4 to get a big slice of pizza with four toppings..!! According to an excerpt from InForum, this is a “New York style pizza restaurant” opened by a company in Minot, N.D.

Anyways. Within just a few days of opening, this restaurant seems to have attracted quite a lot of young people and families. It was packed both at lunch time and dinner time today. Their website is www.fmspicypie.com, but there is nothing up yet.

Open from 11am - 11pm on Monday-Thursday

Open from 11am - 2am on Friday and Saturday/ Sunday closed

One more thing to love about downtown Fargo, I would say.

(P.S. Yuki Hana is open and Chef Sheng is happily working there. I visited once and was happy with his sushi rolls, but I am still not a big fan of their kitchen. I will report after I visit again, with my camera.)

The 10th Fargo Film Festival opened today and it will continue until the 6th. (Check out http://www.fargotheatre.org/) I have lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area for almost 3 years now, and I want to share some of my favorite things in this place with whoever is visiting town for this wonderful event. (I hope this will be useful for any future visitors, too.)

1) Enjoy more culture - Fargo has so much culture especially for its size - classical music, jazz, theater, musicals, visual arts, and so on. There are wonderful organizations such as the FM Symphony Orchestra, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, and Theatre B to name a few. Three colleges (Concordia, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and North Dakota State University) all have their own arts calendars, packed with orchestra concerts, band concerts, chamber music concerts and theater productions. Pop and rock events go on at the Fargodome and the Civic Center. High school productions are also very high quality and vital to the community. There are also several dance schools.

General Event Calendar can be found at the Culture Pulse Page: http://fmarea.culturepulse.org/ This is a page where anybody can upload information on any cultural event, but it is not entirely thorough.

FM Symphony: Master Works Series, Family Concerts, and Chamber Music Series http://www.fmsymphony.org/

FM Community Theatre: boasting 12 productions a year, this theater works with local talents and schools. http://www.fmct.org/

MSUM’s Cheryl Nelson Lossett Performing Arts Series: Performances ranging from Ladysmith Black Mombazo to the Guthrie Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. http://www.mnstate.edu/perform/

Concordia Performing Arts Series: Another great performing series at a great price. http://www.cord.edu/Offices/Cultural/performingarts.php

FM Opera: Celebrating its 41st season this year with La Traviata, La Boheme and Amahl and the Night Visitors. http://www.fmopera.org/

Here is my personal invitation for this week: a fascinating presentation of abstract aesthetics in artwork and chamber music is scheduled for Thursday evening, March 4, at 7:30pm on the Gaede Stage at MSUM. Featuring the 8th Street Quartet of the FM Symphony and two guest musicians from the St. James-St. Benedict Universities.

2) Browse Downtown - Walking along Broadway is a joy. There are so many beautiful galleries and precious shops. Here are some of my favorite spots on Broadway (and a few off-Broadway as well) starting from 6th Ave N. down to Main Ave.

Beyond Running: a cozy and serious running store that’s a big part of the Fargo Marathon. They have a regular Tuesday running club and other activities such as marathon training and yoga classes. Nice shop to browse through, too.

FunkyJunque - this is a very pretty shop. It’s like a picture from Mark Bailey’s “Simple Home” came alive. This store has charming accent cushions (felt cushion adorned with leather, saying things like “brrrrr”), a surprisingly good collection of blouses and sleep-shirts, cute gift tags and white colored plates, and other home-furniture items.

Zandbros Variety - a bookstore/gift shop, featuring an interesting collection of books (good cookbook collection, too), funny cards, cool jewelry items, bath stuff, plates, and a few clothes and bags. It’s a great store for getting gifts, girls and boys alike.

Lena K - this store has lots of pretty tops by designers such as Vince and Rebecca Taylor, designer jeans, flowing and sexy dresses, and several Juicy Couture items. Price is on the high side, but there are always some really nice sale items. If you find your size, it’s your lucky day! I also like their small jewelry collection.

O’Day Cache - this jam-packed store recently expanded to accommodate a lot of furniture from China, including some very cool antique tables and beds. It’s a good store to go to if you need a gift but can’t come up with a good idea. This store also sells Vosges chocolate, which I love, at a reasonable price. *Majority of the items on sale come from China, so many of them are not the best quality. But still pretty and fun.

Shannalee - another store with great and fun gift items. Clothes are a little bit over-priced and not my favorite style, but this store carries really cute T-shirts saying “I (love) Fargo.” * This store, Lena K, and O’Day Cache are totally girlie stores. If I were a guy, I would feel a bit out of place walking into these stores.

Boucle - a boutique-type yarn store that is just beautiful to browse through. I don’t knit, but I went to get some things for my sister in law who does. * Since I don’t knit, I have no idea if this shop is a high-end shop or over-priced, etc.

Ecce Gallery - relatively new gallery that also houses a yoga studio. They feature local artists as well as commercial items by Alessi and Jonathan Adler. I like the way this gallery feels, and I love the fact that there are things that I can actually BUY!

Plains Arts Museum - this small but beautiful arts museum is located a few blocks west of Broadway on 1st Ave N. The 1st floor has a small Yamaha grand piano, and quite a few concerts happen here. Museum gift shop is also nice.

Fargo Public Library - a few blocks off from the Broadway, east on the 1st Ave N. This newly completed library has a wonderful bright and fun feeling to it, and is a very friendly place for anybody who likes libraries and books. There is also a Dunn Bros. cafe inside the library that has free Wi-Fi!

Vlana Vlee - another shop that opened recently. It’s a glitzy+girly shop with amazing quantity of “stuff” -all kinds of stuff ranging from baby-shower gifts to a chunky dinner table. It’s a fun store to browse.

Antique on Broadway - this is a huge store filled with antiques (and some items that just look old).  Fun place to look around. I recently popped in because a very long train was passing by, and I could not stand in the freezing air any more! I ended up browsing for about 30 minutes, and bought really cute copper water wagon figurine that now complements one of my mantel-top picture frames as well as a salt and pepper shaker, all for $6.

Off-Broadway, please come visit the Roberts Street Chapel on the corner of 4th Ave and Roberts Street. Marjorie Schlossman’s artwork will brighten up even your gloomiest day!

P.S. The West Acres Mall Area is not that special (it’s just like any other mall in small and medium sized cities in the States), but there is a special shop called “Stabo” inside the West Acres shopping center. I fell in love with Porsgrund (Norwegian bone china company) in this store, and they also carry other European gift-items including key-chains by Troika. (They are the best!)

3) EAT! - Please see my posts about Fargo’s restaurants.

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/04/10/my-favorite-restaurants-in-fargo-moorhead-area/

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/06/28/fargos-newest-excitements/

4) Have fun - I am not a person who goes clubbing or drinks much, but I know that the HoDo has a good night scene. Also there is a multiplex on 25th Street south of Main Ave. called “The Hub” - that place gets packed during the weekends. Also downtown has many bars and jazz-concert clubs. For families, there is the Red River Zoo (have not visited but people seem to like it).

In the middle of July, Broadway goes crazy with the Street Fair - endless carts selling hand-made jewelries, artworks, small furniture items, clothes, foods, etc. I did not get to see it in my first summer, but I enjoyed it immensely last year. If you are in town during the summer, it’s a must-see!

Moorhead has an interesting place called the “Hjemkomst Heritage Center.” It looks like the white sails of a big ship, and I thought it was an actual Viking museum.  Instead, it’s  a memorial that permanently stores the Hjemkomst Viking Ship built by Moorhead resident Robert Asp and his family. They sailed to Norway on this ship in 1984. There is also a replica of Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik, Norway outside the center. This church is used often as a wedding chapel. During the summertime, the center hosts a Scandinavian festival and a Viking festival, and there are yearly exhibitions and special events.

Oh, and there is a Curling Club (!!!!!!) by the Fargo North High School, and people do snow-mobiling, ice-fishing and hockey during the winter time. There is even a street-side hockey rink on the 12th Ave N. I still remember the first time I saw several kids playing a game in -20F weather. It was like watching a scene from “The Saddest Movie in the World.” It was so cool.

Also people have told me that there are so many beautiful lakes within a 2 or 3 hours of Fargo-Moorhead.  I must experience it this summer.

Well, I think I will now go check out the Fargo Film Festival schedule and see which ones I enjoy the most.