Black Sheep Pizza

Jordan Smith has worked in the upscale restaurant biz for many moons now. He created the menu for Downtowner Woodfire Grill and was founding chef at Mission American Kitchen. Now, he’s realized every chef’s dream and birthed his own restaurant—a pizzeria, naturally. Black Sheep is notable in that it’s the first local pie shop to make pizza in a coal-fired oven. Coal, Smith says, maintains a more even temperature over many hours than wood does, making it well suited to a pizza oven. The pies don’t sit far from the coal, but Smith uses clean-burning anthracite (he says it burns cleaner than wood), not charcoal. (Most of the iconic pizzerias of the New York City region use coal.) I can’t say the coal imparts a unique flavor or texture to the pies, but the thin-crusted beauties have an earthiness about them. Smith’s pizza is not as wet as Punch’s Neapolitan-style, but toppings are of the same high quality, and Smith also employs a less-is-more approach. A few small plates and salads are on the menu, but by and large, it’s a pizzeria, one that, when it all settles out, will likely serve its neighborhood well but won’t be the kind of place you’d drive a half hour to. Ambiance is minimalist modern: simple wooden booths, contemporary art. The fluorescently lit, very open kitchen, with a false plastic ceiling (required by code), is the only off note.  —Adam Platt

600 Washington Ave. N., Mpls., 612-342-2625