2016 Stlpizzaguy Year-End Wrap Up

I want to end this year with a bang, with a special Christmas themed post. It’s been a great year for Stlpizzaguy, with more than 5,000 visitors to my little pizza site. I am truly humbled. My last post for 2016 is Black Thorn Pub, a place I first discovered during my 1L year of Law School with my roommate Aaron Moores and other members of the SLU Law Softball League which played at Tower Grove Park.

Next year I will finish my top 10 list and start visiting requested pizza places from blog viewers around the St. Louis area. So far on my list to visit are Faraci Pizza and Felix's Pizza.

Motivation For Starting A Pizza Blog

Probably the best thing about moving to the St. Louis City in 2010 was the opening of a whole new world of undiscovered restaurants. In  the St. Louis area there is a city/county divide that people do not often cross when visiting restaurants. Most people who have not lived in the city haven’t visited Black Thorn, while most who live in the city haven’t been to Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro, a favorite of Chesterfield residents. A huge reason I started the Stlpizzaguy was to get people out of their neighborhood, into other neighborhoods in search of better tasting pizza. I would like to thank my fiance Adria who really motivated me to start the blog and first thought of Stlpizzaguy. I'd also like to thank my sister Krista who helped by giving me a signature P of Approval. 

In Case You Missed it

Here are some posts that will educate you on St. Louis-style pizza, and also about the new fast-casual pizza taking over the area.

Guide to Provel cheese:
http://stlpizzaguy.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-best-guide-to-provel-cheese-part-1.html

What makes St. Louis-style Pizza
http://stlpizzaguy.blogspot.com/2016/03/now-you-can-tell-your-out-of-town.html


The Great Pizza Debate, my post on fast-casual pizza
http://stlpizzaguy.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-great-pizza-debate-has-technology.html

The Best Guide to Provel Cheese Part 1

Love it or hate it, Provel cheese is king in St. Louis. Recent transplants to this area might not have much of an opinion on Chuck Berry or Charles Lindbergh, but I guarantee you transplants to St. Louis have strong feelings for Provel cheese.

The debate between the lovers and haters of Provel is usually separated by the St. Louis natives (who grew up with Provel cheese), and the transplants (who generally think it is nasty).

During my experience at St. Louis University, I had classmates from Virginia, Maine, Florida, and other various states. Some of the transplants had strong opinions (mostly negative) about Provel cheese. At the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas in the Central West End, my Virginian roommate Aaron Moores and I had a conversation with a very bitter woman from the east coast about living in St. Louis. She complained about her allergies and the extreme variation in temperatures. I proudly told her that we had been to Ted Drewes and Imo's Pizza. Then I said, "Speaking of Imo's Pizza, we are the home of the great Provel cheese." That statement led her to give a profanity ridden rant on "God-awful" Provel cheese and its terrible qualities. The woman said, "Provel is overly processed, tastes disgusting, I never eat it and it's one more thing in St. Louis that I hate."

Fortunately, not every person born outside of St. Louis dislikes Provel Cheese. My old roommate Aaron Moores accompanied me to Imo's Pizza a several times, and while he is not in love with Provel like I am, he enjoyed the pizza. The rest of his family, Russel and Missey Moores are also fans of St. Louis-style pizza. When they come back to visit, you can be certain they will eat at a St. Louis-style pizza place. Aaron says that most people who do not like Provel have a problem with its texture.

On the other hand, I observe people who are raised in St. Louis LOVE Provel cheese, putting it on salads, using it on sandwiches, even eating plain Imo's Provel string cheese, which is sold at local grocery stores like Schnucks.

If you click on the link below, you will see Viviano and Sons Italian Grocery ships Provel cheese to many happy customers from Pennsylvania, Idaho, Kansas, Indiana, Florida and Texas. No doubt the customers are most likely St. Louis natives who are pining for the privilege to come back to St. Louis and taste Provel's goodness.

http://www.shopviviano.com/products/Provel.html

Examples of other polarizing foods or ingredients:

I edited this picture to read Provel instead of Marmite. Are you a Provel lover or hater?

"Besides the obvious mushroom, olive, anchovies, kale, or other nasty vegetable, Peeps and Marmite stick out in my mind as having a similar Provel cheese polarizing effect on people."

Marmite is a sticky, dark brown food paste with a distinctively salty flavor. Their slogan is "Love it or hate it." The product was discovered in the early 1900's and is made out of concentrated brewer's yeast. Although it has a high salt content, it is also fortified with B vitamins and other healthy attributes. People typically use Marmite on toast for breakfast, in sandwiches at lunchtime, mixed in cocktails, and sometimes is eaten with cheese.

Picture of Peeps before I decided to eat them

Surprisingly, Peeps are a contentious Easter candy. I have eaten them almost every year since I have been born and they are a sign of Spring, that Easter and better times are here after brutal St. Louis winters. The divide in my family of five was strong, with two haters of Peeps, two lovers of Peeps and one neutral. I could go into greater detail about peeps, how I love to eat them, how I bite different parts off of each little chick I eat, and how they are healthier than most other kinds of Easter Candy. But I won't. The point is that with Peeps, like Marmite and Provel Cheese, you either love it or hate it.

My next post will have a more detailed look into the history of Provel cheese.