John Dough's Pizza place rises via great taste in Melrose
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/23/2012 9:19 AM
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MELROSE, Minn. —There's more to John Dough's Pizza than pizza pie.
Sandwiches and wraps, classic and stuffed burgers, appetizers and salads are also featured with thin and Chicago-style pizzas on the Melrose restaurant's menu.
Leon Pierskalla is excited about the menu offerings. A recent kitchen expansion made it possible to expand the menu, he said. And he was able to add an espresso bar.
But it's pizza that brought Pierskalla into the food business.
Pierskalla, a St. Cloud native, worked at two pizza parlors before a 17-year career with UPS. He moved to Melrose with his wife, Dina, and two children eight years ago when Dina was transferred to the Stearns County town.
Pierskalla recalls a busy moving day. At the end of the day, they decided to have a quick supper of pizza. But there was one problem. The town had no pizzeria.
Three years later, when a Main Street business closed, Pierskalla saw an opportunity. He gutted the building, even jackhammering the floor. He gives high praise to Dina for her decorating skills and work on the project. The pizza ovens were installed and the pizzeria decorated in Tuscany-style complete with landscape mural.
They came up with John Dough's Pizza and the business slogan, "Pizza to die for."
"I had this idea of what I wanted to do with a pizza business even before I had an opportunity to actually do it," he said. "Everything we offer is unique to us. I've worked on the recipes for two weeks before we decided on the menu. A lot of people got free pizzas as we tweaked the recipes before we started."
All the vegetables are fresh, real cheese is used and a special sausage is used in the pizza ingredients, he said.
Hawaiian, taco, Buffalo chicken, chicken alfredo, deluxe and garden vegetable are among the many pizzas offered. Customers can also add their own toppings.
Leon has his own Leon's special topped with sausage, mushrooms, black olives and banana peppers.
Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., he offers a buffet of pizzas, soup and salads for $5.99. The soups — chicken noodle, beef, Wisconsin cheese or broccoli — are homemade.
All subs are oven baked and the burgers are hand patted, Pierskalla said.
"We try not to be a cookie cutter place,' he said. "We strive to be a notch up from everybody else."
Ham, turkey and chicken are among the ingredients for the oven roasted grinders. He also offers an Italian club made with Italian ham, Genoa salami, and Capocollo ham.
The buffalo chicken wrap, at $5.49, is made with seasoned Buffalo chicken, ranch, lettuce, mozzarella cheese, red onions and tomatoes.
The burgers are made from Angus beef. Pierskalla offers classics like cheeseburgers, California burgers, mushroom and Swiss and a patty melt besides the standard hamburger. He also has a burger called "The Cowboy" topped with American cheese, onion rings and barbecue sauce.
The Mad Dutchmen, at $6.75, is stuffed with cheddar and topped with American cheese. "The Baconator" is stuffed with bacon and cheddar cheese and topped with American. And the "Inferno Burger" is stuffed with jalepenos and mozzarella.
He also offers Italian salad, chef and side salad, pasta, appetizers and dessert pizzas.
A special treat is a root beer float made with 1919 root beer.
John Dough's Pizza offers wifi and is on facebook, he said. The facebook entries are updated regularly, including pictures and mentions of featured items.
Pierskalla uses fresh, tasty ingredients to create foods to please patrons palates.
Visit the facebook site and see for yourself at facebook.com/johndoughspizza.