分类: Pizza

Celebrating at Orsetta Craft Kitchen and Bar

8/20/2026

On my birthday, I had only one plan: To go to Orsetta Craft Kitchen and Bar for dinner. I’ve walked past their windows and seen a full restaurant on many a warm summer night while out and about in De Pere and imagined myself seated at their cozy bar with a brandy old fashioned and a big pizza all to myself. What more could a girl ask for, really? I made reservations for myself and my father on the evening of my birthday, and I waited anxiously for my chance to finally arrive.

These walls were once home to La Nostra Strada, a pizzeria I find myself missing a lot these days. Today, they house a high end eatery that appears to be at the heart of De Pere’s dining community these days. When my father and I arrived for our reservations, there were tables open everywhere we looked. By the time we put in our drinks order, all of those tables were filled. By the crowd alone, I knew that I made the right choice for dinner that night.

We were seated in the back of the restaurant, right beneath one of the windows looking out in the direction of the Fox River. Our visit took place just as the smoke from the Canadian Wildfires was starting to pour into the area, and it did put a damper on the view. The interior of the restaurant was gorgeous, at least, and one could forget about all of the smoke in the clean, cool air inside. The natural lighting at our seat turned out perfect for the pictures I’d take for this article.

We started with their focaccia and whipped ricotta appetizer. The retro plating with that big swoosh of cheesy spread was delightful, and the focaccia looked beautifully bouncy in every slice. The drizzle of balsamic all around the plate adds some pops of acidity to each bite when you swipe the bread through the smooth cheese. I probably could have eaten the entire plate on my own, but thankfully, I had my dad around to keep me honest so that I didn’t spoil my appetite before our pizzas arrived.

Orsetta offers sourdough thin crust and Sicilian Pan style pizzas in all varieties listed on their menu, and it was difficult for my father and I to decide which ones we wanted. The easy thing was choosing to do one of each crust style. We ordered the Hot Honey Pepperoni on the thin crust and The Brooklyn Supreme on the Sicilian pan. This seemed like the best compromise to get the best of both worlds.

The Hot Honey Pepperoni is exactly what it says on the label. Cups of pepperoni lay on a blanket of cheese, and those cups are filled with a little pool of their own fat and tasty calabrian chili honey. Getting this combination on the crunchy sourdough thin crust was a slam dunk. The hint of sweetness from the honey punched up the spice in the pepperoni AND that of the calabrian chili mixed in. Even in leftovers days later, it helped keep a balance between the other ingredients on the pizza.

The Brooklyn Supreme was the perfect choice for the Sicilian Pan. That thick crust carried the weight of pepperoni, sausage, peppers, onions, and olives, and it taught me to love a combination that I have avoided for a large part of my life. Little me would be disappointed in adult me, but Supreme on a thick crust made every slice feel like a meal.

The prices at Orsetta do keep this restaurant firmly in the special occasion category for my current budget, but by ordering their pizzas, that special occasion was able to keep going through the rest of the week. I do intend to visit again and try their entree and pasta menus another time, but pizza is definitely the way to go if you want the most bang for your buck here.

You can take a look at their website to see their menu and make reservations of your own to plan your own trip. Their social media is the best place to keep an eye on any specials going on. I’ll be going back again soon, for sure.

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The Pizzas at this Ledgeview Brewery Are Worth the Trip

3/26/2025

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It’s been two years since Cocoon Brewing first opened in Ledgeview on the far southeastern end of Green Bay. Back then, I walked in during one of the first weeks in business and had high hopes for its future. I have, unfortunately, not been back since. That changed one cold March afternoon, and I finally got myself back in the doors to see how time had treated the little baby brewery. A hankering for pizza and a lunch with a friend made for the perfect excuse to visit again.

Improvements have been made on all fronts. The private shacks they call cocoons have increased in number. New art and signage has been added to the entryway of the building. Just the day before my visit, they added additional seating toward the back of the dining area. Even better, the spring menu was only a few weeks old. The rotating menu set to feature as many seasonal ingredients as possible is still one of the defining features of their pizzas to me.

They may be a brewery, but they also feature a robust bar program for cocktail aficionados and those visiting the location with friends that may be avoiding alcohol. I had a yuzu margarita during my visit that was refreshingly tart and a perfect foil to the rich pizzas I ate that afternoon, and they employ Non-Alcoholic spirits in most of their feature cocktails if you request it. If you prefer to drink a Non-Alcoholic beer at the brewery, they carry what I consider to be the best brand in this front, Athletic.

With a drink chosen, there was nothing left to do but select the meal for the afternoon. Two people don’t need two pizzas, but my friend and I were both interested in trying more than one option. We decided on the burrata and prosciutto pizza as well as their Spring Green pizza in order to try one from the seasonal menu and one from the traditional menu. It was a hard choice to make, but we got there.

@eatingnormal I have another Green Bay restaurant review for you, and this time it's Cocoon Brewing out in Ledgeview. If you're in the area next month for the draft and are looking to eat well beyond the bright lights of Lambeau, these unique pizzas are just a short drive away. Escape the sports bars and dine well with the lovely folks at Cocoon Brewing. A full written review is available at eating-normal.com! #pizza #restaurants #eatlocal #dinelocal #reviews #greenbay #greenbaywi #greenbayeats #greenbayfoodie #wisconsin #NFLdraft ♬ original sound - Eating Normal

The burrata and prosciutto pizza is one of their long term pizzas for the menu this year, and it's gorgeous. When the pizza is finished cooking, burrata is laid cold on the pie with slices of prosciutto, pistachios, basil, and a drizzle of hot honey. The combo of the sweet honey against the fattiness of the cheese and meat made this my favorite pizza between the two. What leftovers I took home were gone before the end of the night.

The Spring Green stood out to me as one of the more unusual offerings on their seasonal menu. I consider potatoes on a pizza to be one of the greatest challenges for a place to pull off efficiently, and they once more appeared on this pizza’s list of ingredients when I had tried a pizza with potatoes on it during my first visit. Of course, I had to see if they managed to nail the cook between pizza and potato. I can safely say that this time, they did.

The purple potatoes used to bring a pop of color to the Spring Green were shaved so thinly that they cooked in the short amount of time that a pizza of this variety needs in the tremendous, custom pizza oven that Cocoon Brewing has in their brewhouse. The pesto that gives the Spring Green its namesake is acidic and bright to counterbalance the heavy cheese, and the pea shoots add a pleasant, fresh pop to the slice.

Green Bay has no shortage of great pizza on offer, but Cocoon has proven itself to be able to stand among some of the best in town. Whether you’re a local looking to try something new or a visitor trying to branch out beyond the lights of Lambeau, it’s worth giving Cocoon Brewing a try. You can find their hours and any menu changes on their website, cocoonbrewing.com, or at their facebook page.

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Cocoon Brewing's Open for Business

2/7/2023

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Cocoon Brewing has been long anticipated in the Ledgeview area, and it's finally open. Their soft opening in the first weekend of February was the first rumbling of a formal date with the following Monday opening their doors to the public. I was planning on being in the area anyway, so I diverted my afternoon to stop in and see what they have going on so early into their new business.

Firstly, it is somewhat difficult to see from the highway. If you don’t know where you’re going, it would be easy to go right past it. I suspect more signage is to come over the Brewery’s life. The building is striking when you turn off onto Kaftan Way. Google Maps will get you that far, so if you come with a mission, you’ll find it just fine.

The interior of the building is bright and vibrant in a way that the exterior, modern architecture does not betray in the slightest. It felt cozy, comfortable, and welcoming, to belly up to their short bar and order. The bartender guided me through the early modifications to their business model set to get them through the first month or so.

As of the writing of this article, their own beers are not yet available, and their taps are loaded with guest breweries from throughout the region. The bartender on staff during my visit reported a likely early March date for their own beers to begin trickling into the line up. Until then, house cocktails are available as well. If I hadn’t started out with a beer, I would have definitely been ordering from that.

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Celebrating at Orsetta Craft Kitchen and Bar

The Pizzas at this Ledgeview Brewery Are Worth the Trip

Cocoon Brewing's Open for Business

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