Hungry for real pizza, like Nell's?

This is the Indian Mounds store, an historic site at the intersection of County Roads 42 and 34 in Alexandria. The photo was taken in 1954. At one time there were six Native American burial mounds in the triangle formed there.
But what has Alex boomers buzzing these days is the search for the memorable taste and crunch of the amazing pizza pie once served up here by Nell Hoffman.

Comments like: "It was my very first pizza. Amazing. There I was, an Alexandria girl, being treated to my first pizza by an out-of-towner."

"For 20 years I've been looking for pizza that tasted like those simple early-days pizzas. Thin crust. Wonderfully herbal sauce. Just a little bit of greasy cheese. But wow! I still get high thinking about the aroma and flavor of those pizzas. If anybody knows the secret to them, please email to me."

"We've had the same exact thoughts. What happened? Would the young people today think we were nuts if they tasted what we remember as being "real" pizza? The Indian Mounds Pizza was fabulous..."

And so on. Suggestions for finding such classic pizza include possibilities in the Twin Cities: Carboni's, Third Street, etc.

Fortunately, we have an expert on the topic: Nell's daughter and our classmate, Diane Hoffman O'Brien.

Diane says:
"The Indian Mound Pizza recipe came from the Carusos. They owned a well-known Italian restaurant in St Paul. The recipe had been passed down for generations. The Carusos took my mother under their wing after trying my mother's first version of Norwegian spaghetti.

"They had a home on Government Point, if I remember right. All our ingredients came from an Italian market in St Paul. I have the recipe. It takes a day to make. It includes spices wrapped in cheese cloth, then riced after several hours of cooking in the sauce. It was lots of work.

"The onions went through a meat grinder. They were cooked with oil and meatballs then sauce was added.

"Now I just doctor up jarred sauce to make it taste like my Mom's. When making pizza I use Rhodes frozen bread dough. Make sure it's completely thawed. I get three crusts from each loaf. Roll out all the dough. Par-bake the crusts at 450 degrees. Make sure you pierce the dough several times so it doesn't rise.

"Place the crusts in a brown grocery bag when cooled until you use. I serve pizza on ripped and folded brown bags."

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Thanks for sharing that, Diane. Wow. The secret seems to be hard work and caring about the result. Who's ready for a real Pizza Party!