Frankie Tocco's, April 2012

Frankie Tocco's

108 South Main Street, St Charles, MO 63301 (map link);
phone#; (636)947-7007 www.frankietoccos.com

Pizza Style: St Louis thin crust.
Oven type: Gas.
The Skinny:  Ask for mozzarella,  build your own can get pricey.
Price: $9.50 for a small cheese (12in) to $16.49 for large Tocco Special (16in).
Chief Pizza eater says:  Recommended BUT.


Frankie Tocco's was recommended to me about 2 or 3 years ago, but not until recently was I able to put myself at their door.  Frankie Tocco's, making pizza's since 2005, is located towards the north end of Main Street in historic St Charles, MO and is neighbors with quite a few excellent restaurants.  We arrived around 6 P.M. to find the main dining room completely full and several people waiting for tables.  Luckily they have a second dining room downstairs and there was only 2 pizza eaters, so our wait was short.

We started the meal with a large Frankie House Salad and two plates, it could have served 3 or 4.  It had Iceberg lettuce, spring mix, tomatoes, Provel cheese and pepperoncini.  We choose the House dressing a sweet red wine vinegarette.  It was very good, even the Provel cheese.  A salad is probably the one place that Provel cheese works really well in my opinion, keep it off my pizza, and throw it at a salad.

For pizza we ordered 2, both St Louis style Thin crust as thats all Frankie Tocco's makes.  The first being a small Margherita, it had extra virgin olive oil, fresh chopped garlic, mozzarella cheese and sliced tomatoes.  The second was a small pepperoni, hamburger, Canadian bacon and onion.  I also requested mozzarella cheese instead of the Provel.  I really enjoyed both pizza's especially the fact that they make and roll the dough there.  The hand made crust makes a difference.  I think my normal pizza (lots-o-meat and onions) works better on the thin crust than the Margherita.  But even with that said I would still order it again in the future.  We saved room for dessert so that meant I had leftover pizza for breakfast the next day and after a short visit with the toaster oven it was still very good.

For dessert we choose the Tiramisu and Spumoni.  Both were about the proper size to share between 2 pizza eaters or 3-4 dainty eaters.  Both were very good, the Spumoni being my favorite.

I really enjoyed the food and the service was very good, but I have one small nit-pick.  The build your own pizzas add up quickly, a small one topping is $10.25 plus $2.00 per topping there after.  That made my small 4 topping pizza $16.25 plus tax, that's $.24 less than a large Tocco Special (5 toppings).  Outside of that...  I had a great meal.

Recommended but... beware of the build your prices, the Tocco Special is by far the better deal.

The Chief Pizza eater.
GAW

CiCi's Pizza, March 2012

CiCi's Pizza

9745 Manchester Rd. Rock Hill, MO 63119 (map link);
Phone (314) 963-7200;  www.cicispizza.com/

Pizza Style:  Thick and thin.

Oven type:  Gas conveyor.

The Skinny:  Beware the Claw Machine.

Price: $25 for 1 adult and 3 kids (under 10) with drinks

Chief Pizza eater says:  Recommended BUT.

On a weekend not long ago I promised my young pizza eater that I would take her and a couple of her pizza eating friends out for lunch.  It's not always easy finding a pizza joint that is acceptable to both young and old,  CiCi's was acceptable to both parties.  

CiCi's probably wouldn't be my first choice if I was just getting pizza for myself, but I figured I should take advantage of the situation, so I did my best to try at least one slice of every pie on the buffet.  There was everything from cheese, pepperoni, ham & pineapple to veggie.  For crust there was your standard thin crust, similar to a Papa John's or Domino's, Thick crust (I would call it pan) and ultra thin and crispy.  After trying them all I came to the conclusion that the thick crust with olive oil, mozzarella and sausage, and the ultra thin crust pepperoni were the best.  At the end of the buffet is the dessert pizza... or dessert that is baked in the pizza oven, including: brownie, cinnamon roll and a pizza crust cheese cake (It was a little vague but I'm pretty sure it was cheese cake).  Of the three the cinnamon roll was by far the best, with the brownie coming in a close second.

There was also a very small salad bar and pasta bar before the pizza, but I didn't partake as I knew I would be eating way to much pizza.  The salad bar look plenty fresh, but I'm not sure how well the pasta would do sitting on the buffet.

Once everyone had their fill of pizza it was off to the Game Room (aka: Claw Machines).  For pizza eaters under 10 the claw machines have a unbelievably strong attraction.  If given the chance I'm sure they would have spent more on the machines than the pizza.

The pizza wasn't bad and the young pizza eaters all found something that they liked,  but beware the Claw Machines as they can quickly take the value out of meal.

 Recommended BUT, beware the Claw Machines.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Schlafly Bottleworks February 2012, Birthday Pizza.

It is that time of year when the Chief Pizza Eater gets to be another year older, rounder and shorter.  That means birthday pizza.

I had a couple of places in mind, but one was surrounded by the Mardi Gras celebration and the other I found out was no longer in business.  So after a bit of back and fourth I decided on Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, MO.

I have reported on Schlafly Bottleworks a couple of times in the past so I won't bore you with all the details.  As in the past the food and service was excellent.

I ordered a Bison, pepperoni and red onion pizza with the house blend cheese and on their hand tossed Pilsner dough crust and it was delicious.  (WARNING, non-pizza content!) Just to mix things up Mrs. Chief Pizza Eater ordered the Meatloaf.  I have tried unsuccessfully several times to order the Meatloaf only to be told, sorry we only serve it during supper, or sorry we have already sold out of the Meatloaf, etc.  So of course the day I want to order pizza they have plenty of meatloaf, it was also excellent.  For dessert the table of 11 mostly non-pizza eaters shared a Sticky Toffee Pudding.  There just isn't much better way to end a birthday meal that the Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Highly Recommended.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW.

Tony's Pizza Palace, Columbia, MO. January 2012.

Tony's Pizza Palace

17 North 5th Street, Columbia, MO 65201 (map link);
 phone#(573) 442-3188

Pizza Style: Greek
Oven type: Gas
The Skinny:  Another great Greek Pizza Joint in COMO.
Price: $16 Medium 4 topping Pizza.
Chief Pizza eater says: Recommended.

When ever I find my self in Columbia I try to find my way to a pizza joint, it doesn't always happen, but when it does I've yet to be disappointed.  This weekend was no different.

I had been told about Tony's Pizza Palace last year by an old friend and kept it in the back of my mind until I had the chance to get there.  Tony's doesn't have a web-site that I could find, but from what I gather they have been in business since 1968.  Originally they were located on Broadway, now they are on the corner of East Walnut and North 5th street.  The current location appeared to be clean but well used.

Tony's makes pizza with Greek Style crust, a thin crust usually cooked in a pain.  I ordered a medium pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger and onion pizza to go.  About 15 minutes later I was heading out the door with a hot pizza, and the drive to where I was staying was torture The smell was driving me insanely hungry.  When I finally got the box open I found it similar to other Greek pizza joints in that the toppings were all under the cheese and there was a little fold on the edge of the crust.  It had and abundance of toppings and cheese.  There is a seasoning in either the sauce or hamburger that I just can't pinpoint that sets the pizza apart from what you would find in a more Italian orianted pizza joint.

All and all a great pizza.

Recommended.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Red-L Pizza June 2011. The Binge 2011 stop 5.

Just a small red dot on Google Maps.  With some arens to do after work I pulled up Google Maps, narrowed it down to the area I would be going and type pizza into the search box and a small red dot caught my eye.  I put the curser over it and it said "Red-L Pizza".  I had never heard of it, perfect.

I ordered a Red-L Caesar salad and for pizza I got 12" with pepperoni, meat loaf and onions.  The cheese was a House blend, and when asked I was told it was mozzarella and provolone cheeses.  The crust was of the thin St Louis Style.  The pizza and salad were both great.  I'll be back.

The Red-L you will notice from the photo is just that, a red L.  They are a carry out only joint, but they do have some outside seating, although it doesn't appear they have table service.  The Red-L can be a little hard to find the first time so keep that in mind.

Recommended.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

The Emperor's Palace June 2011. The Binge 2011 stop 4.

I'm a glutton for punishment.  I took one for the team on this one.  The family out voted me and we ended up at The Emperor's Palace, a very good place if you are blogging about Chinese Buffet joints...

Recommended But,  just don't eat the pizza.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Pizza World, May 2011. Binge 2011 stop 2.

The littlest pizza eater and I had worked up an appetite by visiting the St Louis Zoo and some of the local pawn shops (they are a little gritty compared to the TV pawn shops), so we decided to eat at Pizza World in Maplewood.

We ordered a Garden Salad with house dressing, when we should have ordered a Side Salad.  It was bigger than the two of us could eat.  It was good, would have been right for 4 people.

The littlest pizza eater got a small cheese pizza,  she wasn't to keen on sharing so it must have been pretty good.  I (The Chief) ordered a medium with Pepperoni, Italian Meatballs, Ham and onions.  It was excellent, go to love those meatballs.

Pizza World is a small chain, so check out the web-site (title link) and you might have one near by.  Great food and nice people,  I just gotta try and get there more than once every 3 years...

Recommended.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Guido's Pizzeria & Tapas, May 2011

Guido's Pizzeria & Tapas

5046 Shaw Ave., St Louis, MO 63110 (map link);  (314) 771-4900 ;  http://www.guidosstl.com/

Pizza Style: St Louis thin crust

Oven type: Stone deck.

The Skinny:  Ask for Mozzarella and don't forget the Tapas!

Price: $7.50 small (9in) cheese to $20.95 family (16in) speciality pizza.

Chief Pizza eater says:  Recommended. 

We set out on Mothers day with a car load of mothers to get pizza, and nearly went hungry.  We went to joint after joint finding them all closed, that is until we thought of Guido's Pizzeria & Tapas on The Hill (St Louis's Italian neighborhood).  It turns out that a large number of restaurants are closed on Sunday's in the City of St Louis and The Hill is closed down tight with one exception, Guido's.  As they say "All's well that end's well".

Lesson:  if you aren't 100% sure, call ahead to find out the hours of operation.

Being the only place open on The Hill seating was scarce, so we chose to dine al fresco, which was perfect as it was a beautiful day.

Because not all of the pizza eaters are as dedicated as the Chief, we had quite the mix of food.  Things we had other than pizza included:  House Salad, Caprese Salad and Ensalad Mixta.  from the Tapas menu we had Gazpacho Madrileno, Croquetas Caseras (chicken), and Empanadillas (tuna).  By now you must realize Guido's is bilingual, a little Italian and a little Spanish.

For pizza Guido's offers traditional St. Louis style pizza, with the option to have mozzarella cheese instead of  provel.  We had a large with half cheese (for the youngest pizza eater) and half with pepperoni, salami, Canadian bacon and red onions.  We also chose mozzarella over the provel.  The pizza crust was very thin, crispy and cut on the square as one should expect from a St Louis style pie.  The pizza was very good, if not a little messy.  The inner squares are the messiest as the cheese has no anchor and tends to slide around.  My choice of toppings wasn't the greatest, no problems on Guido's part, just my combination.  I like salami on pizza's but  it doesn't work great with Canadian bacon in my book, next time I will pair it with something a little less salty.

Over all the food was very good, and worth a visit.  And if it's Sunday Guido's is your only option on The Hill.  Recommended any day of the week.

Recommended

Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Pizza Files 2010 Summer Binge, Stop Five.

The Fith Stop on the 2010 Summer Binge was on my list, but not my intended location for the day.  The last few days have been kind of a lousy, so I was determined to drowned my self pity in Pizza.  I had wanted to visit someplace new to me, so in my aimless wandering around this afternoon I found my self at Feraro's Jersey Style Pizza in South St. Louis County, only to find it closed on Monday's.  My Day just got worse...  I tend to have a hard time deciding where to eat, so finding the place closed was just one more kick in the ribs.

I start to think about the different pizza joints between where I was and home, several came to mind but only Fortel's was on list  for the 2010 Summer Binge, so it's decided.  That's how Fortel's Pizza Den became stop Five on the Pizza Files 2010 Summer Binge.  I started with a small side salad and the House dressing.  For pizza I did my favorite,(remember I'm drowning my self pity) Pepperoni, ham, hamburger and onions.  Fortel's pizza is very interesting, It's a bit like St Louis style in that they put sauce and toppings all the way to the edge, no handle on this pie, and it's cut on the square.  Similarity's stop there, the crust is slightly thicker, they use Mozzarella cheese and they put all the toppings on top of the cheese.  Speaking of toppings, they load it up.  Delicious, no matter how they slice it.

The Chief Pizza Eater.
6/21/10

Papi's Pizza, Subs and Ice Cream.

New to the St Louis pizza scene, Papi's Pizza opened for business earlier this year in Wildwood, MO and looks to be a locally owned and operated pizza joint.  Their menu includes Appetizers, Salads, Sandwich's, Brick Oven Pizza and Desserts (including 11 flavors of Ice Cream).  Their pizza's are hand tossed and come with Mozzarella cheese.  They have a good selection of toppings including: meatballs, red onions, artichoke and shrimp to name a few.  Aside from the standard Mozzarella you can also get cheddar, feta, Ricotta, Parmesan, and Provolone cheese's.

On this visit we started with a side salad with BBQ ranch dressing.  The salad consisted of Iceberg & Romain lettuce, spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes and onions.  It was a very good start to the meal.

The first pizza was a 12" cheese.  My fellow pizza eater (6 yr old daughter) found it so good that she refused to share a slice with me.  I was able to negotiate a single bite, but was not allowed to touch the slice with my hands.

We also got a 14" with pepperoni, meatball, ham and red onion.  The hand tossed crust was very good, it had a nice texture and did a good job holding up the rest of the ingredients.  The tip was just a little soft and the edge just a little crispy.  The toppings were all very good and generously applied.  I was especially happy to see meatballs and red onions on the menu.  The only check against was that the menu says red onions and I asked for red onions, but it looked like it came with onions of the white variety, it was hard to tell, not a deal breaker by any means.  I can also report that the left over pizza did very well in the toaster oven the next morning.

Overall I was very pleased with the food and service at Papi's, so if you find your self in Wildwood and have a craving for good pizza give them a try, heck don't wait until you until find your self there, make it a road trip.  I will return and on my next visit I'm getting a scoop of ice cream.  Papi's Pizza is located at 17209 New Collage Ave in Wildwood, MO. You can reach them at (636) 458-1313 or check out their web-site by clicking the title link.

Highly Recommended.

GAW

Shakespeare's Pizza.

Shakespeare's Pizza ,locally owned and operated, is located in Columbia, MO. Their web-site is a bit light on history, but it looks like they opened for business in 1973 in downtown Columbia. They currently have two locations, the original downtown and a new joint on the west side of town. The pizza for this review came from the original downtown location.
Their menu includes Salads, Other eats (cheese garlic bread, Brightons cookies and frozen pizza's) and Pizza. The pizza's come with a choice of wholewheat or white crust. The cheese of choice is Provolone, but you can also get pepper or Cheddar cheese. You also have a choice of toppings or Exotic toppings, but unlike many places there is no price increase for the exotic toppings.

We started with a Louie's salad. It wasn't the salad I wanted but it was the salad I ordered (when I ordered the food I was racing west on I-70 towards Columbia). I had wanted to order a dinner salad, but instead I asked for a House salad for four people. I'm not a big fan of spinach salad, certainly nothing wrong with it, just not what I wanted.

We ordered 2 large pizza's, both with white crust, the first half cheese (for my daughter) and half Canadian bacon and bacon (a favorite of my fellow pizza eater). The second had pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger and onions. The pizza's had a bit of a ride in the car, but were still very warm when we busted them out of the box's. The first things I noticed was a lot of corn meal on the bottom of the crust and how light it was, almost white. It was able to support it's own weight, that might be different straight out of the oven at the restaurant. The cheese and toppings were generously applied. Although I didn't realize until latter that they only used Provolone cheese, I did know something was different with cheese. As I recall the sauce was not remarkably sweet or spicy, and on the later my daughter would have made it known loud and clear. The sauce did a fine job of mediating between crust and toppings. I found all 3 pizza's quite good, and the leftovers did very well a couple of days later after spending some time in the toaster oven.

Overall I was very pleased with the food and service at Shakespeare's Pizza. I unknowingly picked Homecoming weekend to order from them, so when we arrived we found a line going around the building, luckily to go orders have a separate door. So if you go on a MU game night you should expect long lines and limited parking. Our pizza's were ready on-time and our salad come in a really nice reusable grocery bag.

The Pizza was very good and I would defiantly pay for it again. Shakespeare's Pizza is located at 9th & Elm Streets in Columbia, MO. You can reach them at (573) 449-2454, for more information check out their web-site (click on the title link).

Recommended.

GAW

Costco food court Pizza

**Updated 11/16/09 See New information below**

Costco Food Court is not family owned, but is a clever way for the wholesale club giant to get a few more of your hard earned dollars on the way out of the building. If you have ever done any shopping at Costco you know that the food court is a necessity. After pushing your over sized cart around the warehouse filling it with the bulk sized items of life, you will need to fuel up before taking on the parking lot.

The Menu at the Food Court includes Pizza by the slice or whole pie in one of 3 variety's cheese, pepperoni and combo (pepperoni, sausage, onion, green peppers and olives). They also have hot dogs, Polish sausages, chicken bake?, churro (deep fried stick coated in sugar), frozen yogurt, frozen coffee drink, frozen fruit smoothie and fountain sodas.

I got a slice of Pepperoni pizza and a coke, my wife had a slice of combo pizza, the bill for everything was around $5.00. The pizza's are cooked on screens(holey pan?) in a automatic oven, in one side and out the other. All of the slices are of uniform size, they use a rather large metal cutting guide to insure it. My slice of pepperoni had quite a bit of oil on the surface and when i flipped it upside down on the paper plate for a photo some of the oil was soaked up by the plate. I recommend you give it the flip even if you aren't taking a photo. After the grease was blotted I didn't have much to write about. The crust was OK, lots of cheese & pepperoni and some tomato sauce stuck between. My wife's combo slice actually looked better, except for those pesky green peppers, she didn't share so I have nothing to say about it (and my daughter erased the photo from the camera so no photo either).

If you think about the amount of love that goes into a pizza like this, it's really not bad. Just think the person making the pizza's is probably the lowest on the seniority list and can think of nothing else but becoming a checker... or at least the checker's helper.

My Slice came from the Costco at 4200 Rusty Road St. Louis, Missouri 63128, but I suspect it would be pretty much the same no matter what Costco you visit.

Recommended BUT

• Only if you are already there.
• Only if your significant other refuses to let you stop at a real pizza joint on the way home.
• Only if you are about to pass out from low blood sugar, because your giant cart is over-filled.

GAW

P.S. If you are in a twist thinking "I got'a go and get a Costco membership now", hold your horses, you don't need a membership to get the pizza, but you should re-read my recommendation.

**Update** As of 11/16/09 my local Costco requires you to have a membership to visit the food court. I don't know if this is a permanent change or just for the holidays. You have been forewarned. GAW

The Binge Part 5.

Stop 5, The 2009 Pizza Files Summer Binge, ahead of schedule.

Today's second Pizza came from G&D Pizzaria in Columbia, MO. I reviewed G&D back in March, if you want read it click Here. On the menu was the Art Salad with ranch dressing (they have a salad bar), a Country Music pizza and a pizza with Pepperoni, Gyro, Ham and Onions.

I'm starting to run a little behind, I've been eating more pizza than I have time to write about. It will take a while but I'll get it done sooner or later

GAW

Ami's

A'mis Italian Restaurant has been making pizza since 1981, they have two locations, St. Louis (Rockhill) and O'Fallon, MO. A'mis is a full service Italian restaurant dine-in, carry-out and delivery of the full menu. The menu includes salads, sandwiches, pasta, steaks, dinner specialties and 4 types of pizza. You can choose from St. Louis, New York, New York Manhattan (Big Slice) and Chicago Deep Dish. All but the St. Louis come with mozzarella cheese, the St. Louis comes with a mix of mozzarella and provel. You can get pizza by the slice from 11a.m. to 4p.m. from their luncheon specials. I had two criteria when I was researching pizza joints for the Binge; 1. the pizza joint should be locally owned and operated. 2. That they not have just St. Louis Style pizza. A'mis fit right in.

We started off and split a Ami's Salad with the House dressing, a creamy Italian. As the menu states, it's "a meal in itself". Split 4 ways was just about right. The home made creamy Italian house dressing was excellent, as was the rest of the salad, which included; lettuce, boiled eggs, Roma tomatoes, salami, ham, cheese homemade croutons, olives and small but very spicy peppers.

My dining companions on the stop are St. Louis pizza fiend so we had to get one Medium St Louis style. It was cut on the square and had pepperoni, hamburger and fresh mushrooms (their choice of toppings). The St Louis pizza fiends all agreed that it was one of the better pizzas they have had. I had 3 pieces and the first thing I noticed was the crust, I'm not sure how to explain it but it was better than your run of the mill St Louis style. I couldn't really tell a difference in the cheese, maybe with a provel only pizza for comparison that would be different. I'm only willing to say it was better than you typical Imo's pizza. May be with mozzarella cheese I would be willing to pay for it.

for the second pizza we ordered a large New York style with peperoni, hamburger and onion. I was a little disappointed that A'mis didn't offer Canadian bacon or ham as a topping. I can't remember the last time I was in a pizza joint that didn't have one or the other. I much prefer thinly sliced Canadian bacon, but thinly sliced ham is also OK. The crust quite good, was golden brown and needed some support for the first few bites. The bottom showed a small grid pattern across some but not all of it as though it was partially cooked on a screen, the menu states "Pizza on Bricks". No matter it was still good. The sauce was good but, there was just a bit more than I would have prefer ed. The cheese and toppings tasted great and were present in adequate quantity's, although one slice had very little cheese. The left overs from the New York pizza were quite good the next day. The St Louis pizza doesn't get the same mileage and never left the restaurant.

The dinning room is small, but big enough to keep you from bumping into your neighbor. The waitress were friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive. Overall the food was very good and yes "I would pay for it again". Our bill was just under $60 plus tip for 4 people. A'mis is located at 9824 Manchester Road in St Louis, MO. You can reach them at (314) 963-1822 or check out their web-site by clicking the title link.

Recommended.

GAW

The Binge Part 3, unplanned Bonus.

Stop 3, The 2009 Pizza Files Summer Binge gets an unplanned Bonus!

The Crew of Pizza eaters from Part 2 said "We're going to Frank and Helen's on Sunday, they have pizza, you want to go?" It was a no-brainer.

So today's Pizza came from Frank and Helen's Pizzeria in University City, MO. On the menu today was a House Salad with the House dressing, large thin crust pizza with Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Meatballs and Red Onions. Let me just say I was very impressed. Oh, there was some Broasted Chicken on the table also.

It will take a few days to put my thoughts together on Frank and Helen's as I'm still working on Part 2. I'll get it done because next weekend I will be eating pizza in Columbia, MO at least twice.

GAW

The Binge Part 2

Stop 2, The 2009 Pizza Files Summer Binge continues...

Today's Pizza came from A'mis Italian Restaurant in Rockhill, MO. On the menu today was a Ami's Salad with the House dressing, large New York Style Pizza with Pepperoni, Hamburger and Onions and a St Louis Style pizza with Pepperoni, Hamburger and Mushrooms. My eating companions are big in St Louis style so I had to do it...

After the pizza was gone we went down the road a short distance and had Small gelato at Gelato Di Riso. I had half Strawberry and half Marscarpone. The gelato was gone before I knew what happened so no photo's.

It will take a day or two to collect my thoughts on A'mis so check back soon. Next weekend I will be eating pizza in Columbia, MO at least twice.

GAW

Napoli Pizza (part 2)

Back in February I reviewed Napoli Pizza, and stated I would be visiting them again in the near future. Well the future is here and it corresponds perfectly with the 2009 Pizza Files Summer Binge. I won't go into great detail about Napoli in this post (see my previous post or Napoli Pizza web-site), I'm just going to stick to what we ate.

First up was the House Salad. Its a tossed salad and includes iceberg and romaine lettuce, mozzarella, artichokes, red onion, diced red pepper tomatoes and pepperoncinis with there House dressing. The House dressing is an Anchovy Italian. That one word can put quite a few people off, but it is their loss if they pass on the House dressing. I have found anchovy based dressing to be quite good and Napoli's House Dressing is no exception. The lettuce was fresh and crisp, the tomatoes too. I could make a meal out of the House salad alone. I really like the idea of the tossed salad, I always make a big mess and usually end up with to much dressing when I have to mix it up.

Next up was the pizza, more specifically Sweet Marinara sauce pizza. The menu shows three different combination for Marinara Pizzas. I asked to have my standard (pepperoni, Canadian bacon, meat balls and red onions) to be made with Marinara sauce. With out a comparison regular slice I didn't detect the difference until I had almost reached the end of the slice, where there is typically a little extra sauce. With a side by side comparison (we also had a pepperoni and hamburger pizza with regular sauce) the sweetness was evident from the first bite. If you were to ask me which I liked best I'm not sure I could tell you. You have to at least try it once, you might get hooked. I will just have to get more than one pizza on future visits. As with my previous visit the crust and toppings were excellent.

Last but not least the Pizza Nutella. Nutella is a hazelnut & chocolate spread that can be found in most supermarkets next to the peanut butter. It's my understanding that Nutella is quite popular in Europe and is pretty much spread on anything you can eat. Personally I think a bag of shortbread cookies goes quite well with it, but that's another story and a bit off topic. Back to the pizza, the pizza Nutella consist of a pizza crust, that I believe may have been pre-baked slightly, Nutella, cannoli cream and a good shake of powdered sugar. There were 3 of us attending the Binge and our comments ran the gamut, but at the end of the day it was all gone, with all having had more than one slice. In a word "Blissful". If I have any say in my next birthday, I will be dinning at Napoli Pizza and will have Pizza Nutella instead of cake.

So far I have found one fatal flaw with Napoli, The pizza is so good I don't think I will ever make it to the other side of the menu. But then again this is The Pizza Files.

Napoli Pizza is located at 7114 Mexico Rd at Mid Rivers Mall Dr in St Peters, MO. You can reach them at (636) 397-7499, for more information check out their web-site(click on the title link).

Same as before Highly Recommended.

GAW

Imo's Pizza

If you are a native St Louisan I'm sure you know all about Imo's already, and you needn't read any further. For everybody else, if you have lived here (St Louis) for more than a day or two you have probably eaten Imo's Pizza, or at the very least have had someone (almost always a native) tell you how great Imo's Pizza is. Imo's web-site state's that Ed and Marge Imo opened the first one in 1964 at the corner of Thurman and Shaw in south St Louis. At the time you could get your pizza to go or delivered (possibly the first delivery joint in the U.S.). They credit the square cut pie to Ed being a tile setter prior to becoming a pizza maker. Today Imo's is a regional pizza chain with just under 100 locations, most of which are in the St Louis Metro area. They provide dine in, carry out and delivery, including delivery of all menu items. They have a full menu including salads, appetizers, pasta, sandwiches and desserts, not to mention pizza. The menu indicates that all pizzas are St Louis style thin crust topped with "REAL" Provel cheese and fresh (not frozen) meats and vegetables. They do have a "Thicker Crust" available, but no other information is provided in the menu I have.

The pizza reviewed came from the Imo's Pizza located in Wildwood, MO, it was a 12" with Canadian Bacon, hamburger and onions. Normally I always get pepperoni on my pizza, but I didn't actually order this pie, more on that later. I also received a small house salad (iceberg lettuce & Provel cheese) with the House dressing (sweet creamy Italian). As is typical of St Louis style the crust is of a very uniform thickness edge to edge. Also the sauce covers the crust completely leaving no place for the cheese/topping matrix to anchor it's self, leading to topping slide. If you look closely at the whole pie photo above you will notice that sometime after cutting the pie all of the cheese and toppings moved toward the 1'o'clock position. The crust was crispy and was able to support the toppings without help, as far as St Louis style goes it was adequate. I found the sauce a bit bland, not much else to say about it. The Canadian bacon, hamburger and onions were of fine quality, but could have benefited from some pepperoni. The "Real Provel" cheese is well, real processed cheese. The pizza overall was lacking, pepperoni's would have added some much needed flavor and in my personal opinion the mozzarella cheese would be alot better.

The small house salad is just fresh iceberg lettuce, shredded provel cheese and your choose of dressing. I chose the house dressing (sweet creamy Italian). Here comes the weird part... I really like Imo's salad, their house dressing is very good, and the provel cheese is great.

As I've stated in a previous post, St Louis style pizza doesn't pass the "Would I pay for it" test, and if I would have had to pay for this pizza you wouldn't be reading this. As it turned out a family member who like's to eat a Imo's new I was home alone and without any dinner, so bought me the pizza and salad unsolicited. If you are a fan of Imo's Pizza you are going to eat it whether I tell you to or not. If you have never had Imo's and somebody else is paying by all means try it. Imo's Pizza is located at 16447 Village Plaza View Rd. in Wildwood, MO. You can reach them at (636)458-9000, for more information check out their web-site (click on the title link).

Would I eat at Imo's Pizza again? Sure, but on somebody elses dime. Shoot I might even pay for the salad.

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Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria / Stumpy's House of Bar-B-Que.

Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria is a regional chain with 25 locations (3 corporate owned with the rest split among 15 franchise owners) that first opened in 1983 in south St Louis County. My pie came from the St Peters restaurant. Their menu includes salads, appetizers sandwiches, pasta, and pizza. Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria serves St Louis style, which means very thin crust and provel cheese. They also have mozzarella cheese available upon request, and a thicker crust ($1 extra) for their medium and xtra large pies. The location I ordered from is one of four very unique locations that in addition to the expected pizza joint fare, has the "Smokehouse Menu". The franchise owners also own Stumpy's House of BBQ, and offer a full BBQ menu at their 4 Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria's.

I'm not a fan of true St Louis style pizza for one key reason, Provel cheese and won't knowingly spend my money on it. My order for this review was a small (9") pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger and onion with mozzarella cheese of course (my standard variation). I also ordered a Smokehouse salad with pulled pork, with ranch dressing and sweet & smokey BBQ sauce. The crust is a uniform thickness all the way across and is nearly a perfect circle, it is perfectly able to support toppings with out any help. The bottom is golden brown and when you bite into it, it's both crispy and chewy. The sauce is a just a little sweet and spicy, and the amount of sauce is just bordering on to much for my taste, especially on this thin a crust. The toppings are all fresh and have good flavor. I do have a few small complaints about the toppings. First is that they used red onions on their salads, so why not on their pies? Second, I got that big giant hunk of onion with out a whole in it, and I really don't like it as it never gets cooked all the way through. Not so much a complaint, but you will notice in the photo above that the sauce covers the entire top of the crust, it goes all the way to the edge which leads to topping slide when the pizza is fresh and hot. If you don't sandwich a couple of pieces or at least keep one finger planted in the toppings it all comes off with the first bite. Leftovers the next day don't suffer the same fate, as the sauce thickens and keeps it all together.

The Smoke House salad (Stumpys salad) is a meal in it's self and can certainly stand on it's own. The lettuce and red onions were fresh, there was a generous amount of pulled pork and cheddar cheese. The dressing comes on the side so that you can add to your own taste. I got both ranch and sweet & spicy BBQ sauce, mixing in equal parts. The pork was very good, but may have been just a touch dry (maybe due to the car ride back to work), not a deal ender by any means.

St Louis style doesn't pass the "I'd pay for it" test, oh I'll eat it just not pay for it with my hard earned cash. Remember I'm a pizza slut, I haven't met a pizza that I wouldn't eat, but have met a few that I wouldn't pay for. Luckily Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria offers the St Louis Style sort of (mozzarella in stead of provel) pizza. I do like Cecil's pizza as long as it comes with mozzarella cheese, but the kicker is being able to get an order of BBQ with your pizza, and at $12.50 plus tax and delivery for both the pizza (9") and salad it's a good value. Cecil Whittaker's Pizzeria (with Smokehouse Menu) is located at 620 Jungermann Rd. in St Peters, MO. You can reach them at (636)926-8121, for more information check out their web-site (click on the title link).

Recommended (if you go with the mozzarella cheese)

GAW

G&D Pizzaria

G & D Pizzaria of Columbia, MO was opened for business in February 1977, by two brothers from Katerini, Greece, and to this day is still owned and operated by them. In fact both brothers were there in the open kitchen when I picked up my pizza. G & D Pizzaria is not your typical pizza joint as you can tell as soon as you pick their menu, the sub-title reads "Delicious Pizza * Choice Steaks". I would still call them a full service pizza joint. There pizza toppings include items such as gyro, artichoke hearts, shrimp and even broccoli. You can also get feta or pepper cheese on your pie. Besides pizza they have sandwiches (hamburgers to subs), steaks & entrees (including a 15oz New York Strip, broiled salmon and spaghetti) and all of the sides to go along. There is also a small section of Greek food on the menu including Gyros, Souvlaki (chunks of pork on a pita), spaghetti (with feta, oregano, olive oil, and tomatoes), and two kinds of salad. If you have room at the end of your meal they even have baklava.

I ordered a medium pepperoni, Canadian bacon, ground beef and onion. The total for the 12" pie was just under $18. The first thing you notice is that all of the toppings are under the cheese, except for the stray piece of Canadian bacon and onion. The second thing is the beautiful dark golden brown crust. The pizza is cut on the square so that you end up with 4 small corners of crust with just a little cheese on them, they call to you in a small voice the whole way home "eat me... eat me...". I suffered all the way home so that I could photograph the whole pie. The ride home (were I was staying, not really my home over 2 hours away) was a bit longer than I normally do for carry out, even so the pizza was all most the perfect temperature when I started eating. There is a generous amount of cheese and toppings, the stand out being the ground beef. The ground bee is cooked up to a very fine texture and becomes one with the sauce once on the pie. It can be messy as it has a tendency to fall our, the rest of the toppings are encased in the cheese. The pepperoni, Canadian bacon and onions all have great taste and are in just the right amount. The crust... WOW! The crust is that dark golden brown, and the bottom of the pie is just a little bit darker. The center squares do need some support (I believe the crust softened some during my long drive home).

G & D Pizzaria is in a class all by it's self, and is definitely on my list for a return visit. If you find your self hungry and in Columbia, MO it would be worth your time to visit G & D Pizzaria. G & D Pizzaria is located in the Crossroads West Shopping Center at the corner of W. Broadway and S. Stadium Blvd Columbia, MO. You can reach them at (573) 445-8336, for more information check out their web-site(click on the title link).

Highly Recommended.

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