The Year in Pizza, 2010.

I should have made this post about a month ago, but...  The photo pretty much speaks for it's self, a year worth of pizza.  Most you have seen on the site in the past year, some not.  I would also like to thank the 5000 visitors the site had last year, an increase of almost 400% over the 999 visitors in 2009.


Pizza the perfect food.
Highly Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

That was a close one!

Sorry for the interruption.  The Chief Pizza Eater for got to pay the light bill.  All paid and the lights are back on....Situation Normal, now back to our regularly scheduled pizza....

Fortel's Pizza January 2011

Once again my coworkers hit me in the soft spot.  "Hey were getting Fortel's for lunch, are you in?"  How can I say no?

I got the lunch special 9 inch pizza with pepperoni and hamburger, it comes with a small salad and soda, all for about $8. 

Fortel's does their own take on the St Louis style pizza, thin crust cut on the square with sauce and toppings all the way to the edge, but instead of Provel cheese they use real mozzarella.  Another difference is that they make the dough everyday, not all St Louis style joints do, and it does make a big difference.

Of course the pizza was great.  Just another reminder that there is great pizza at every turn in St Louis.

Highly Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Homemade Pizza January 2011

I decided to start the year of right with homemade pizza, not something I do very often.  So over the New Year weekend I made about 12 pizza's.  The photo above is the highlights. 

The guest list for these events is short and very exclusive.  The waiting list on the other hand is quite long.  Not to be a braggart, but I'm pretty good at making pizza.

Besides the homemade dough and tomato sauce the ingrediant list included the following: 

• Fresh Mozzarella.
• Salami (two kinds locally made and sliced by me).
• Pepperoni (again sliced by me).
• Prosciutto.
• Bacon, Bacon and more Bacon.
• Sweet Italian Sausage.
• Mushrooms.
• Red Onions.
• Bell Peppers.
• Arugula.
• Olive Oil.
• Chopped Basil.
• and three Fresh Eggs.

One of the pizza's that stands out was the  olive oil, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and arugula (top center of photo).  Of course the bacon, egg, cheese and olive oil was also excellent.

If you can get on the guest list, it's worth what ever it may cost.

Highly Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Racanelli's December 2010

Routinely it doesn't take much cajoling to get me to order pizza, and that was pretty much the case when my coworker asked me if I wanted to order pizza.  It was very fortunate that I didn't have lunch with me that day...

After a short time we decided on Racanelli's.  I ordered my usual  pepperoni, ham, meatball and onion.  my coworker ordered pepperoni and bacon, a combination that seems to be popular in the Saint Louis area.

The pizza arrived in about 30 minutes, hot and ready to eat.  It was as usual quite good.  For the price I wouldn't mind seeing a few more toppings on the pie, otherwise a pretty satisfying pizza.

Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

The Good Pie, December 2010.

Having the day off to take care of some personal business and having completed that business early, I asked my wife and part-time pizza eater if she would like to go out for lunch.  To my surprise she not only said yes, but she suggested that we go to The Good Pie and check out their lunch specials (see previous visit here).  So we did.  I believe the lunch specials run Monday thru Friday 11A.M. to 1:30P.M. but recommend calling ahead to make sure.

We squeaked in just under the wire, I think it was 1:29 when we sat down.  My fellow pizza eater ordered the pizza del giorno (daily special) with a chopped salad.  The chopped salad had a creamy garlicky dressing (made with raw egg, so maybe the same as the Caesar) romaine lettuce, olives and pepper rings.  Spinach pizza was the daily special, it had spinach, garlic and pecorino (cheese).  I believe it also had olive oil.  The bite of chopped salad I had was excellent, On my next visit I will have to get it.  The spinach pizza wasn't bad either, but due to a traumatic childhood event, not something I would ever order for my self.  I ordered the salami pizza and Caesar salad. As with my previous visit the Caesar salad was excellent.  The salami pizza had tomato, Genoa salami and fresh mozzarella.  On my previous visit my pizza seemed a little wet, at the time I suspected it was the buffalo mozzarella (there water buffalo you know!), so I made sure I got fresh mozzarella.  My salami pizza was great.  The tip of the slice still needed some support when they first brought, but after it cooled slightly it could hold it's own.  I know I just said my pie was great, but that really doesn't do it justice,  it was probably one of the best pizza's I've ever eaten. 

On that note I don't feel I can add anything else worthwhile.  So do your self a favor, open your mind and eat some pizza from The Good Pie.

Highly Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

Shakespeare's Pizza, November 2010.

I have been traveling to and from my hometown a lot over the last few weeks and every trip takes me through Columbia, MO home of a couple of great pizza joints.  One of which just won Good Morning America's Favorite Collage Hangout.  Shakespeare's Pizza has a strong following,  I recently posted on CityProfile.com, the question "What's your favorite pizza joint?" and Shakespeare's Pizza keeps popping up as the answer. I last checked out Shake's about 1 year ago, you can see it here.

Today I could no longer just drive through Columbia and stopped at the new(er) Shakes way out west located at 3304 Broadway Business Park Court.  I brought 2 dinner salads ( lettuce, cheddar cheese, sprouts, tomato and red onions) and 2 Medium pizza's (one with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, hamburger and onions, the second the same just no onions).

As on my previous visit the pizza was great, maybe even a little better.  The staff at the way out west location were very friendly and it was defiantly easier for me to collect the pizza and go than the downtown location.  But the downtown location probably has more character, especially dining-in.

Highly Recommended.
Chief Pizza Eater.
GAW

P.S.  I was having some trouble with the white balance so the photos aren't the greatest.