Stefanina’s: Queen of St. Louis-Style
Launches beginning of top-five St. Charles Pizza Places
If Imo’s is the king and inventor of St. Louis-style pizza, Stefanina’s must be the queen and perfecter. The restaurant holds a special cheesy and gooey spot in the hearts of many St. Charles County residents.Stefanina Roderick Vitale emigrated to the U.S. and St. Louis area from Sicily. As a young lady, she worked in a garment factory near the Hill. After seeing many of her friends open restaurants, she decided to open her own in St. Charles County. The first Stefanina's Pizzeria and Restaurant opened in O' Fallon in 1981. Many of her original recipes are still used today in the pizzas and the pasta dishes. Stefanina's makes its dough, sauce, and meatballs from scratch.
Now they've expanded to six locations. Stefanina's has kept ownership of the restaurants the hands of family and long-time employees. Family owned businesses are becoming rarer in today's age of the rise of fast-casual pizza chains, and other big pizza chains. Having family-owned pizza shops where the owners are working in the restaurant every week is important because you really know that they are personally invested in their pizza quality and the happiness of guests.
In 2018, Stefanina's won the best of St. Charles award. They nearly grabbed a spot in Stlpizzaguy's original top-10 list, but I wanted to reserve them as my first post in the St. Charles top-five.
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| This is the Stefanina's Special pizza. The pizza is topped with sausage, bacon, onion, hamburger, green pepper, pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms |
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| Stlpizzaguy gives Stefanina's the P of Approval |
THE PIZZA DETAILS
THE CHEESE: Provel. The mix of white cheddar, swiss and provolone cheeses. Provel also has a slightly smoky flavor by the addition of liquid smoke. The times I've had Stefanina's I've noticed their Provel is slightly creamier than Imo's.THE SAUCE: Not a very saucy pizza, I taste more Provel with the sauce just an afterthought.
THE CRUST: Although just millimeters thicker than Imo's, it is noticeably thicker and just slightly crispy.
PIZZA SIZES: Pizzas range from 12-20 inches.
I enjoy Stefanina’s as a welcome change to Imo’s. Their Provel cheese seems slightly richer and creamer. The crust, although just millimeters thicker, is noticeably thicker and less cardboard crispy. The entire interplay of the cheese, the sauce, the crust, makes the pizza an St. Louis pizza lover’s dream.
Of course I enjoy a simple pepperoni pizza. But Stefanina's most popular pies are the Stef's Special, Five Meat, and Taco pizzas.
Stefanina's has locations in O' Fallon, Wentzville, Chesterfield, St. Peters, North St. Charles, and Winghaven.
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| Stlpizzaguy's favorite pizza is usually a plain pepperoni pizza or pepperoni and sausage. Above is a picture of Stefanina's sausage and pepperoni pizza. Notice the gooey texture of the Provel cheese. |
No pizza post about Stefanina’s and St. Louis style pizza would be complete without homage to St. Louis-style pizza.
"If they serve pizza in heaven, it should be be St. Louis-style, and why not? You can eat MANY more pieces than Chicago style pizza, it makes you full a lot slower because of the thin crust. We might be the only place on earth that uses Provel cheese, but the MAGIC is in the Provel!"
