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

The First Annual Pizza Files Summer Binge!

The First Annual Pizza Files Summer Binge! May 29th - August 9th, 2009.

Even though the Binge is scheduled for 10 weeks I only have 8 locations picked out, one pizza joint a week with two weeks left for a Bug Run (lobster), but that's another story. I bet I can find a few pizza joints between St Louis and Nova Scotia, Canada...

A list of potential Binge candidates.

New locations:

1. Pi (U-City), I need to see what the fuss was all about.
2. La Pizza (U-City).
3. Caitos Sicilian Restaurant & Pizzeria (Kirkwood).
   
4. Fortel's Pizza Den (Kirkwood).
5. Ami's Pizza (Rockhill).
6. St Louis style pizza, I'm just not sure at what joint it will be.

Previously visited locations:

1. Napoli (St Peters).
2. G&D (Columbia).

The Binge will correspond with my wife and daughters trip to the old country to visit family. As it is my wife fear's I will drain the bank accounts and gain 50lbs while she is gone. If she knew about the Binge she would probably cancel her trip and put a stop to it, so it's a good thing she doesn't read the Pizzafiles.com

Have I missed a must eat pizza joint? If so let me know.

GAW

The Binge, are you in?

Obama orders pizza from St Louis. Chicago turns Red!!!

Our president (who prior to taking up residents at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave claimed Chicago as home) ordered pizza for 140 guests to be delivered from Pi in St Louis, MO so it should come as no surprise that Chicagoland pizza makers are turning RED. What makes it all the more interesting is that Pi makes Chicago style pizza...

For the rest of the story click on the title link.

GAW

11,000 free pizza's and I didn't get one.

Domino's may need a bailout after giving away 11,000 medium pizza's last Monday. If you ordered on-line and typed "bailout" into the coupon section you would get a free pizza. Either somebody at the big house forgot they set-up the code, or maybe they didn't...

For the complete story click the title link.

Don't expect a review of Domino's anytime soon, unless somebody sends me a free one. Yes I'm a pizza slut and I will almost any pizza if it's free. GAW

Pizza by vending machine?

Only 5 minutes from flour and water to completely baked? The "Let's Pizza" vending machine developed in-part at the University of Bologna does just that. I think it's safe to say it isn't going over very well with Italian chefs. Is there a place for this type of contraption? Maybe, but that place will probably never see one do to the complicated nature of such a contraption and the need for fresh ingredients. If a can of soda sits in the typical soda machine for a month nobody really cares. Grate up some cheese and let it sit in your fridge for a month, do you still want to eat it? I would bet not. Click the title link for the full story at Reuters UK.

Highly NOT Recommended. Even though I have not officially reviewed it.

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.

GAW

It's been 25 days since I last ate Pizza!

I have got to get some pizza this weekend. It's been 25 days since my last fix, I have started to have tremors, hallucinations, and a general apathy for life.

Alright alright, if it was that bad I would have been to the "Hot and Ready $5" pizza joint just across the street from work. I'm desperate not hopeless.