eat + drink

Monday was a day of firsts in Minneapolis, with the opening of the city's first coal-fired pizzeria and first sake brewpub.

Pizza first. The chef stoking the oven at Black Sheep is Jordan Smith. "The hardest part is getting it lit; that's kind of tricky," he said with a laugh. "When the coal is burning properly, you get this amazing, steady heat, the best I've ever used for making pizzas."

Smith know his stuff, having been at the helm of Mission American Kitchen and Azur as well as a ton of D'Amico & Sons launches. In their garden-level shop (the former D'Allesantros Italian Market & Deli), Smith and his crew are pulling 12- and 16-inch pies out of that oven. Crisp, nicely browned crusts are topped with combinations such as clam-garlic, mushroom-mozzarella-rosemary, house-made fennel sausage-onion-green olive and a basic tomato-oregano. Prices range from $8 to $14 for smaller pies, $15 to $24 for larger ones, and additional ingredients (salt-packed anchovies, roasted bell peppers) are an extra $2 to $4.

Smith makes room on his tightly focused menu for a few non-pizza items: several simple appetizers and salads ($7 to $9) and ice cream sandwiches ($5) for dessert. Beer and wine options are similarly slim but affordable. In short, just the kind of casual hangout the North Loop neighborhood has needed to feel, well, more like a neighborhood.

Meanwhile, over in Lyn-Lake at moti-i, Blake Richardson is taking his passion for brewing -- he's the guy behind the lagers at the neighboring Herkimer -- where no other Minnesotan has gone before: into the sake business (moto is Japanese for "yeast starter").

Two minutes after we slipped into our roomy booth (spare and dark, the place looks nothing like its predecessor, Machu Picchu), our server announced that she was giving us her "Sake 101" course, and she meant it. Her enthusiastic discourse introduced us to junmai, sokujo, genshu and a host of other words that would have gone in one ear and out the other -- luckily, there was no pop quiz -- were it not for the handy cheat-sheet placemats. Richardson is currently brewing three sakes with more on the way, and wisely encourages his customers to taste-test with a flight option. Coming soon: sake sold by the bottle.

The kitchen turns out several dozen Japanese bar staples for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike: steamed buns filled with hoisin-glazed pork, steamed dumplings, grilled meat and vegetable skewers, house-cured kim chee and rice and noodle dishes. Top price is $10, with many falling in the $3 to $4 range.

RICK NELSON