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

Fortel's Pizza Den:
Mom and Pop Pizza Stands Test Of Time

As Stlpizzaguy's adventures drive him deeper into St. Louis County for lunch at the Fortel's Creve Coeur location on July 8, he tells his pizza confidants brother Evan and friend Matt Burke that Fortel's is in his top 10 list for sure, but really quite honestly it’s in his top three. Over the course of his life, Stlpizzaguy has consumed more than 100 of Fortel's pizzas. So it is possible that the repetition and regularity of pizza consumption at Fortel's has blinded his taste buds. But anyone with even a cursory knowledge about St. Louis pizza knows that Fortel's earns a rightful place in the top 10 list.

Stlpizzaguy giving the P of Approval with one of his favorite pizza brethren Matt Burke. Matt Burke's pizza claim to fame is for being a frequent diner of Pizza Hut Pizza. Growing up, his family ordered Pizza Hut at least 2-3 times every week for dinner. In high school we would have Pizza Hut EVERY Friday night when I visited to his house. Do not let looks deceive you, we finished both of these pizzas with a little help from my brother Evan.

As we order and eat a large and a medium pepperoni pizza, the taste is magical. With a liberal amount of tomato sauce and heavy amount of pepperoni, this pizza is a great greasy masterpiece. The taste of the crust is doughy, not a crispy cracker like crust so common with many St. Louis-style pizzas. 

"The pepperoni pizzas here are very greasy, which may turn some people off in this health-conscious age, but I still love it. Stlpizzaguy eats pizza for his sanity and pleasure, not for his health."

Fortel's Pizza was founded in 1981 by Bob and Jan Fortel. I first heard about them in the late 1990’s when Bob and Shelley Fortel appeared on KSDK Channel 5's “Show-Me St. Louis" showcasing a variety of pizzas. Bob Fortel was a pizza visionary, with his barbeque chicken pizza and other experiments with different pizza types way before it became trendy. My mother and I insisted on trying the pizza, so the entire family went to the Kirkwood location and have been regular customers of various Fortel's locations ever since. When I think of great pizza and where all my pizza memories are, most are found at Fortel's when my family went there on Sunday nights after church, after celebrating wins in high school baseball, after my law school graduation, or just to carry out.

The Pizza Details:

THE CHEESE: Mozzarella. You can tell the difference because it’s stringy when cutting off a piece, unlike Provel which can be cut perfectly.

SAUCE: A sweeter than normal tomato sauce that is always applied liberally to the dough.

CRUST: On the thick spectrum of thin-crust pizza. Doughy, not crispy, never overdone or overcooked.

Additionally, Fortel's uses fresh ingredients, fresh toppings, and their dough is made in the store every day. For thin-crust pizza, Fortel's and Imo’s are kings in St. Louis. If you like an alternative to the crispy, Provel cheese laden Imo’s, try the doughy, mozzarella cheese pizzas superbly made at Fortel's.

Serra’s Pizza: 
Old School Pizza In The New Age

For a family-run pizza place that takes you back in time and percolates pizza and memories, go to Serra's. The restaurant is about history, community, and family. Literally their entire family works at the restaurant, which is becoming very rare. On a Friday or Saturday night you will see three or four generations of family working: the owner Onofrio Serra supervising at his corner table, his son baking the pizzas in the kitchen, and daughter waiting tables. When you walk in, a sign outside says "We serve beer on Sundays." A 1980's Donkey Kong Machine and old-fashioned jukebox line the entryway. Serra's Pizza has served customers St. Louis-style pizza since 1970 and seems frozen in time. One thing is for sure: this old school pizza still tastes good in the new age!

Stlpizzaguy's sister Krista, the inspiration behind the "P" of Approval, stands outside Serra's Pizza, in anticipation of some great St. Louis-style pizza.

Pepperoni Pizza: the favorite of stlpizzaguy

Deluxe Pizza

"When people ask me this question, most frequently by Dr. George Jerkovich of Salina, Kansas, where do you get the BEST St. Louis-style pizza? The answer is Serra’s Pizza. It is textbook St. Louis-style."

Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover—hidden gem

But it wasn’t until a celebrity told my father about Serra's that I ate there after 12 years of living near Maryland Heights. Serra’s is located in a little shopping center with Tony’s Donuts and across the street from 7-11 on St. Charles Rock Rd.  Although our family frequently drove by Serra’s, we probably never entered because of the bland appearance of the restaurant tucked in a little corner strip mall. It took Kurt Warner to recommend Serra's to my dad as a GREAT place that we must try. Before he was a Superbowl winner, Kurt Warner lived near Mckelvey Elementary school and frequented Serra’s Pizza often. Of course after that conversation, we tried and loved Serra's Pizza ever since.

This brings me to remark that we should never judge a book by it cover, a restaurant by their exterior, or we will be missing out. Thanks to restaurant review companies like Yelp and my pizza blog, hole-in-the wall restaurants are easy to find if their food quality is good. But what if their customers aren’t the type of people log on to Yelp, or urban spoon like many of the trendier restaurants or to influence the Riverfront Times to write an article about them? Serra’s strength lies in old-fashioned word-of-mouth and occasionally even bakes pizza for the bands who play at the nearby Hollywood Casino amphitheater

Serra’s proudly makes their pizzas with Provel cheese, giving the pizza have a slightly creamier texture than mozzarella. The sauce is sweet but not overly sweet, and Serra’s claims, “the unique sweetness of our sauce has its origins from the kitchens of  Italy.” The crust is on the thicker spectrum of thin-crust pizza, with ¼ to ½ inch of crust on the edges. Their pizza is cooked in brick ovens to a medium amount, not overly crispy, and not too chewy either.

The Block siblings and their significant others give Serra's Pizza the "P" of Approval. From left to right: Patrick, Krista, Evan (too cool for the "P" of Approval), Adria (the inspiration behind the name of the blog stlpizzaguy), and stlpizzaguy.

Serra’s is especially a favorite of my brother Evan, who gets carry out, or visits with his friends from Parkway North High School to show them this hidden gem.

Anthonino's: Get it while it's HOT!

Sicilian Pizza, Beef Spiedini, and Toasted Ravioli. Anthonino's offers a variety of Italian and Greek dishes.

Anthonino’s Taverna on the Hill offers the best one-two combination punch of toasted ravioli and pizza in the St. Louis area. They had a stellar 2015, winning the Riverfront Times hotly contested best pizza and best toasted ravioli categories. Anthonino’s has been on my radar since 2012 thanks to Yelp but I never visited until the spring of 2015 because none of my friends had eaten there. Since last Spring, Stlpizzaguy attends this hot, affordable and trendy restaurant almost monthly. Now the secret is out in 2016, so expect to wait and an hour or longer on the weekends unless you have reservations.

Anthonino’s ingredients for success partially lie in their fresh, made in house marinara sauce. It’s a slightly thinner marinara and not overly sweet. I can taste the freshness while spreading the marina sauce on the toasted ravioli.  The handmade, jumbo-sized toasted ravioli are my personal favorite in St. Louis. But don't just take my word for this appetizer filled with ground beef, onion, garlic, and topped with ricotta and pecorino-romano cheese.

Their 14-inch pizzas are a mid-level thick hand-tossed crust. Anthonino's crust is more crispy on the edges than doughy and a large amount of marinara sauce is typically found near the crust of their pizzas.  The cheese is a provolone/mozzarella mix instead of Provel. I recognize the cheese is not Provel because their pizzas are stringy when cutting slices. Anthonino's includes the Italian meat Capocolla in several of their pizzas such as the Sicilian and four-meat pizzas. Capocolla is taken from either the shoulder or neck of a pig, so it is a type of Italian pork with a salty taste. My personal favorite at Anthoninos is the Sicilian, which has capocolla, pepperoni, roasted red peppers, and red onions. One knowledgeable waitress told me that the Sicilian is also their best-seller.

In June of 2012, Guy Fieri of the Food Network and host  Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives visited Anthonino's. Fieri tried the handmade Toasted Ravioli, house marinara, Dolmathes and Greek yogurt tzatziki. 

Anthonino’s lives up to all the hype. Stlpizzaguy took his friend Brian Andrew to Anthonino’s before a Blues game, but we ate our food so fast that we didn’t have time for pictures or the “P” of Approval. My parents Tom and Donna went for to Anthonino’s for their 36th wedding anniversary, and gave the “P” of Approval in my absence.

Tom and Donna enjoy a Deluxe Pizza and give their "P" of Approval

Now that hockey season is over, stlpizzaguy will return to regular pizza posts on his blog.

You can find Anthoninos near the southwest side of the Hill at:

2225 Macklind Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63110

To see Guy Fieri at Anthonino’s visit:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/anthoninos-tavern-0196673.html

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.