TwinOak Wood-fired Pizza: 

Not Just Another Brick In The Wall On The Top 10

TwinOak wood-fired pizza is not just another brick in the wall on the St. Louis pizza scene. Their pies, 10-inches and cooked in a brick oven, is pizza at its finest. TwinOak won the Riverfront Time’s best thin-crust pizza award for 2016, but it has been on Stlpizzaguy’s top 10 list since 2012. TwinOak is my preferred place to go for a great pizza and smoked wings combination. Classmate David Castellucci and I discovered TwinOak during our law school pizza journey of more than 40 St. Louis pizzerias, and it immediately became an agreed upon favorite.

Established in 2011 by the Friederich family, TwinOak brought St. Louis its unique wood-fired fare. The father and two sons are almost always working at the restaurant, and offer a great pizza happy hour deal with half-off pizzas and beer from 3-5:30 p.m.

When customers enter the restaurant, they first see a putting green straight ahead and a hostess to challenge them to sink a 10-foot putt for free beer or pizza. To the left is the bar, with ample seating and a variegated draft beer selection.  As you walk past the bar, you see an open kitchen on your left, at the center of which is the brick oven with its rising flames and burning Missouri oak logs. The brick oven burns wood and gas at temperatures exceeding 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Brick ovens are almost universally recognized as the best way to cook pizza, as it sears in the flavors and tastes of the sauce, meat, and cheese. Keep walking straight and you are at the dining area.

Stlpizzaguy gives TwinOak wood-fired pizza his "P" of Approval. The pizza of his choice in the picture is the Italian Stallion, a mix of Italian sausages and vegetables.

Stlpizzaguy's sister Krista, the inspiration behind the "P" of Approval, poses with the When in Rome pizza. Stlpizzaguy personally believes that if you want a pizza with a mountain of lettuce you should just order a salad, but because Krista founded the "P" of Approval, she gets her picture in the blog whenever she wants. 

"My two favorites of their signature pizzas are the Meatier-ologist and Italian Stallion. One of my pizza mottos is: if there’s no meat, I don’t eat."

The Meatier-ologist has chorizo sausage, Italian sausage, andouille sausage, bacon, basil and mozzarella with tomato sauce. The Italian stallion includes Italian sausage, green bell pepper, caramelized onions and mozzarella with tomato sauce.

TwinOak’s tomato sauce is pretty sweet, too sweet for some customers, but fine by me. They use shredded mozzarella cheese on their pizzas. The pizzas are 10-inches, smaller and crispy on the end, courtesy of the wood-fired brick oven.  One of their pizzas is too much for one normal person with a normal appetite to finish, but too small for two people to share unless you get a pound of wings. So be smart and order two pizzas. Their toppings are generous and taste fresh.

One thing to watch out for at TwinOak: wood-fired pizza does slightly char the crust of the pizza at the bottom. The high-level of skill, attention, and diligence to cook with the brick oven leaves the operator little margin for error or else the pizza is overcooked. Typically this doesn’t happen, but if you dislike crispy crust that naturally comes with cooking in a brick oven you might want to skip TwinOak on your pizza journey. 

The place has my “P” of Approval because I can taste the fresh ingredients, my sister Krista and girlfriend Adria LOVE it, and because I love wood-fired pizza.

TwinOak is located at: 1201 Strassner Dr., Brentwood, MO 63144