Market Street Pizza opens in Mount Carroll

Some restaurateurs might worry when another place to eat opens right next door, but not Molly McDonough and Ben Johnson.

They’re the ones who opened it.

The husband-and-wife team behind the restaurant that’s been a hit with customers, Molly’s, recently added another dining option to Mount Carroll’s menu: Market Street Pizza, serving traditional favorites as well as specialty varieties that you don’t always find in a smaller town like Mount Carroll.

After experiencing a decade of success at Molly’s, the couple launched the new endeavor in January, and although Market Street Pizza and Molly’s share owners – and a kitchen – the pizza place has its own entrance and a vibe distinct from its next-door neighbor, but with the same commitment from the couple to bring something different and delicious to downtown.

Giving the pizza restaurant its own identity helps spread the word that there is a dedicated pizza place in town, something that had been missing for some time, Johnson said.

”Especially in a small town as Mount Carroll, the more businesses we can have open downtown, it just gives people an opportunity to come downtown and try out different places,” McDonough said. “I would love it if there were more businesses or more restaurants.”

Market Street Pizza isn’t the first business the couple has operated at the site. They owned a bakery at the same location for a few years before the pandemic led to its closure in 2020. After a few years of trying to figure out what to do with the space, they decided to open the pizza restaurant.

”It’s been a few years, but we finally got to a place where we felt like we could start a new business,” Johnson said. “We thought about it a lot, had a lot of different ideas, and we decided that an evening business would be best, and there was a lack of pizza in the area. It’s something we’ve always been passionate about, and we’ve made lots of pizzas.”

McDonough has used her experience working in the culinary business from places large and small, from Los Angeles to Mount Carroll, to come up with a dozen varieties of pizzas that feature fresh ingredients and fresh takes. The pizzas run about 13 to 14 inches and come with traditional or gluten-free crust, and a substitution of vegan cheese is available. One of the specialty pizzas brings together the best of two worlds: Italy and Mexico. The chicken enchilada pizza comes with green chili sauce, cheddar cheese, red onions, pickled jalapeños, and is topped with romaine, ranch and tortilla strips; tofu can be substituted for chicken if desired.

There’s also an antipasto pizza with tomato sauce, fontina, Parmesan, olives, artichokes, cherry tomatoes and pickled cauliflower; prosciutto can be added as an option.

The couple works together to come up with the menu, drawing on their own experiences either together or growing up, like the Thai peanut pizza, which has peanut sauce, fontina, mozzarella, green onions, pickled carrots, cilantro and a choice of chicken or tofu. That’s one that McDonough learned as a child growing up; it was a favorite of her family’s during summer parties when the sun wouldn’t set until almost 11 p.m.

“It was something that I always thought was really yummy,” she said. “Over the years, we’ve kind of taken things from where we’ve lived or from restaurants that we’ve enjoyed for some inspiration. We can take a twist to a classic, but also try to embrace the ingredients as they are.”

Dough and sauces are made from scratch, and the pork for the fennel sausage also is ground in their kitchen. Vegetables are sourced from a pair of produce farms in Carroll County and are roasted to help rid excess moisture before they’re topped on each pizza.

In addition to soda, tea, coffee and a Shirley Temple on the drink menu, draft beers and wines also are featured, with a rotating selection from the bar; Italian wine-based spritz cocktails; and amaro, a popular Italian after-dinner drink.

Customers can start things off with a salad or appetizer, including hickory-smoked wings, marinated olives and garlic and herb focaccia.

”We put a lot of time into making sure that every aspect of it tastes really good,” Johnson said. “We really focus on the quality of it, and also the consistency – we think that it’s really important that when you come in and have a pizza that you really like, you’ll come in a month later and like it again just as much.”

McDonough, originally from Jacksonville, Florida, and Johnson, a Mount Carroll native, met in college in New York and got married in California.

The couple is open to hearing feedback and suggestions on what they make or what they can make. Being a good listener is an important ingredient in the recipe for success, McDonough said.

”Food is always changing,” she said. “It’s amazing that there are still so many restaurants and so many cookbooks and magazines and all of those things, because we’re obsessed with food. It’s like there are 100 different ways to do something, and I think that if someone comes up and says, ‘I think this can be a little different,’ then I’ll be like, ‘OK, let’s make it a little different.’ I’m not so stuck to being that something has to be like this, I think that anytime something can be better, that’s what we want to do.“

”It’s been good,” Johnson said. “We’ve been getting a lot of real good feedback on our food. We think we have a good variety on our menu, something that’s good for everybody. I hope they have a good meal and an enjoyable and relaxing dining experience.”

McDonough added: “Our goal here is to kind of create a sense of home in a way, to connect with some people at the bar or sit in solitude and look at your phone or read the newspaper. We want people to say that this is a place where they feel safe and want to come back to. The repeat customers keep us going.”