I'm not sure the Blackthorn Pub in the Tower Grove neighborhood of South St. Louis is a place where you should bring your mother for a meal, but over the years I've ended up there with not only my mom but pretty much every out of town guest that visits my fair city. For the locals it's a convenient hangout and meeting place, for the softball teams patrolling the fields at nearby Tower Grove Park it's a place to down a few beers before venturing off to the local eateries that sponsor your team, and for everyone it is a total dive in the truest sense of the word.
What brings people in is the pizza. They make pan and deep-dish Chicago style pies which stand out amongst the thin crusted, Provel topped "pizzas" that are commonplace in St. Louis. For folks who have never visited St. Louis, to describe the local pizza style is to imagine a matzo covered with processed cheese product. As a product Provel is both disturbing and perplexing and it goes without saying that I continue to not be a fan.
As a transplant from New York, I'm sure embracing and attitude of "if you can't beat them, join them" might open up my options for a meal, but I really don't see the point. St. Louis style pizza is not very good. Given that fact, the Blackthorn is on my shortlist of pizza joints in town where I can get a pie that at least in spirit (used very loosely) resembles the pizzas that I grew up with and on a regular basis make in my own home.
With that in mind, I visited The Blackthorn twice recently. On my first visit I ordered a deep-dish pie with pepperoni, bacon, mushrooms and green peppers. I arrived at 5pm and ordered my pie with an expected wait of "45 minutes to an hour". I've ordered this pie before, and I know that even at 5 there is a back order of pies that have been phoned in. 45 minutes is more like the estimated time your pie will go in the oven, and for a pie like this, you have to expect at least an hour cooking time. Four beers and a River Front Times later I was on my way home with a pizza that not only feels like a half dozen paperweights in a box, but in your stomach as well.
The deep-dish is thick, standing well over an inch and a half high, with layers of cheese (Provel-free), a spicy sauce that The Blackthorn shares with its sister pizzeria Lemmon's and your choice of toppings. Paying homage to the city of Chicago, this is a knife and fork meal and at times it seems to have more relation to lasagna than pizza. I'm kidding, but in all reality this is not "fold it over and bite pizza", it's more of a direct challenge to your cardiologist.
On my second trip my wife and I ate at the bar, sharing a pan pizza with onions, mushrooms, green peppers, garlic and pepperoni. The pan pizza is a deep-dish in its own right, standing at least an inch tall. The same cheese and sauce covers this pie, just in lesser amounts. If anything, the pan pizza at The Blackthorn reminds me of what a Pizza Hut pizza looked like growing up, before it became a cog in the wheels of Yum! Brands and bundled with a Taco Bell to save construction costs. In fact, I’m privy to the fact that they use salvaged Pizza Hut deep dish pans to make their pies in. Recycling and reverence, in pizza form.
With both pies, the diner feels empowered to load up the toppings, mostly because the crust is up to the job of carrying the extra weight. Case in point, while I was waiting for the first pie, a couple came in and ordered a pan pizza with "all the meats", which turned out to be a pie with about 5 different meats on it. If not for the tomato sauce, not a vegetable would be found near that pie. A tip of the hat to the culinary adventurous.
An issue I had with both pies is the pepperoni appeared barely cooked, while the other toppings looked like they had spent a half hour to and hour in an oven. I would think an hour at pizza cooking temps would leave the edges of the pepperoni crisp and brown, not looking like they just were pulled from the bag they came in. Beyond that, these pies stand head and shoulders over delivery and local St. Louis style standbys.
All in all, The Blackthorn is a local institution and deserves our respect. Are there better pies out there? Sure, but The Blackthorn is not trying to be something its is not. So what is it? A total dive filled with friends, punk rock girls, an awesome music collection, beer by the pitcher and pizza's that go along with it all famously.
Opinion: Recommended with reservations
The Blackthorn Pub
3735 Wyoming Street
St. Louis, MO 63116
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