The Pasta House Co. February 2011

The Junior Pizza Eater wanted toasted rav's for supper, and in St Louis just about the best place to get them is The Pasta House Company.

I have eaten at the Pasta House many times over the years, but never have I had their pizza.  There were three of us, but only one pizza eater.  We started with some cheese sticks and a order of Artichoke and Spinach Dip Con Crostini.  Of course we also had the famous Pasta House Co. special salad.

For pizza I ordered a small (12in) with pepperoni, meatballs, onions and anchovies.  Yes anchovies, I though I would mix it up a little.  The first thing I noticed when the pizza showed up at the table was how many anchovies it had, I have never see that many on a single pizza, ever.  Either they are very generous with the anchovies or they had a tin that had been opened for a while and needed to use them up or throw them out, I think the later was the case.  The pizza was typical St Louis style pizza with thin crust and provel cheese.  The pizza was fine, a few less anchovies wouldn't have hurt, but in the end St Louis style is just not my thing.

I will no doubt eat at The Pasta House Co. in the future but I'll stick to the pasta next time, the Rigatoni Alla Carbonara is my favorite.  It's called The Pasta House Co. and not the The Pizza House Co. for a reason.

If somebody else is paying.
The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Pizza Files 2010 Summer Binge, Stop Seven.

The phone rings and it is an invitation to go eat pizza,  and you know me.  Being the invitee I go where their going, and their going to Dewey's Pizza.  That's how Dewey's Pizza became stop seven on the Binge 2010.

For 3 pizza eaters we got a Peppercorn Ranch Salad and a large pizza half with pepperoni, meatballs, Canadian bacon and red onions, the other half was pepperoni and meatball. 

Dewey's wasn't on my list for the Binge 2010, as it's a family favorite I seem to find my self there several times a year, but as always the pizza was great.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
7/5/10

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria

15858 Manchester Rd, Ellisville, MO 63011 (map);  (636) 394-0094;  pizzarellispizza.com

Pizza Style:  New York, Thin & Crispy and Deep Dish
Oven type:  Gas
Price:  $11 for a 14" cheese to $23 for a 18" Deluxe
Chief Pizza Eater Says:  Highly Recommended.
The Basics:  Nothing fancy, just Great New Your style pizza.

A couple of weekend's ago on our way home from a family outing, my wife says those rare words that I long for, "Why don't you order a for us to take home".  I was so shocked to hear those word that I immediately had a brain fart and was incapacitated for several minutes.  I had to pick a pizza joint that was close to home and would not take us far out of the way.  After processing the data for a few moments I came up with Pizzarelli's Pizzeria, and a Google search later I had the phone number, thank you android, and the order was placed.  Shortly after arriving at Pizzarelli's I had two fresh from the oven pizza's, a 14" half veggie, half cheese for the girls and a 14" pepperoni, meatball, Canadian bacon and onion for me, both on New York style crust.

The last time I had Pizzarelli's Pizzeria was September 2008, and let me tell you that is just way to much time between visits.  The girls didn't feel like sharing so I know theirs was good.  My pizza was excellent.  I like a lot of different toppings on my pizza and if not done correctly it can suffer.  Pizzarelli's did a great job, every bite came away with a little bit every topping.  The perfect quantity of ingredients, not to much not to little.  The crust was great, nicely done on the bottom, a little floppy at the tip and a little chewy at the edge.  The sauce was not overly seasoned.  There was plenty of cheese.  The sliced / crumbled meatballs were incredible, nicely seasoned and great texture.  Real Canadian bacon, or at least what us non-Canadian's call Canadian bacon, pepperoni with a little bit and thin sliced onions.  I was unable to resist it and had the first piece half devoured before I could get the camera out for the obligatory photo.  That first slice was heaven and it took every bit of will power to not eat the whole pizza in one sitting. 

The next morning the leftovers had a excellent trip to the toaster oven and I was in heaven allover again.  Granted not quite to the same extent as when it was fresh, buts still heaven.

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria has a full menu, besides three styles of pizza (New York hand tossed, Chicago thin & crispy and deep dish) there are Appetizers, Salads, Wings, Calzones, Eppie rolls, Pasta, Sandwiches and desserts.  They offer dine-in, but I would say they are more of a carry-out and delivery joint.

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria is well worth the trip and I can guarantee it won't take me a year and half to visit again.

Highly Recommended.

GAW

Chuck E. Cheese's

Not long ago I found myself in Chuck E. Cheese's... No Really, I was there to celebrate my daughters 6th birthday, not just for the pizza. But I will take my pizza whenever and wherever I can get it, so here it is.

Chuck E. Cheese's is not a family owned local pizzeria. The story of Chuck E. Cheese's started back in May of 1977 when Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari & Pong opened the first location in San Jose, California. Today Chuck E. Cheese's is a leader in entertaining young children and damaging the hearing of their parents. You can even buy stock in Chuck E. Cheese's if you feel so inclined, there symbol is (CEC), it's going for $26 as I write this.

Chuck E. Cheese's offers 4 sizes of pizza with your choice of the following toppings: pepperoni, bacon, jalapenos, chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausage, pineapple, black olives, red onions, Canadian bacon, green peppers and beef. I should also let you know that Canadian locations use soya beef and ham in place of beef and Canadian bacon. No kidding check out the MENU! How messed up it that? If you live in Canada you can't get Canadian bacon on your pizza! I really feel sorry for the poor Canadian customers. Back to our regularly scheduled post. They also offer several combo's including: Super Combo, All-Meat Combo, BBQ Chicken and Vegetarian. If you can't bring your self to eat the pizza they have wings, mozzarella sticks, breadsticks, french fries and a salad bar. The online menu also shows several sandwiches, but I don't recall seeing them at the location I visited.

For our party we had cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza, the kids pretty much cleaned up the cheese pizza leaving the pepperoni for the adults to pick over. The first thing I noticed was what looked like a coating of butter on the crust and pooled in some of the pepperoni's. When you handle the pizza your hands will come away with a coating of the stuff. Even the bottom looks like it was fried. As far as taste goes I really don't recall much about the pizza, it was eatable for sure as I eat a couple of pieces and I'm still around a month later. If it wasn't for the photos I took I wouldn't have been able to give you this much information as all I can really recall from our visit was the noise, kids screaming, machines clanging and the big rat him self singing (and we had the first party of the day at 10am). I do know that all the kids had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese's and none of them complained about the pizza.

We visited the Chuck E. Cheese's at 15913 Manchester Rd. in Ellisville, Missouri 63011, but I suspect it would be pretty much the same no matter what Chuck E. Cheese's you visit.

Recommended BUT

• Only if you have young children.
• Only if you have ear plugs.
  
• Only if it's a child's birthday.
• Only if it's not your kid so you don't have to pay for it.
  

GAW

P.S. I'm serious wear hearing protection.

Dewey's Pizza

Dewey's Pizza has been in St Louis for a few years and more specifically in Kirkwood since 2005. Dewey's Pizza is a small chain (16 locations) that was started in Cincinnati in the spring of 1998. My first taste of Dewey's Pizza was a year or two ago in Kirkwood, since that time I have made a few visits. Today was a Family gathering of 9 people, so I did the half & half routine. We went to the Ellisville location, arriving around 5:30 and had to wait 30-40 minutes. It was a packed house.

I started off the meal with a Peppercorn Ranch salad, it and the Caesar salad are the only 2 salads that don't start with the words "field greens". All of the salads come dressed and mine was no exception, the romaine lettuce had a light coating of peppercorn ranch dressing, just enough shaved Parmesan, and plenty of fresh tomatoes and red onions, not to mention the bacon.

We ordered 5 types of pizza, but I was only able to try 3 of them. Starting with mine and Akiko's, we ordered Half "Socrates Revenge" which included olive oil, minced garlic, mozzarella-fontina blend, spinach, black olives, green olives, feta cheese, red onions, and tomatoes. I had one piece and it wasn't bad, due to all of the olives it was a bit salty, but hay I've had worse. It falls under the if somebody else is paying I'd eat it. My half was... you guessed it, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, red onions and meat balls. As with the meat ball pizza I have had else where they are cooked and sliced prior to hitting the pizza. Starting at the bottom, the hand tossed crust is probably the best I've ever had, it's a bit on the soft side so you have to use 2 hands for that first bite or two, after that it holds up well. the edged of the crust looks like it has had a stick of butter rubbed across it once the pizza came out of the oven, and it tastes even better than it looks. Moving up one level, the sauce has a spicy bite to it and the very young may not like it. I could do with just a tad less sauce myself, not because of the spiciness, I just like my pie a bit dry. The toppings are all excellent, especially the meatballs. The flavors just melt in your mouth. A most excellent Pizza.

We all so had a Cheese pizza for the younger members of the group, and yes it had the same spicy red sauce as mentioned above, and yes the youngest member complained. There was a "Edgar Allan Poe" on the table as well it includes olive oil, mozzarella-fontina blend, mushrooms, roasted garlic (large whole cloves), kalamata olives and goat cheese, with fresh tomatoes and parsley after the bake. I was unable to sample the Edgar, but Akiko said it was a bit on the garlicky side.

Lastly we had a sausage, meatball and mushroom pizza. I did get a chance to sample it and it was very good. The sausage was very good, it was of the link variety and had been sliced prior to going on the pizza. The mushrooms were fresh, not a topping I would order my self as I'm a canned mushroom kind of person.

Dewey's Pizza leans towards the High Class sort of pizza joint that I'm not really into, but as I said in the beginning they have some of the BEST pizza around. I personal prefer to get it to go so that I don't have the long wait on a table and it lets the pizza attain the ideal eating temperature on the ride home. In the end you really can't go wrong with a Dewey's Pizza. Check out their web site for a location near you (click on the title above).

Highly Recommended.

GAW

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria

As I sit at the kitchen table and put my thoughts to words, I'm enjoying my Pizzarelli pizza for the 4th time. The first was Sunday evening, then Monday and Tuesday morning for breakfast and finely Tuesday night for supper.
Because the whole family is home I don't get to order pizza very often and must make the most of it when I do, hence the multiply feasting on a single pizza.

Pizzarelli's Pizzeria located at 15858 Manchester Road in Ellisville is locally owned and operated and is what I would call my local favorite. It's only 3 stop lights east on Manchester from home. It is by far the best pizza that close to home. They offer the big 3 Dine-in, Carry-out, and Delivery. The dine-in option is limited, and I would suggest you carry out or have you pie delivered. The dine-in ambiance is that of a busy take-out and delivery pizza joint, seating is limited and there is not a lot of time spent in the upkeep of the dining area, as they are all busy making pizza's for carry out and delivery.

The Pizza, you have three choices, New York Style (round hand toss), Chicago Style (thin & crispy) and Deep Dish. Before we go any further I have to discuss the "Chicago Style", living in St Louis for the past 20 plus years I know that "Chicago Style" is not thin and crispy as their menus states but that St Louis Style is thin and crispy, but it's not my pizza joint and they can call it what ever they like. I'm a New York Style Pizza kinda of person anyway so the semantics's don't really matter to me.

For me it's my current favorite, New York crust with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, meat balls, and onions. If I was feeling my oats I would have them put some anchovies on half, but not this time. As far as the toppings go the only thing I would like to see different is Red Onions as an option. By the time I get home (just three stop lights) the pizza has cooled off just a little and is the perfect temperature ( the cheese will stretch a bit but you can bite it in two). There is just the right amount of pepperonis, the sliced meatballs are seasoned just right, the Canadian bacon is the real thing (at least real for those of us south of the border), and the small slice to big hunk of onion. I can't forget to mention the generous helping of mozzarella cheese. The pizza just melt in your mouth, If I was home alone I probably wouldn't stop eating until the whole pizza was gone it's that good in my book. If you are in the neighborhood you ought to give them a try, call ahead @ (636) 394-0094.

Highly Recommended!

The pizza is now all gone so I guess it's time to shut up. GAW