Time for the Top 10: PW Pizza

The solar-powered PW Pizza is for the environmentally conscious, and it's not your father's pizza. Unlike pizza of yesteryear, PW Pizza sources their cheeses, vegetables, and meats locally in their quest for quality pizza. They even offer vegan, gluten free, and a honey wheat crust as options. The place is named after Paul and Wendy Hamilton of the Vin de Set and Eleven Eleven Mississippi restaurant magnate. 

Stlpizzaguy discovered PW Pizza in the Spring of 2013 while perusing Yelp reviews of downtown pizza places on Thursday afternoon in his Health Care Quality class. I remember this distinctively because the class was so darn boring. But the highlight of each week was going to a pizza place of every Thursday night with classmate David Castellucci.  Located in a sort of no-mans land on Chouteau, we finally arrive at PW and order some wings and pizza. The hot wings have a healthy twist to them. They aren't deep-fried, contain no sauce but have a strong Chipotle seasoning. 

We order our pizza--a half "Yo Pauly" and half "Big Balls" the first time. Big Balls is just how it sounds, PW's version of a meatball pizza with giant meatballs invading their somewhat thin, hand-tossed crust. Yo Pauly has volpi salami, hot capicola, sun-dried tomato, roasted garlic, pepperoncini.
On other visits, I order the Wolf pizza, my recommendation, which is topped with housemade fennel sausage, pepperoni, applewood-smoked bacon, carmelized onions, and cloves of garlic. 

"Maybe it's called the Wolf because if you put it in front of me I will WOLF it down!"

Stlpizzaguy (LEFT) with his sister Krista (RIGHT) the inspiration behind the "P" of Approval. Stlpizzaguy's choice pizza here is The Wolf, and Krista enjoyed the "healthy" hot wings to pair with the pizza.

PW is my first release of a top-10 pizza place because it introduced me to a new way of making and eating pizza. It expanded my horizons to crave pizza places that use fresh ingredients and combine meats in creative ways. Here, they slide their pies into wood-fired ovens, and cook the pizza at 800-degrees. Their crust is close to a Neapolitan-style pizza, hand kneaded and tossed. PW's cheese of choice is mozzarella.
All their pizzas are 12-inches, but PW douses on a crap ton of toppings that will leave you satisfied. Because of the wood-fired oven the crust is crispier than Dewey's. Because of the fresh ingredients, you get a sensory overload in your moth when you bite into their pizza. The toppings come alive and have greater richness. As fresh and local sourced ingredients for pizza in St. Louis was pretty rare in 2013, this place left an indelible mark on me. For a nice view of downtown, a great pizza/wings combo, and of course fresh ingredients go try out PW Pizza.

PW PIZZA IS LOCATED AT
2017 Chouteau
St. Louis Mo 63103

SHOUT OUTS:

Since the advent of this pizza blog, I've received many requests from friends for advice on where to eat pizza. A few friends have even taken me out and bought my pizza, in exchange for a trip to one of the places in my top 10. I must give a special shout out to the Saint Louis University Internal Medicine Residents, particularly Hina and Kush Mehta, who are avid followers of stlpizzaguy blog and have eaten at a couple of the St. Louis pizza places mentioned in the book Where to Eat Pizza. They  made the pledge to eat pizza at all of my forthcoming top 10 pizza places. I expect to release a pizza place into the top 10 every couple weeks. 

Another special shout out goes to Blake McGaugh and Olivia Nicholson. When I was planning this post, they asked for a great pizza place near the Soulard area and I suggested PW Pizza. Blake was kind enough to give PW Pizza his "P" of Approval. 

Blake Mcgaugh gives PW Pizza the "P" of Approval, will you?

Thank you fans for all the kind words. Feel free to make the pizza pledge to eat at all my top 10 pizza places, and you will get mentioned in my blog, along with photos you take. Other ideas coming down the pipe is a pizza poetry contest, with the winner getting a $25 gift certificate to my #1 pizza place. But that is all for a later date. Stay happy and remember, sometimes the key to a happier life is to eat more pizza.  

Refutation of Where To Eat Pizza

Daniel Young's Where to Eat Pizza is a very ambitious encyclopedia of pizza, but falls short of my expectations because of its failure to include St. Louis-style pizza and Provel cheese. Released in late March of 2016, the 526-page behemoth of a book devotes hardly a page to the best pizza places in St. Louis. Out of the abundance of great pizza places in St. Louis, the book lists only five, while also listing five pizza places in Omaha, Nebraska.

Are you kidding me? I actually got nervous when I read the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, which highlighted the release of this book. It appeared that someone else had already done stlpizzaguy's job by finding the best pizza places in the area.

"Have no fear, I am still the holder of many St. Louis pizza secrets not mentioned in Where to Eat Pizza."

Where To Eat Pizza is written by someone I could only dream to be someday: the aficionado of all aficionados when it comes to pizza: Daniel Young. He is the organizer of the London Pizza Festival, which is a yearly pizza tasting and competition featuring some of the best pizzas in Europe.

In order write this book, Mr. Young couldn't have possibly gone to every major U.S. city and ranked the pizza. I'm sure that if he did visit St. Louis, Young might have devoted a full chapter to St. Louis pizza and given Provel cheese and our local spots the credit they deserve. Instead, he employed regional food experts. Ian Froeb was chosen as the regional food expert for Missouri Pizza. Mr. Froeb is a very accomplished food critic in Missouri, and known for his 100 top St. Louis restaurants on stltoday.com. In the case of pizza, however, he misses the mark.

Out of the five St. Louis pizza places listed in the book on pages 408-409, only one of the five listed in the book are in my top 10.

According to Where To Eat Pizza, the BEST pizza places in St. Louis are:

• Pastaria
• Black Thorn Pub & Pizza
• La Pizza
• Pizzeoli
• Pizzeria Tivoli

All of these pizza places are certainly great, but then again it is rare that I meet a pizza that I don't like. My bone to pick is the lack of any St. Louis-style pizza places listed by the author. Pastaria is wood-fired Neopolitan, while Black Thorn is Chicago-style deep dish. La Pizza is a New York-style pizza, while Pizzeoli is Neapolitan, along with Pizzeria Tivoli. 

Maybe the Neapolitan Pizza mafia along with the Chicago-style Pizza mafia paid a visit to the author of the book. All jokes aside, if you want to find out my top-10 pizza places from someone born and raised in St. Louis, then stay tuned because my list coming soon.

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.

How to tell good pizza from bad? Give the P of approval!

The P of approval was dreamed up by me and my sister Krista as a way to signify great pizza. If you think this is a slightly ridiculous symbol, consider this: the French give a hearty burp as a sign to compliment the chef. Therefore, no one should be alarmed when a customer uses their hands to make the P sign of approval to the waiter. Eventually, if the P of approval catches on, restaurants will have have a picture of me, stlpizzaguy, giving the P of approval, and also get others to give the P of approval when their pizza meal is satisfying. If you decide to go to a pizza establishment and follow my lead, please send me a picture. Soon, I will have a user submitted photo gallery of great pizza.

My sister Krista, the originator of the "P of Approval"

Making the P of Approval at a mystery pizza restaurant, it is definitely on my top 10 list.

Lately on my pizza journey, I've been researching Provel cheese and am considering a road trip to Wisconsin to track down the origin of Provel. More Provel cheese oriented posts coming soon!!!

Welcome to St. Louis Pizza Blog

Coffee, Tea, or PIZZA

Pizza is my passion! I’ve been keeping a top 10 list of St. Louis Pizza places since the Fall of 2012 and created this blog to help the great people of St. Louis expand their pizza tastes. The purpose of this blog is to help St. Louis city and county residents appreciate pizza the way it ought to be appreciated. 

St. Louis is a great place to live. Most St. Louisans are passionate about their Cardinals, or their Blues. Our little known secret is both the abundance and quality of our pizza places. When it comes to pizza, I do not discriminate between thick and thin or St. Louis style pizza. I’m an equal opportunity pizza lover.

My requirements for a good pizza include

• Some type of meat (sausage, pepperoni, bacon, capicola)
• Good cheese
• Tomato sauce, I like to keep it traditional, no bbq pulled pork olive oil mixed with peanut butter and jelly.

Keep a lookout over the next few weeks for my top 10 list of St. Louis pizzas and special pizza facts.

MY SILLY PIZZA OBSESSION

This is a story of pizza's important role in life events.

During Memorial Day Weekend of 2014, my great friend David Castellucci made me the best man at his Miami wedding at the very last minute, and a big part of being the best man includes giving a speech to more than 300 people at the reception. Weddings are typically the bride's day, but I wanted to give the guests an insight into David's life. So I mentioned in my speech that were law school buddies and we also tried more than 50 St. Louis restaurants, with two-thirds of them pizza places. I went on to mention how much David loves deep-dish pizza. The third and final time I mentioned pizza in the speech was how it landed me my first job in the legal field.

Little did I know that mine and David's pizza trips were leading to anything besides expanding my waistline. I asked guests to travel back with me three months to February 2014 at a job interview I had with the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney's office. The head prosecutor and his six assistants sit down at the table. I am a little bit intimidated at this time because of the amount of people in the room. And the first question, "tell us about yourself" had me pretty befuddled because how do you summarize all your years of your life in a pithy statement? I paused for what seemed like forever, until a friendly interviewer asked me, "so do you like pizza?" At this point in the interview, a gigantic smile came to my face because I now knew I could knock this question out of the park. Sharing my love for deep dish, and sharing my top five pizza places helped me get a job that day. It also helped that my interview was right before lunch on a Friday. Thank you pizza for being a great icebreaker in a job interview and great comic relief at a wedding.

"Not only did I mention pizza in the wedding speech once, twice, but THREE times thereby making a holy trinity of pizza. Even though some in the crowd were probably perturbed I wasted their precious time, I delivered a great speech about David and our weekly adventures to restaurants around Saint Louis University in our pursuit for great pizza."

However, not every story about pizza in my life is positive. One of the MOST common complaints ex-girlfriends have had against me is that I would only take them to pizza places.

Anyways, I am planning on serving pizza at my wedding some day. Does anyone have any thoughts? Feel free to share your pizza stories by commenting on this blog, and expect me to release a top 10 pizza place every two weeks. 

Now you can tell your out-of-town friends what EXACTLY makes a great St. Louis-style pizza, plus dazzle friends and family with amazing pizza facts.

• 93 percent of Americans have eaten pizza within the last month, thereby making PIZZA more American than Apple Pie or a Big Mac hamburger.
• Pizza originated in Naples, Italy.
• Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in the United States.
• When do people order the most pizza? The most pizzas are ordered on SUPER BOWL Sunday.

St. Louis-Style Pizza

Every once in a blue moon friends tell me, you're the pizza dude, so what exactly differentiates St. Louis-style pizza from others. My basic, uninformed answer is the super-thin crust, combined with provel cheese and is cut into squares. Nothing is wrong with that answer, but let us get a little more specific so we can give our friends a good, thorough answer next time we are asked that question. We should know our pizza and be proud of our region, because sometimes the St. Louis-style comes under attack from out-of-towners and provel cheese haters.

THE LONG ANSWER:

The definitive characteristics of St. Louis-style pizza are a extremely thin crust made without yeast, the common use of Provel processed cheese, and pizzas cut into squares  instead of wedges.

• The thin, cracker-like crust is made without yeast. The crust is crispy and cannot be folded.
• As a result of its thin crust, St. Louis-style pizza can be layered deeply with many different toppings because of the sturdiness of the cracker-like crust.
• The pizza is cut into three or four inch squares. According to legend, Ed Imo, founder of Imo's pizza back in 1964, was a tile layer and possibly got inspiration from this type of work.

THE CHEESE: PROVEL

Provel cheese was developed by the St. Louis company Costa Grocery in the 1950s and is made in Wisconsin primarily for the St. Louis market. According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch food critic Joe Bonwichstates that Provel was developed to meet perceived demand for a pizza cheese with a "clean bite": one that melts well but breaks off nicely when bitten. Provel is not legally labeled as simply cheese because it does not meet the moisture content required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Provel is instead considered a pasteurized processed cheese.

HOWEVER, it is although Provel is a hallmark of St. Louis-style pizza, two popular St. Louis pizza establishments DO NOT use Provel cheese: Fortels Pizza and Pappo's.

THE SAUCE:

The tomato sauce is often seasoned with more oregano than other pizza.  Some of the sauces have a greater sweetness to them than pizzas from other places in the U.S.

RECIPES TO MAKE YOUR OWN ST.LOUIS-STYLE PIZZA:

Just in case the plethora of pizza places in St. Louis would somehow all shut down, and you would be forced to make pizza yourself, here are two noteworthy recipes to make your own.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/st-louis-style-pizza-recipe

http://www.food.com/recipe/imos-pizza-recipe-st-louis-style-pizza-380004