Pizza Parade

Being cheese-wary (and no longer an adolescent), I don't consume the mass quantities of pizza that I used to. And too, I just loved Chicago-style pizza, and though I can appreciate Imo's and the St. Louis creation provel, my heart belongs to another crust. (sorry)

Nevertheless, there are times for pizza, and during those times it is crucial to have the proper balance of veggies, sauce, cheese, crust, spice, etc. This may vary from person to person, I will grant you. But I will also tell you this list is right. It just is.

First off, I'm not a fan of Blackthorn. To those unfamiliar, it's gooey, it's cheesy, it takes literally and seriously 2 hours to get your pie, and the restaurant (really more of a bar) is smoky. I know that people go crazy for it, but it's just too much cheese for me and I leave feeling like a stuffed (soy-based) pig. One stuffed with 2 lbs. of cheese, that is.

The pizza that I find most delicious in the STL is Pizzeria Della Piazza. It's on the Hill, of course. It's wood-fired, it's local, it's fresh, it has that awesome cornmealy crust, and it's not overly cheesed (well, rather, they respect your request for light cheese). I always get it with tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions. It's phenomenal. It can take a while to get your pizza, just like Blackthorn, but it's well worth it. And the house salad is yummy too! And the wine! (This is why I have my birthday party there every year...)

I have pizza in my family, which means that my taste has been upgraded slightly. I can no longer just take the old Domino's as it comes; no, I've been spoiled by home made and organic. My brother is a bit of a pizza connoisseur, and for holidays and visits he makes his own dough and whips out his famous pear-leek-goat cheese or lemon margherita. wow!

But if you're in the STL and it's not a holiday or brother's not visiting, then the closest thing, probably, is the newest pizza joint in town, Katie's Pizzeria. It's actually pretty good. They have the gourmet style pizzas with light cheese and fancy toppings; I think they're more like flatbreads, but really yummy. Mushroom is awesome and so is the potato.

Next of my preferences, I'd say, is La Villa Pizza in New York. You may disagree pizza-wise, but remember I'm right on this (and also, everything's better in NY.). Their vegetale is crazy-veggie-insane. Tons of veggies. Lot's of garlic. There's not even room on the crust for too much cheese. Unfortunately, I don't know how this represents in NY Pizza terms; this guy doesn't even rank it. But it's become a standard for me whenever I visit.

Another new St. Louis pizza place, Onesto, is pretty good. The pizza is super wet and doughy--lots of sauce, lots and lots of garlic, big, fresh crust. But I think that it's best because of the atmosphere; despite an hour wait just to get a table, the restaurant is just really nice; people nice; wine nice; grassy area nice; neighborhood nice. Pizza nice, yes, but mostly just nice place for a bite.
Then there's the standard fast-food answer to gourmet pizza, California Pizza kitchen. For being in the mall, it's pretty OK. It sure beats Pizza Hut and Dominos! The mushrooms on this baby were awesome; but it was super super cheesy, which kinda did me in after a slice. Leftovers, however, leftovers!!

I don't know about other cities, but the newer upscale restaurants in STL are really into including pizzas on their menus lately: Revival, Koko, etc. It's just the thing to do, I suppose (mac-and-cheese, too). But here's my thought: yes, you can, and yes, it might be OK, or even good, but let's leave the pizza to the Pizzerias of the world and let the chefs cook up some other ingenious food creation. Right? I mean, if Iron Chef put every ingredient on pizza (squid-ink pizza, cod roe pizza, praying mantis pizza!!!!, etc.), then who'd watch? Not me. Ok I know that they do that on the American version of Iron Chef (shoot, even the secret ingredient one time was "pizza dough,") but still, good restaurants ought to try to fight that urge, branch out, get off the crust, folks!! That's what I say. And yes, the pizza at KOKO was pretty OK, but nothing like good old vegetale or Pizzeria Della Piazza. I digress...

Finally, if we're spanning coasts (and time), then we have to tour west for California-style. I have two that are opposite ends of the spectrum for CA-style: one overly cheesy Italian roasted veggie and one raw. Yep, raw. Made with wheat germ mold crust and cashew cheese. Both good, both a little shocking to the system for obviously different reasons, but still, both pizza.