Gordon Ramsay Comes to North St. Paul: The Pizza Factory I Grew Up With Is Suddenly in the Spotlight

Growing up in Oakdale, my friend Jeff and I would walk or ride our bikes over to The Pizza Factory in North St. Paul.

We'd get pizza and a pitcher of soda, play the two or three video games they had, put some money in the jukebox and just hang out.

And one thing I still remember, if you bought a large pizza, they would always throw in a free small cheese pizza.

We went there all the time.

I can still picture the place. I even remember Paul always being there, usually just sitting in one of the booths.

It's funny the little things you remember decades later, but when you spend that much time somewhere, those details stick with you.

So imagine my surprise this week when I saw Gordon Ramsay standing outside The Pizza Factory.

Of all the restaurants in Minnesota where Gordon Ramsay could show up with a television production crew, suddenly he's at a place where I spent a pretty good portion of my youth and teenage years.

I definitely didn't see that coming.

Gordon Ramsay shows up at The Pizza Factory

The Pizza Factory, located at 2137 Division Street in North St. Paul, announced that it would be closed September 14 through September 19.

Then Gordon Ramsay showed up.

Bring Me The News reported that Ramsay was spotted outside the restaurant while television production activity was taking place around the property.

His North St. Paul appearance follows a recent production at Lake Cafe in Big Lake, Minnesota, where Ramsay and a television crew also spent several days, as reported by MPR News.

FOX 9 reported that the Big Lake production was connected to Kitchen Nightmares.

As of the reporting surrounding The Pizza Factory production, however, I haven't seen official confirmation identifying exactly which Gordon Ramsay program is being filmed in North St. Paul.

So I'm not going to call this a Kitchen Nightmares episode until we know that for certain.

What we do know is interesting enough on its own.

Gordon Ramsay is in North St. Paul, a television production is happening at The Pizza Factory, and a restaurant I've known since I was a kid is suddenly getting a whole lot of attention.

This one feels different when you grew up here

It's funny what you remember about the places where you spent time as a kid.

For me, it's Jeff and me heading over there on foot or on our bikes.

The handful of video games.

The jukebox.

Pizza.

A pitcher of soda.

That free small cheese pizza that came with a large.

And Paul sitting in a booth.

At the time, none of it seemed particularly noteworthy. It was simply what we did.

Looking back now, those are often the memories that stick.

The Pizza Factory wasn't a special occasion restaurant for us. It was just part of growing up around Oakdale and North St. Paul.

That's probably why seeing Gordon Ramsay there made me smile.

You don't expect someone you've watched on television for years to suddenly turn up in a place you remember from being a kid.

North St. Paul gets a little national attention

There's something pretty fun about watching North St. Paul suddenly become part of a Gordon Ramsay story.

If you grew up around North St. Paul or Oakdale, you probably have your own places like this.

The restaurant you always went to.

The park where everyone met.

The local business everybody recognized.

The places you didn't think twice about at the time because they were simply part of everyday life.

Years later, you realize how many memories are tied to them.

That's one of the things I've always liked about this part of the East Metro.

There are still places here that people have known for years, and sometimes generations.

For a few days, one of those familiar neighborhood places has a television crew outside and Gordon Ramsay walking through the door.

That's pretty wild.

What is Gordon Ramsay doing in Minnesota?

The Pizza Factory isn't Ramsay's only Minnesota stop.

Earlier this month, he was at Lake Cafe in Big Lake, where television production took place and the restaurant temporarily closed, according to MPR News.

FOX 9 reported that the Big Lake production was for Kitchen Nightmares.

Other reporting surrounding Ramsay's Minnesota visit has indicated that additional restaurant filming has been taking place, although details about the North St. Paul production have not all been publicly confirmed.

That's why I'm especially curious to see what happens when The Pizza Factory reopens.

Does the restaurant look different?

Does the menu change?

And eventually, what are we going to see on television?

For somebody who spent countless hours there growing up, I'm probably a little more curious than most.

I think I'll need to go back

This one hits a little differently for me.

I grew up in Oakdale, and North St. Paul was simply part of everyday life.

The Pizza Factory wasn't somewhere I discovered later or a place I went once in a while.

Jeff and I were there all the time.

We'd walk or ride our bikes over, get pizza and a pitcher of soda, play the couple of video games they had, put some money in the jukebox and hang out.

And yes, I still remember that free small cheese pizza that came with a large.

At the time, it was nothing extraordinary.

It was just what we did.

Looking back now, though, those are the kinds of places and memories that stick with you.

These days, I spend a lot of my time helping people buy and sell homes throughout many of the same East Metro communities I grew up around.

Every once in a while, something happens that brings the old memories and the present together in a way you never would have expected.

Gordon Ramsay showing up at The Pizza Factory is definitely one of those moments.

I can't help but wonder what Jeff and I would have said if someone had told us back then that someday Gordon Ramsay would be standing inside the little pizza place we rode our bikes to.

I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have believed them.

And once those doors reopen, I have a feeling I'm going to need to make another trip back.

This time, though, I probably won't be riding my bike.