A HISTORY OF

PIZZA IN NORTHFIELD

Immigrating to Northfield, Minnesota 

Although several establishments served pizza throughout the 1950s, it didn’t become Northfield’s dish of choice until Bill Pitsavas came to town. 

Vassilio (Bill) Dimitrios Pitsavas was born on April 27, 1929, in Katafygion, Kozanis, Greece. He lived in Greece until he was 27 years old. In 1956, he and several other men won a lottery to help them travel to the Americas. Bill emigrated via Ellis Island and ultimately arrived in Duluth, Minnesota. He worked in many industries throughout the state before deciding to move to Northfield and open up a pizza restaurant. When he first visited Northfield, he met people who would become lifelong friends. It was due to the bonds that he decided to stay. 

In 1967, Bill invited nineteen members of his family to come to America to help with the restaurant. All nineteen family members came over on the same plane to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bill met the group at the airport and had several cars ready to take to Northfield. That night, everyone stayed at Bill’s.

Bill would go back every summer to Greece to visit family. One summer, Bill met Theologia through a mutual friend. They eventually got married in Greece in 1972. She later joined Bill’s family in Northfield.  

After coming to Northfield, the adults immediately started to work at the restaurant. The kids went to Longfellow School. All the kids grew up speaking Greek and knew little English, and while none of the teachers at the school taught the kids English, they picked it as they went. Despite the language barrier, the children got along well with the neighbor kids and made many friends. Overall, Bill’s family says, Northfield embraced them with open arms.

Pizza in Northfield

Ideal Cafe was opened in 1952 by Lois Bragen. It was located at 317 Division Street in downtown Northfield. The building had been operating as a cafe since the 1800s and had cycled through a number of owners. It grew to be a popular hang-out spot for Carleton College students. The Cafe is the first business in Northfield known to sell pizza. They would eventually dedicate Wednesday night entirely to serving pizza.

On December 16, 1960, Bill’s Pizza Palace opened. It was located where Basil’s Pizza is today–301 Water St. At the start, there were fifteen different pizza combinations. 

Over the years, some family members left and either started their own or worked at other pizza places. Some were across the border in Wisconsin, some south of Northfield in Owatanna, and some in Farmington. Soon, the Pitsavas family had built a pizza empire across the Upper Midwest.

In the early 1970s, Angelo's Italian Restaurant was opened by John Burbank. This was the fourth out of six Angelo’s that he would open in Minnesota. Marc Anderson started out as a cook at the Angleos in 1978. Around the early 1980s, Anderson and Eric Nordstrom formed a partnership and bought the pizza place from the Burbank family. When Angelos first opened there were only four other pizza places in town.  By the time they closed in 1985, there were seven in Northfield. Mark Thornton, a former high school teacher in Northfield, had his first date there in 1985. Many others, like Thornton, loved Angelos. There is one more Angleo’s Italian Restaurant open in south St. Paul. It is the same pizza that was sold back in the 1970s. Although Angelos is not around in Northfield anymore, it still holds a place in Northfielder’s hearts.

When Basil’s opened, Theologia had a big part in the business. She worked alongside her husband at Basil’s and Bill’s prior. Throughout the years, Theologia helped not change the pizza but refined it. Theologia’s knowledge helped shape the recipes into what they are today. After Bill passed away, she wanted to keep the business and recipes authentic to her husband’s legacy. 
Loula Valak was one of the original nineteen family members who came over in 1967, at just nine months old. She grew up working at Bill’s Pizza and eventually, she and her husband, Brad Valak, ran Bill’s Pizza for one year. After Bill’s closed they decided to open their own pizza place and call it “B and L’s Pizza”.  They stayed in Northfield, contributing to the Pitsavas family’s enduring legacy in the area.

In 1977, Phil Gounikis and other family members decided to leave the family business. The group went to Menominee, Wisconsin. There, they took over a pizza restaurant named Ted’s Pizza, which ran until 1999. Afterward, they wanted to open up their own place and moved to Missouri to do so. They stayed there for five years but ultimately decided to move back to Northfield. In 2002, Phil opened “George’s Vineyard” and named it after his father. 

In 1979, Bill decided to return with Theologia and his children to Greece. He planned to become a silent partner in the business, while his other family members, who stayed in Northfield, continued to run the business. Bill and his family stayed in Greece for five years. They returned to Northfield in 1984, but family disagreements prevented Bill from returning to his former job. Eventually, Bill got the rights to the restaurant’s building while others retained control over the name “Bill’s Pizza Palace”. This led Bill to open “Basil’s Pizza” in 1984.