41. Maggie’s Family Restaurant

Wayzata, Minnesota

We’re at the point in this countdown where it’s starting to feel like the playoffs; where a few junior contenders are getting some well-deserved accolades despite having noticeable flaws that prevent them from achieving true pizza immortality. If this were the March Madness tournament, we’d be left with mostly high-ranked teams peppered with a couple of surprises. Well, Maggie’s is that 13th seed that’s somehow still hanging in with the big guys.

Start with the unassuming name: Maggie’s. Family. Restaurant. Operating since 1979, it’s more like Perkin’s than even Perkin’s is—specializing in all-day breakfast and demonstrating limited ambition to change. Even more curiously, it has assumed residence in the metropolitan area’s more affluent neighborhood, surrounded by four-star dining and million-dollar homes in all directions. In all honesty, it wouldn’t stand a puncher’s chance on Food Network’s Pizza Throwdown, and yet here we are.

Yes, the pizza is good, but as mentioned earlier, the soul of a pizza can make up for a lot, and Maggie’s deals its own special brand of soul.

There’s a disconnect when enjoying an above-average pizza while surrounded by legions of omelette-eating seniors and high schoolers sharing a plate of hash browns on their first date (driving up in Dad’s Bentley, of course.) Maybe in a traditional sense there’s no reason to expect inspired pizza, but whenever I visit Maggie’s, it’s been more satisfying than it seems like it should. So if I put aside my biases, this is a surprisingly good place to take the family for pizza. It’s in their name.