Ann Kim + Target, The House Food and Tap in Saint Joseph, and Pho Tempo
The Churn for Friday, April 4, 2025
In this week’s edition of The Heavy Table’s Churn newsletter, we tried the Ann Kim/Target crossbranded pizza collection, visited the new foodhall in Saint Joseph, and tried a terrific pho shop in Burnsville. Heavy Table exists solely because of the support of subscribers like you - thanks for making our work telling the stories of food and drink in the Upper Midwest possible.
(SOMEWHAT) ON TARGET
The Ann Kim/Target collaboration isn't flawless, but it boasts some clever ideas.
By James Norton
It's always a little jarring to see something local and familiar in a space that feels corporate and national-scale. I felt a legitimate jolt of excitement when I first saw big bags of Duluth Coffee Company beans on display at Costco - we knew founder Eric Faust back at the start of his coffee journey, when he was writing coffee stories for Heavy Table.
On a similar front, happening upon an entire freezer display of Ann Kim/Target Good and Gather crossbranded frozen foods this week was a little startling. I'd read about the collaboration, but to see it in the flesh and occupying prime retail space was another thing entirely.
Ann Kim and Target are natural partners. They're both Minnesota-made but national in prominence, they both stand at the intersection of "accessible" and "aspirational," they've both been toweringly hip and successful, and they've both gone through controversies of their own making, Kim’s largely past and Target’s still ongoing.
The pizza segment of the Kim/Target Good and Gather collaboration is noteworthy first and foremost for its pizza crust. The crust is touted as "wood-fired," actually baked in wood-fired ovens, and tastes (wait for it) - pretty dang wood-fired. There's some real chew and substance to this crust, and when these pizzas otherwise fell flat, it was a redeeming point in their favor.
From least to most enjoyable, here are quick snapshots of three of Good & Gather Ann Kim pizza collabs:
Wood-Fired Crust Pizza: Four Cheese with Sweet & Spicy Chili Sauce | $8 for a 15 oz. pizza
Upon tasting this slice, my 7-year-old daughter immediately exclaimed: "This doesn't taste like cheese pizza! It's too sweet!"
She wasn't wrong. The "spicy" side of the pizza's sweet-and-spicy chili sauce is mostly missing in action, and the sweet side is insipid. Because the pizza's cheese is relatively delicate and understated rather than being a salty fat bomb, the whole thing tastes unbalanced and insubstantial.
Four Cheese is a deceptively tough sandbox to play in, because literally the cheapest store-bought frozen pizzas can put up a win in this category by just showing up and meeting customer expectations (AKA being salty and greasy). This pizza does not meet those expectations, nor does it provide anything else a consumer is likely to want.
Wood-Fired Crust Pizza: Pickle Pie | $8 for a 17.1 oz. pizza
We must award Pickle Pie a full point for boldly topping a pizza with slices of pickles and potato chips, but then immediately deduct most of that point for failing to actually commit: the pickles don't have much acid or crunch, and the chips have very little salt or flavor.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Heavy Table to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.