Andrew Mark Veety

First Look At The Baking Steel

I've been making pizzas at home for a really long time. To be honest, I thought my pizzas were pretty good. I enjoyed throwing down all kinds of pizza styles; thin crust, Neapolitan, pizza bianca, pies with dough made with fall honey, and even deep dish Chicago styles. However, I never really thought my pizzas were great, no matter how quickly they got eaten. It's pizza after all.

In the persuit of great pizza, I've bought all kinds of tools for making pies at home, from stones in all shapes and sizes to an interesting mod to a Weber Kettle Grill called the KettlePizza; a tool that has potential, but is difficult to use. Recently I saw a review of a new product called the Baking Steel on the pizza-centric site Slice, and the results Kenji Lopez-Alt was getting in his home oven was enough to motivate me to contribute to a Kickstarter Campaign the makers of the Baking Steel were holding (now closed) to get my hands on a half inch thick model, a massive slab of steel that weighs in at 30 pounds. 

The idea behind the Baking Steel originates from a mention in the epic cookbook set Modernist Cuisine, where it was suggested that a baking pizzas at home on a slab of metal would produce a superior product to pizzas baked on stone. It makes sense if you think about it. Stone heated by fire in a wood oven does an amazing job baking pies, because of the temperatures - ranging from 600 to 900 degrees - they are able to reach. A home oven though will typically max out around 500, so while a stone in your oven might turn out a decent pizza, you will be hard pressed to replicate the product that a wood fired oven will produce. Swapping out your stone for metal - in this case steel - ups the firepower (or more specifically energy in the form of heat) a home pizza maker can direct at their pies.

So far, my experience with the switch from stone to steel has been excellent. My pies are baking 25% faster. Thes have crisper and well chared collars and skirts, and are approaching the chewy texture that I've been trying to create at home for years. Truth be told, I'm nowhere near the end of my experiment with the Baking Stone, but I think enough of the product so far to say, if you want to make better pizzas at home, it's worth looking into. 

Check out these photos of some recent pies I baked on a Baking Steel, provided by Jonathan Pollack. The proof, it would seem, is in the pizza:

I received no compensation or consideration for this post. This is not intended to be an advertisement. I just love great pizza. When I find a tool that helps me make great pizza, I want other folks to know about it. If you have used the Baking Steel, tell me about it in the comments section of this post. I've love to hear from you.

Dinner With YellowTree Farm: Pizza Bianca For the Post Dispatch

I'm really excited that Justin and Danielle from Yellowtree Farm recommended me to the Post Dispatch for an article on home cooks and local farmers. 

Justin and Danielle hooked me up with a collection of once in a lifetime ingredients to make a pizza bianca that celebrates the best that late June and early July gardens have to offer. Here is my recipe for this great pizza, give it a try in your kitchen and let me know how it turns out.

Many thanks to Jonathan Pollack for the great pictures of a once a season pie.

Assorted Minutia: 4/30-5/06/2011

I've started to keep a tumblr diary for all the little things that I find, read or eat during the week. With any luck the quick thoughts, dishes I ate and pictures I accumulated along the way will make for a a disjointed yet interesting weekly post.

Porter's Fried Chicken

Depending on who you talk to, Porter's is serving up the best fried chicken in St. Louis. I'd suggest listening to the folks who will tell you it's not to be missed. Skip the sides (or even eating at Porter's) and focus on crisp and flavorful chicken, perfect eaten warm from the box or cold from the fridge. My preference is to alternate between Crystal's hot sauce and honey between pieces.

I last wrote about Porters in August of 2008.

Pizza Toppings / Garnish / Relish

I make this topping a few hours before I begin tossing pizzas. Start with a base of sea salt, minced garlic, crushed red pepper and good olive oil. Add herbs like marjoram or oregano, always fresh and rough chopped to expose their natural oils to the mixture. Drizzle over your pizza before sending it into the oven.

Pizza Made With YellowTree Farm Fall Honey

On the topic of pizza, I used honey from my CSA this week to replace sugar in a pizza dough. Give it a read, then give it a go in your oven.

Garlic And Dill Quick Pickles

My two year old son seems to have my love of pickles in his DNA. Rather than serving up the erie green pickles found at the grocery store, I try to make a batch of quick pickles every few week or so. Dill, garlic, salt, onion powder, water and white wine vinegar make for a treat that quickly vanishes from the fridge.

Assorted Minutia: 4/22-4/29/2011

I've started to keep a tumblr diary for all the little things that I find, read or eat during the week. With any luck the quick thoughts, dishes I ate and pictures I accumulated along the way will make for a a disjointed yet interesting weekly post. I'd be interested in knowing what readers think of this new idea.

The Beast in a Box from Salume Beddu.

This sandwich was so good, I may have cried half way though eating it. Simply, it is the best sandwich I've had this year. Interestingly enough I enjoyed it at the best lunch I've had this year. You need to get to know this dish, sooner rather than later.

Salami Pizza at The Good Pie.

I was lured (again) into the ongoing conversation about the Good Pie in the STLBites forum. The quick and dirty of the issue is that many in our fair city believe that the Good Pie is actually a Bad Pie. I happen to believe it's an excellent example of the pizza style. This argument has gone on for over 21 pages and 300 replies. I continue to be on the right side of this argument. A good chunk of St. Louis continues to be on the wrong side. I anticipate this weeks conversation changed the minds of exactly zero people. Oh well. Here is to the next 21 pages of this argument.

Beef kabob and falafel from Cafe Natasha.

Cafe Natasha may have the best beef shish kabob in St. Louis. Even when temped rare to medium rare, the outside is crisp while  the inside remains moist, tender and flavorful. Simple advice for those getting their kabob to go, savor every last drop of the juice  thrown off on the trip from Natasha's kitchen to your table.

Natasha's falafel is usually a favorite of mine. Spice, sauce and fried balls of chick peas make for a sandwich that I consume so fast that several bites include bits of the paper that each falafel is wrapped in. Not so much this time, the sauce was lacking and falafel was dry, for me, the texture was decidedly off this week.

Yellow Tree Farm Quail Eggs

Rain has dominated the weather forecast for the last week and a half, but I made the best of it by heading out to the Maplewood Farmers Market to pick up my Yellow Tree Farm CSA. Besides bamboo shoots, quails and chicken eggs, I ended up with 37 quail eggs. The plan is to pickle them. It promises to be an adventure.

Pasta with asparagus, onions and roasted tomato.

For dinner this week I made this simple pasta dish of sautéed onions, asparagus and roasted tomatoes over linguine. Reserved liquid from the roasted tomatoes, a few ladle-fulls of pasta water and good olive oil make a sauce that does not overshadow spring asparagus, which should be showing up at the market soon, if it has not already. 

Farmers' Larder kielbasa

I am part Polish. My wife is part Polish. We have a ritual in our home called Polish night were we eat the foods that our families introduced us to when we were my son's age. Roasted potatoes, broccoli (most likely not Polish, but good for you) and sauerkraut are the supporting cast for kielbasa from the Farmers' Larder, a local charcuterie vendor at the Maplewood Farmer's Market. This is the kielbasa I remember from growing up. The snap of a natural casing, outstanding local beef and pork, just a hint of marjoram and a finish that is all garlic. A steal at $9.00 a package.

First Taste of Kool-aid

Kool-aid is not a big part of our lives and until this week, it was unknown to my son. However, some neighborhood kids were selling grape Kool-aid as a fund raiser for the victims of the recent weeks tornadoes here in Missouri. Who can say no to that?

Son, meet high fructose corn syrup. It tastes good, right? Don't get used to it.

The Best Pizzerias In St. Louis - Part I

The Setup:

St. Louis native Yogi Berra once replied, “You better make it four. I don't think I could eat eight” when asked how many slices his pizza should be cut into. I've always been fond of this quote, not just because its classic Berra, but because in many ways it captures the American experience with pizza.

As a society who tends to revel in our own over indulgence, it is pizza that arguably sits at the top of the food chain as the meal we eat to excess. We consume the dish on a massive scale, usually from cardboard boxes and frozen cases, instead of freshly pulled from the blistering heat of a pizzeria's oven, which is arguably the only way to truly commune with a pizza.

There are only a handful of dishes in the American diet that have experienced the culinary version of manifest destiny that pizza has. From the hand tossed pies the size of car tires and coal oven blistered doughs of the East Coast to the West Coast take on the Midwestern deep dish, the very idea of pizza is continually borrowed and tweaked to make something just a bit different from the dish a town over, yet familiar enough to wet the appetite when the heady smell of a pizza pie baking in a rocket hot oven first hits the nose. 

Locally, St. Louis has been in the midst of a pizza renaissance, with a host of pizzerias successfully fighting for elbow room at a table dominated by the ubiquitous St. Louis style pizza. Indeed, when I originally asked for help finding the best pizzas St. Louis had to offer, I fully expected to spend some time making my way though the roster of locally famous pizzerias serving up cracker thin pies, covered from edge to edge with toppings and Provel, a uniquely St. Louis cheese product that more than anything is the ethos of the St. Louis style pizza.

Instead of the traditional favorites, folks came out in numbers for pies that are at the forefront of the changing face of pizza in St. Louis. I took your feedback and set out to find and rank what I think are the best pizzas in St. Louis, based on the votes of the readers of this site, starting with numbers ten through six.

Chef Boyardee - Wrecking Pizza For Over 50 Years

Since the 1920's, Chef Boyardee has graced the labels of canned and boxed Italian food convenience products. Named after its founder, Italian-American immigrant Ettore Boiardi, the Chef is an integral yet unfortunate element of childhood in America.

While canned ravioli comes to mind for most when the name Chef Boyardee is mentioned -- I think the "pizza kit" is a better example of the wholesale bastardization of Italian food.

Take Me Out To The Ballpark (Pizza)

Before I moved to Queens, I would travel from upstate New York to Long Island for marathon band practices and recording sessions with my band The Boys' Star Library. We worked hard throughout the day, often forgetting to consume anything save for cans of Milwaukee's Best Light and drags on heinous Parliament cigarettes between songs.

However, once we were played out we would venture to one of the thousands of strip malls that line the Island to a pizza shop that served up the most unique pie I've ever eaten - the roast beef pizza. Simply put it was a pizza topped with a thick pan gravy, thinly sliced roast beef and decadent dollops of creamy mashed potatoes. Ringing the register at over thirty dollars a pie, we would split the bill and use the hearty dose of carbs and protein to recover and fortify us for another day of making obscure indie rock music in a suburban basement.

The roast beef pie crept back into my mind after all these years after taking down a seasonal specialty pizza called "The Ballpark" at Dewey's, a midwest pizza chain based out of Ohio.

Served only in April, The Ballpark is a pizza topped with a spicy mustard, mozzarella cheese, sauerkraut, caramelized red onions and a spicy smoked sausage.

Paying homage to a ball park dog, The Ballpark reminds me little of the sad hot dogs that can be found at Busch Stadium here in St. Louis. Instead I think it has more in common with a Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, a specialty dog from Chicago.

The dough for this pie is standard for Dewey's - light and airy with what appears to be a light wash of oil on the bone. I've yet to run across another dough like Dewey's, which reminds me of a pub house pretzel. 

In the place of tomato sauce we find a classic spicy yellow mustard that beyond reminding me of a healthy dose of Gulden's, was largely unforgettable. 

Next up was a layer of mozzarella cheese to provide a kind of base for the dense toppings to come. I felt like the mozzarella provided little to the pizza and I could have done without it all together. Besides melding in places with the other toppings, it did little to enhance the pie and I was left wondering why it was there in the first place.

After the cheese is a bed of sauerkraut, covering the pizza from edge to edge and throwing off an aroma that dominated the onions and sausage. While any of the three toppings could play lead on a pizza, for me sauerkraut is the marque player in this dish. I especially liked how the chew of the Dewey's crust and the sauerkraut complemented each other - again the pretzel-like nature of the dough seemed right at home with the fermented cabbage.

On top of the sauerkraut came less than generous slices of sausage given the linage that this pizza is derived from. The Maxwell Street Polish Sausage is dense, meaty, flows over the bun and requires the eater to perform the "Philly Lean" so as to not get the dog all over their clothes. I so wanted the sausage to stand out in this pizza, alas it did not. While this is not to say it was bad, it just could have been so much better.

Lastly we have a sparse layer of caramelized red onions which were tasty but to few in number than to provide some color and residual sweetness every fifth bite or so. Again I was disappointed, anyone who has seen a vendor serving up Maxwell Streets will recall that their flat top almost always contains a monstrous pile of onions, towering over the sausages. Onions, you are missed on this pizza.

For me, I would suggest foregoing the cheese and making a larger investment in the sausage and onion. I think this pizza demands it. Missed opportunities aside, The Ballpark gets cut some slack because its unique and holds a limited engagement on the menu. It says welcome spring and gets me in the mood for nine dollar beers at the stadium. 

Get yourself one before its gone till the 2011 season. 

This Makes My Pants Tight

I am a huge fan of street food, food carts and most of all lunch trucks. Imagine how I felt today after seeing this teaser photo for a pizza truck being deployed by Pi Pizzeria here in St. Louis.

Seeing this bad boy roll down the street should generate excitement that is usually reserved for the the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile or dare I say it - Ecto 1 driven by the Ghostbusters.

Sam's Club Hates Pizza, Possibly Italy and America

I've been dogged by well meaning folks on several fronts of late. The topic is hamburgers, right? Wrong. I've recently been debating a reportedly tasty and cheap slice of pizza here in St. Louis. From both the forums at STLBites and on Twitter its been suggested, dare I say demanded, that I head out and try what has been called the "best pizza for $1.88" by St. Louis Magazine. 

The slice? Oh, it comes from the food court at the Sam's Club in Maplewood. I'd like to think I fought the good fight on this issue, pointing out that there had to be some mistake, some error that would stop me from having to spend my hard earned money on a slice of pizza from Sam's Club. Alas, the supporters of this slice persisted and I capitulated.

Upon hearing that I would try the slice, one poster on STLBites even suggested that he would refund me twice what I paid should I eat a slice there and ended up feeling like this poor kid when I was through:

So, having agreed to the Sam's Club pizza challenge, I located a friend with a membership to Sam's we gave this slice a go.

But first, running like the prime meridian though the varied arguments for this slice is the recommendation that I try it "hot" and "right from the oven". Really? Because for me, a greasy slice where the cheese takes on a sheen usually reserved for bakelite handles on vintage silverware is usually a delicious alternative to a pulled from the oven slice. Isn't that like suggesting I try some ice cream, but to make sure its really cold before eating it?

I digress, on to the slice. 

Like any good slice of pizza, the criteria for judging are simple, the bones (known to ham and eggers everywhere as the crust), the sauce, the cheese, how the slice stands up to folding and lastly, the size of the triangle formed by the tip of the slice after folding. 

Let's take a look:

Fresh from the oven we have several slices of cheese pizza from Sam's Club.  

I asked the nice lady behind the counter several times to forego the few remaining slices, kept warm under a heat lamp, and pull these slices from a pie fresh from the oven to make sure I was meeting the requirements of this test. 

The slices were a decent size, topped with shredded mozzarella and a sweet red sauce that ranged from a dark to shockingly bright red depending on where in the slice it was applied. In several places the cheese was melted to the point of being burned, with the mozzarella closest to the heat turning a dark brown. It was almost like the cheese had undergone some unique dairy based sublimation, transforming from bagged cheese to burnt cheese matchsticks, skipping the gooey stage entirely. Unappetizing. 

Next we have the "up-skirt" shot. Its apparent that the dough was docked before being placed onto a metal sheet and sent though a conveyor belt style oven. The dough did take on a nice color from the cooking, but lacked the bit of sweetness that I enjoy in a good crust. The addition of some honey into the dough while mixing would be an improvement. 

The crust was thin, damp and lacked evidence of a decent rise during the bake. The bone was thin, pale and provided little in the way of a handle to drive this slice into a waiting mouth. 

Last up we have one of the most important tests of a great slice, its ability to be folded upon itself before being eaten. 

A good slice will always have a foundation consisting of a thin and crisp bottom crust. When bent, the crust may crack a bit but should always hold its composure. Ideally, a slice of pizza should fold like a paper airplane. More specifically a pizza/paper airplane version of the Concorde, with the tip bending down a bit and providing not only the target for your first bite, but the first opportunity to burn the roof of your mouth with hot tomato sauce and cheese. After all we are eating them hot from the oven here people.

Having spelled out what a well folded slice should look like, I'd like to let the picture above demonstrate the exact opposite of what a slice of pizza should look like when folded. 

Methinks we are done here. 

To wrap up:

With much deference to my fellow pizza aficionados here in St Louis, this is a terrible slice of pizza, and pretty much what I thought it would be. To associate it in any way with a slice of New York style pizza, as it has in the STLBites forum is a straight up mugging of a classic pizza style. To the kind folks at St. Louis Magazine, I agree with you to a point. I agree this is indeed a $1.88 slice of pizza. It is also proof positive that you get what you pay for. 

I want my two dollars. Feel free to toss it in my Hot Dog U donation cup.

Neo Neapolitan Pizza Goodness By J. Pollack

Sara and I had our new friends Jonathan and Stef over for dinner recently, and Jonathan offered to snap a picture of this veggie pie I made - just after it was pulled from the oven.

This is just a beautiful picture of one of my pies, and I'm excited about sharing here.

Jonathan is a photographer here is St. Louis. He shot our maternity pictures before Reis was born and more recently, the 60th birthday of my mother in law, Peg. When he's not busy with shooting weddings and sittings, he is also a photographer for Sauce Magazine, so I feel doubly lucky to have this photo.

Stef makes a mean cupcake and brought over her recent creation, garlic cupcakes for halloween. My favorite part of this savory and delicious treat was a whole clove of roasted garlic dipped in chocolate, riding on the top of the cupcake. Stef is currently contributing a cupcake a month until January to Paula Deen. Her first submission was a carmel apple cupcake, which I heard was amazing.

Best of all, Jonathan and Stef recently had a little boy, Myles, and he and Reis have become fast friends, which is super fun.

Thanks for the photo and the fun night - hope you guys liked the pizza.

Revisiting An Old Favorite And Two Rookie Efforts

The Old Favorite - The Tin Can Tavern "Ten"

A favorite stop of mine during football season is the Tin Can Tavern on Morgan Ford. Around noon friends make their way over to this South City landmark for stiff bloody marys and comfort food to:

1. Help soak up the toxins from the previous nights festivities
2. To nip at the proverbial hair of the dog, because for the Jets, Bills and Browns fans amongst us, it usually ends up being a long, long afternoon.

While much of the menu at the Tan Can is topnotch pub food, the mini corn dogs and tomato bisque are amongst my favorites, I usually find myself thinking about the burger on Thursday or Friday, long before Sunday ever rolls around.

The burger at The Tin Can is called the "Ten" and it comes with bacon, choice of cheese (including none, thankfully for me) and sauteed onions riding on two five ounce beef patties. While this is not a dominating double burger, at least compared to a favorite of mine - the "Big Block" Burger at The Penguin in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is well made and quite tasty.

Burgers are not cooked to order at the Tin Can, so every Ten is cooked to medium / well. However, what this burger lacks in juice it makes up with a crispy exterior to play against the star of the show - the pairing of perfectly cooked bacon and onions. The choice of side off this great menu of comfort food allows the diner to tailor the dish to the vibe of their Sunday. Make mine with mashed potatoes and gravy, a well executed cole slaw or the fries, which are quite good and would make a great partner of some malt vinegar or mayo if they were available at the table.

For the meek or calorie minded the Ten has a smaller brother, the "Five", but really, its Sunday and you're watching football, get the real deal and worry about it on Monday.

Rookie Effort 1 - Plaza Pastries and Donuts

Long under construction, the series of buildings at Connecticut and Morgan Ford has started to come alive with the opening of a child care center, a donut shop and soon, a family restaurant. The entire venture is the project of one family and the development of the property has been a labor of love filled with lots of do it yourself projects and sweat equity - just the thing a quickly developing street like Morgan Ford needs.

A quick check in with Google Maps shows that this new shop sits in the heart of the south St. Louis donut scene. Surrounded by at least a half dozen shops, some of which are Route 66 landmarks, the competition is indeed tough for this start up, but the shop should do well servicing the Tower Grove neighborhood. 

The morning I stopped in, the front counter case was filled with a variety of donuts, however I was disappointed to see several empty cases behind the register. Perhaps the owners are just planning for future demand, but for some reason that I still can't put to words, it made me worried about this small shop. It just made things feel incomplete, they didn't look sold out - they just looked empty. Very odd.

However among the several dozen choices, I was happy to see examples of both cake and yeast based donuts. The cake versions were well made; crisp from frying but not greasy. The yeast donuts I tried reminded me of a dense pâte à choux and came complete with a semi-sweet cream filling.

I happen to think that half the appeal of a donut shop is the coffee, which when made correctly should be thick enough to hold a spoon straight up and served by a lady in a beehive hairdo if at all possible. If I can't have that pairing, it at least has to be fresh (because of the volume of product moved) and a perfect foil for the fried goodness that is the American donut. The coffee should also be made for you, in my opinion. Alas, this is not the case at Plaza Pastries and Donuts, where I was given a cup of joe and a single serving of half and half before being told that the sugar was at the end of the counter and I could fix my own.

Am I nitpicking here? Probably. Did I feel let down? Without a doubt. Unfortunately for me, the ritual is just as important as the product most of the time.

In the end, I'm not so sure having this shop so close will stop me from making the drive to World's Fair or the Donut Drive-In, which not only produce outstanding examples of this classic road food, they have the coffee and old school service to back it up. I am excited that they are here though and the donuts are good enough to make this shop a great addition to the quickly developing Morgan Ford strip.

Rookie Effort 2 - Teaching Reis How To Make Peter Reinhart's Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough

Not much of an update here, but pizza night is a big deal in our home. So big that we have it once a week. I'm happy to report that Reis took a great interest in the construction of this Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough. I'll make a baker out of him yet.

Naturally Risen - Or As I Like To Call It - Pizza Porn

NATURALLY RISEN from michael evans on Vimeo.

Amuse Bouche For October 21st, 2009

• New Eco-Friendly Pizza Box -- GreenBox -- Offers Plates with the Pie - Fun for college kids everywhere who barely have dinner let alone a plate to eat it on.
• Serious Eats visits the Thai Pizza Co here in St. Louis.
• And in the outrage of the year, decade, century and millennium, Pizzatherapy assembles a list of "the best pizza in St. Louis", leading this reader to question the sanity of placing Imo's or Racanelli's on any list of edible "pizza". Just a terrible list. Where is Pi? The Good Pie? Katie's Pizza Cafe? I'll even accept Feraro's as a more realistic example of a corner pizza shop slice than Racanelli's. Alas it was not included. I've lived in New York, I've eaten their pizza, the pizza of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are friends of mine. You sir are not east coast pizza. I was just shocked when I saw this list of pizza in St. Louis. This is the reason I've worked so hard to make my own pies at home, because the pizza that this town is known for is largely for shit. Put that on your list.
• And lastly, thanks for Kelli for the recap of the BLT cocktail that we put together for this years Tour de Moose. Looking forward to our next collaboration.

Amuse Bouche For September 15th, 2009

• Via the Riverfront Times, Sapphire Pan-Asian has closed. I can't say that I'm all that upset about his CWE restaurant fading into history. I was not impressed at all with Sapphire, which struck me as all hat, no cattle. 
• Lots of press about my friends Penn & Teller iPhone app. Wall Street Journal, Venture Beat,and my favorite quote via the LA Times, "When venture capitalist George Zachary asked what business he was, at least theoretically, being asked to invest in, Jillette shot back, "There’s no venture capital required. We’re done and it’s for sale now." Asked what he was going to do next, Jillette said, "I’m going to go to Las Vegas and shoot bullets at my partner Teller."
• The Urban Review STL reflects on the Great Streets Test Project taking place on South Grand. I think they should focus on a tutorial on how to merge two lanes into one. St. Louis, the only place I know where folks watch NASCAR on Sunday and then take to the streets and pretend to be NASCAR drivers on Monday.
• In September, any first-time donation to Slow Food USA will make you a member.
• Farmer, lecturer and author Joel Salatin will speak at Webster University’s Grant Gymnasium Monday, October 5. I hope he brings pictures of his monster truck / rolling chicken coop.
• I am coveting a restored 1949 REO Speedwagon complete with a wood burning pizza oven. Sometimes I think all the good ideas are used up, the I see things like this that give me hope for humanity.

Amuse Bouche For September 14th, 2009

• Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head Brewery wants to spit in your beer.
• Excited that a second Pi location is scheduled to open in the Central West End the day before Thanksgiving.
• The jury is still out regarding the new pizza place opening at the old TFA shop - corner of Wyoming and South Grand. There was a sign in the window stating "National Pizza, thinking outside the square". The sign is gone and construction is ongoing. Interestingly enough I've seen 2 dudes sporting Dewey's tee shirts in the area - that is just blatant rumormongering though.
• Alex Hozven of the Cultured Pickle Shop talks with Lynne Rossetto Kasper about the realm of pickling.
• Also from this weeks Splendid Table, the BLT Cocktail, or as I am now calling it, "The Official Morning Beverage of the Tour de Moose".
• A Hamburger Today asks "What's Your Favorite Burger Size?"
• Gourmet Magazine showcases the recipe for some great looking corn dogs, kudos for leaving the ketchup out of the picture.

Amuse Bouche For September 11th, 2009

Another day, another group of disjointed things I've been reading and doing....

• Excited that I'm developing a new concept around work day lunch time eats, angered that I forgot my camera when I left for work, again.
• Lamenting that it looks like I will miss American IPA night at The Good Pie as well as Hop In The City this year.
• S. 1650: A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve the purchase and processing of healthful commodities for use in school meal programs has entered the Senate. More at Slow Food USA
• Really enjoying the September 21st edition of "The Nation" which is dedicated to essays on Food Democracy, with essays by Alice Waters and Michael Pollan among others. Complementary to a recent article in Time on the real cost of cheap food.
• Sauce Magazine takes a tour of some of the best fries in St. Louis, manages to forget the amazing fries at The Dubliner. They make up for it with the recipe for the Subcontinental at The Royale on page 30 of the Wine, Beer & Spirits supplemental to the September print copy. While I almost always avoid cheese sandwiches, I'm oddly intrigued by the photo of the meatloaf melt at Jennifer’s Pharmacy. I blame Jonathan Pollack's tasty photo for my change in attitude.
• A year ago today I juxtaposed George Washington, Geroge W Bush and Sarah Palin. 8 years ago I walked out of my office to grab some coffee, looked up Broadway and saw the WTC on fire. I'm also still unsure if I should develop the roll of film I took that morning as I walked out of the city to Queens.
• Sure it works on the coasts, but will my Son get beat up when I pack him his first Bento Box for a school lunch?

Amuse Bouche For September 10th, 2009

A collection of items that peeked my interest and raised my dander on this Thursday afternoon.

• Wishing MJB the best of luck as he leaves for TechCrunch50. Very cool stuff, if only I had an iPhone.
• Looking forward to putting up and taking down some O’Fallon Chocolate by the Barrel Cream Stout, which after a long wait has finally arrived. STL Hops via Twitter
• St. Louis' own Dave Nelson provided the bubbly to an overview of sulfates and headaches for The Noble Writ.
• Mark Graban continues the series of posts on Slice that feed my desire to design and build a back yard pizza oven. Permission from the wife, check. Backyard to build one. Nope. Perhaps its time to move.

I'm also preoccupied with being worried about my good friend Dave, formally the sous chef at Morimoto NYC and currently of Marea, who experienced a stroke yesterday morning. I have known Dave, in his early thirties, since college. Dave got me through several hard years when I lived in Queens, stood next to me in my wedding and helped me work out the logistics of my greatest culinary adventure, last years Fakesgiving Tristket, a turkey stuffed inside of a brisket.

The last time I saw Dave was this past spring when we had dinner at Rod's Steakhouse in Morristown, New Jersey. Dave was just back from a 6 month trip around Asia to research street food and ramen shops before attempting to open his own place in New York City. At the time he was not feeling well and did not have health insurance, which worried me greatly.

While his new position in the kitchen at Marea surely will cover his health care needs, (I hope) it highlights the need to provide a safety net for everyone in the United States. This was only highlighted when I heard about Dave a few hours after President Obama's address to congress last night.

"Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes." - Buck Murdock

I'm worried about my friend as he lays in a hospital bed in Brooklyn, and I'm angered that after 40 years, we don't have a public option for health care in this country. I'm distressed that Mr. Obama has to go before both houses of congress and state the following like it's news to the masses:

"Here's what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period. And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize. Part of the reason I faced a trillion dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for – from the Iraq War to tax breaks for the wealthy. I will not make that same mistake with health care."

Seriously. This is an idea that totally escapes a segment of our population. They complain about the cost of providing for the worst off in our society, yet they allowed the Bush Administration to take a budget surplus and make it deficit. They said nothing as the cost of the war in Iraq, which has already cost over 10 times the anticipated amount, was accounted for via special requests to congress and supplementals to the overall budget process.

As Mr. Obama wrapped up his speech, I took to Facebook and posted a note with the quote above. Then I added my own post script:

"To my Republican friends - that means you lose.

You got your war and your 8 years of lower taxes, now its everyone else's turn. Additionally, in the spirit of fair game, the health care that we want to give to everyone can be enjoyed by you as well."

For more reading, the Citizens for Tax Justice argue that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade after they were first enacted (2001-2010).

And while Maureen Dowd encourages President Obama to be "Less Spocky, More Rocky", I'm inclined to borrow a quote from Mr. Spock that fits my mood perfectly:

"Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Get better soon Dave. Wake up America.

Matt vs. Food

I was lucky to have my brother Matt and my future brother in law Chris in town for a visit recently. 

We pretty much ate and drank from the moment they got off the plane from North Carolina until they left three days later, starting off with some outstanding sushi at Tani Sushi Bistro in Clayton. For the midwest, Tani somehow manages to get fish that is of a better quality than I can normally find around town. 

Standouts at Tani include the sashimi, the dragon ball, a collection of inventive rolls (sadly many include cream cheese which continues to confuse me) and a real treat - the hot rock - served in a thick bowl and accompanied with thinly sliced raw beef in a soy, garlic, ginger and yuzu. The beef cooks directly on the stone in seconds and is a perfect foil to the sushi.

I took the guys to the City Diner for breakfast the next day and to discuss what we would end up doing during their visit. After a half hour of fruitless discussion, my brother suggested that a eating tour of St. Louis might be in order. 

I was into the idea of a tour of my favorite places here in town, however I had no desire to actually complete such a task myself. I let him know that if he felt up to it, he would be eating alone for the most part and that when in doubt, I would be ordering for him.

Lucky for everyone my brother is hungry, brave and willing to entertain his big brother - and what follows is a minute to minute and bite to bite recap of Matt vs. Food - St. Louis Edition.

09:43:46 AM - City Diner - St. Louis Missouri

The plot is hatched and the day is full of possibilities. I kick Matt's day off with a slinger - two eggs with sausage and hash browns, topped with chili and cheese. Friends recommended that the City Diner slinger should be topped with mustard as well. From the way Matt devoured the dish - I can only assume it was a good addition.

The mere mortals amongst us enjoyed BLT's and The Southsider - eggs, biscuits and gravy with hash browns.

Fortified on sturdy carbs from breakfast we headed out to get Matt the St. Louis eating adventure that he demanded, nay deserved, for flying in to spend the weekend with me.

11:37:56 AM - Woofie's - St. Louis Missouri

I last visited Woofie's in November and I reviewed and contrasted Chicago style and New York style dogs. I suggested the Chili Pie for Matt - a Vienna dog served on a bed of chili, Fritos, onions, pickles and cheese. 

Matt knife and sporking it at Woofies, enjoying each bite a bit to much.

01:22:51 PM - Carl's Drive-In - St. Louis Missouri

I wrote up a long time favorite of mine, Carl's Drive-In, last fall. I can't think of an out of town visitor that I have not tried to bring to Carl's because the burgers are executed so well. Pressed flat on a griddle, the burgers become completely caramelized and for some diners take on a sweet flavor that plays along with the toppings. Matt enjoyed a double cheeseburger with all the fixings and a mug of home made root beer the size of his head.

A few hours and stops in, Matt was motoring along and devouring everything I could put in front of him.

01:48:12 PM - Kolache Factory - St. Louis Missouri

A kolache is a small dough treat filled with any number of meat, vegetable or fruit fillings. The Kolache Factory is a small chain with a shop in St. Louis and serve several dozen varieties of this eastern European treat. 

Matt opted for a Philly Cheesesteak while Chris took a chance with the bbq pork. In hindsight, this seems to be the first time I captured gastronomic distress in my brother.

02:14:53 PM - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard - St. Louis Missouri

Ted Drewes has been serving frozen custard in St. Louis since the 1920's and its likely that no other local location has received as much attention by the national media than it has - the place is known far and wide for its frozen treats. Because of this, "that custard place" is always on the lips of visitors as someplace they would like to stop while they are in town. 

It could be that the massive quantity of cream, eggs and sugar are leading to the serious nature of this picture, however it could be that a concrete from Ted Drewes is nothing to joke about and he's just getting down to spooning that sweet treat into his already filled food hole. 

02:39:47 PM - CC's Depot Dog - Home Depot - St. Louis Missouri

A hot dog from Home Depot? You bet your ass. CC's Depot Dogs can be found nestled by the exit doors of the Kingshighway Home Depot, and they serve up some tasty hot dogs for a price you can't beat for quick lunch - a loaded Chicago style or custom dog will run you about two bucks after tossing a quarter into the tip jar.

Matt "enjoying" a CC's dog in the parking lot, not to mention his third or fourth soft drink of the day. All that sugar - rookie eating tour mistake for sure.

03:12:14 PM - Gus' Pretzels - St. Louis Missouri

Gus' rests in the shadow of the Budweiser brewery and has been making pretzels since the 1920's. With dinner reservations at Modesto for later that evening, I figured that this doughy and salty treat would be perfect for soaking up all the grease and chili Matt had taken down.

Matt Veety - eating machine - he will break you.

10:59:46 AM - Chris' Pancake & Dining - St. Louis Missouri

The next morning we began again, this time at Chris' Pancake & Dining for some much needed breakfast. To my amazement Matt dove right back into the challenge after a nights sleep and healthy constitutional, this time opting for steak and eggs with hash browns. The only issue with his order resulted from his relative unfamiliarity with the menu. When you are offered a side of toast or pancakes at a pancake house, you always, always say pancake. After a quick discussion he indeed have the pancakes.

I joined Matt for the carb load by taking down a stack of pancakes with bacon, eggs, hash browns and a bloody mary. However, to be fair, I didn't eat much the day before and I had just finished running up all 42 floors of the Metropolitan Building for the American Lung Association.

04:41:01 PM - Tin Can Tavern and Grille - St. Louis Missouri

As part of my plans for the weekend, I pulled together a bar crawl around Tower Grove Park with stops at The Royale, Three Monkey's, The Tin Can Tavern and Grille, The Amsterdam Tavern, Tower Pub, Stella Blues, Friendly's and The Blackthorne Pub. 

Matt waited all day to try out the mini corn dogs at The Tin Can and compared their doughy goodness to the classic appetizer called pigs in a blanket - an observation I can't bring myself to argue with.

Keeping up the impressive consumption, Matt didn't hesitate to enjoy a cold PBR with his mini corn dogs, while I enjoyed the opportunity to share my neighborhood and friends with my family.

07:59:49 PM - Stella Blues - St. Louis Missouri

While others faded, Matt saddled up the bar at Stella Blues and took down a basket of onion rings.

Moving into his 48th hour of eating, Matt kept taking his best shot at menu's all over St. Louis. It was an epic showing that left me proud yet concerned about his body's ability to process all that grilled, fried and steamed food. 

10:17:35 PM - The Blackthorne Pub - St. Louis Missouri

Regular readers might remember my post on the Blackthorne Pub, where they serve up Chicago and pan style pizzas in the land of the inedible thin crust pizza topped with provel - St. Louis. The Blackthorne turned out to be the end of Matt's eating tour as well as the bar crawl, which is probably a good thing for all of us.

A group of us destroyed several pizzas in a matter of minutes before retiring for the evening. While we all had a great time, I find myself wishing great piles of vegetables on my brother to help him recover from this eating challenge - because as I was creating this post - I noticed his meals were totally devoid of them. 

Good times - great meals.

Let's never do this again.

Papa John's Love (Pizza) Is A Lie

Via The Consumerist

"As is custom for Valentine's Day, many businesses are offering heart-shaped merchandise. Papa John's Pizza is offering a such a themed pizza. But, as is often the case, reality can be strikingly different than advertising."

Evidence of the pizza shaped crime after the jump...

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza - Revisited

Recently I threw a pizza party with three different kinds of dough; a neo-Neapolitan like you would find in New York City and New Haven, a pizza bianca that is derived from the pizzas found in Rome and for the centerpiece a stuffed Chicago deep dish, filled with 4 kinds of pork. The goal was to make 6 pizzas in one night for 10 guests - and to see if I could make them say "please, no more pizza".

The last time I made a deep dish was Election Night 2008, using a cast iron skillet and my traditional neo-Neapolitan dough with some corn meal added for an "authentic" texture and taste. While that pie was indeed good, it did not turn out like I had planned. This time I spent several evenings reading though my cookbooks and searching the internet to plan a more appropriate outcome for this classic pizza.

In the end, I developed a dough based on the Chicago deep dish pizza dough in Peter Reinhart's book, "American Pie", with some minor changes:

14 oz unbleached bread flour

4 oz semolina flour

2/3 cup yellow corn meal

2 tbs sugar

2 1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

3 tbs vegetable shortening

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 room temp water

Instructions for a standing mixer using a dough hook:

1. Mix flours, corm meal, sugar, salt, shortening, oil, yeast and water at low speed for 5 minutes until the mixture forms a ball in your bowl. Rest 20 minutes.
2. Mix again on medium to medium high for 5 - 10 minutes depending on your mixer, until dough passes a windowpane test. 
3. Ball dough, brush with olive oil and reserve to a mixing bowl or large zip lock bag for at least 2 hours at room temp. (Unlike other doughs, a slow rise in the fridge will not help this dough).
4. Divide the dough in two after volume doubles and rest for another 20 minutes before assembling your pie.

The dough should roll very easily without tearing. For the first step, I took the first rolled ball and lined the inside of a spring form pan which I had brushed with olive oil. Next I layered on mozzarella cheese, spicy sausage, sweet sausage, bacon and salami. The sausages and bacon were precooked a few hours before building this pie.

Next take the second rolled dough ball and lay it over the first layer. At this point I trimmed the dough with a pair of scissors and folded the outside layer onto itself making a rim for the second layer, pinching the dough back into itself to create a seal. I vented this layer by poking the dough with a fork to let steam escape.

I picked up an interesting fact in my research about the Chicago style pizza - many pizzerias don't make a pizza sauce for their pies, instead they used crushed or diced tomatoes from a can. In this case I used two 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes (with most of the liquid drained off) mixed with several stems worth of chopped fresh oregano. The "sauce" is then layered in over the dough.

The last step is to top the sauce with additional cheese. In this case I used a mixture of parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano and montasio cheeses. All of these cheeses are rather hard and withstood the long cook time. If you use a softer cheese, I would recommend topping your pie after cooking is half done.

While I had told folks I was aiming for a nine pound pie, I "only" managed 5 pounds, 2 ounces. 

This pie cooked at 375 degrees for almost 70 minutes. Halfway though cooking I covered the pie with foil to keep the crust from burning. I let the pie cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing the spring form.

The end product - a perfect Chicago style stuffed deep dish pizza, the cornerstone pie at a pizza party that included these great pies:

On the left we have a pizza bianca fresh from the oven topped with heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, pecorino romano and montasio cheeses. On the right we have the beautiful failure of the night, a New Haven style clam pizza. 

Everyone at the party was apprehensive about trying an east coast clam pie, but I assured them that it was fantastic. I even made my own herb oil to top the pie with. Unfortunately I seasoned each layer of this pie with French gray sea salt, turning this anticipated pie into the monster from the salty, briny deep. Oh well, it was beautiful on the outside, even if it tasted like a salt lick on the inside. You learn.

Pies not pictured were a Hawaiian pizza with pineapple and barbecued baby back rib meat and an apple, potato and leek pie. Both were delicious but somehow missed photographs. I can only assume we we were all to drunk off pizza to notice that the photography has stopped.

I hope this inspires you to host your own pizza party, I know I can't wait for my next one.

Election Night 2008 Recap

Tuesday night's election gave me an excuse to embrace decadence in multiple forms as long as I could tie it into the theme of the day - the election of Barack Obama.

My first stop was a post work happy hour with friends at The Three Monkey's, where lots of election day food and drink items were on the menu. That is, except this, which I named the Obamargarita. True, it was just a blue margarita, but it was tasty nonetheless.

For dinner I tried my hand at making a Chicago style deep dish pizza in a cast iron skillet. You'll have to excuse the lack of detail and instruction as I try my hand at documenting the trials and errors of turning out a onion, mushroom, garlic and spinach pie from scratch on a work day. 

 

An olive oiled cast iron skillet, brushed on both the bottom and sides. I've read that some pizzerias in Chicago do this to help the dough release after cooking. While I didn't think I would try to turn this pie out, I did want to be able to cut and serve it.

This is a version of the Neo-Neapolitan dough that I discussed back in August, with corn meal cut into the dough. Once baked I thought the dough came out more like a hybrid pizza/cornbread crust, which was tasty, but not what I was looking for. Room for improvement here for sure.

Sliced mozzarella cheese builds the base of a Chicago style pizza. All told this was about 6 or 7 slices.

The next layer was a mixture of spinach, onions, garlic and mushrooms that I sauteed on the stove before adding to the pizza. My goal was to cook most of the water out so it didn't end up pooling in the pizza during cooking. 

The next two layers were a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Next time I think I'll try adding the cheese layer about half way into cooking, if only for aesthetics when the pie is pulled from the oven.

I made a quick foil rim to cover the crust for the first 30 minutes of the 400 degree / 50 minute cooking time. I also let the pizza cool and set up for about 15 minutes before cutting.

I'll have to give several aspects of this recipe some thought before attempting again, especially the dough, which was sturdy enough to hold up to the mass of this pie, but not really what I was looking for. However, for all the things this pie was not, it was a welcome change from our normal pizza night pies. It was also a great night of celebration with friends stopping by all night to watch the results come in and partake of this Chicago masterpiece.

Monday Night Is Pizza Night

My wife and I love to make pizza dough and entertain guests with fresh pies topped fresh mozzarella cheese and vegetables that are in season.

For us, the idea of pizza night comes from 2 places, childhood memories and from a discussion we had as we drove across the south on our honeymoon. On that trip my wife read Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” aloud to me as the miles and days passed. Pizza night was a standing date for the family in that book, and as we began our life together, we decided to try and make it part of our lives as well.

The memory of her reading as I drove is one of my favorite from that trip and I am reminded of it every few weeks when I break out the flours and yeast to make pizza dough.

Over the past few years I’ve developed a versatile dough based on a recipe I found in Peter Reinhart’s book, “American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza”. Taking his recipe for a Neo-Neapolitan / New Haven-style dough and adding a few twists, I’ve found a dough that cooks well in my convection oven using a pizza stone preheated to 450 degrees for a half hour before baking off a pie.

This dough cooks up crisp and brown on the bottom and provides ample crust, or as I like to call the “the bones” to use as a hand hold.

Makes 2-3 dough balls

15.5 oz unbleached bread flour (by weight)
7.0 oz semolina flour (by weight)
1 tbs. sugar
1 tbs. honey
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. oregano or marjoram
3.5 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1.75 cups room temp water

You can make this dough by hand, however over time I’ve grown tired of the endless kneading and opt instead for a standing mixer. The following process uses a mixer, but you can approximate if you prefer to complete by hand.

1. In your mixer’s bowl, combine the flours, sugar, honey, oil, garlic powder, herbs and salt, mixing with a dough hook attachment on low speed.

2. Combine yeast and water, allowing the yeast to bloom and creating a slurry before adding to the mixing bowl. Ideally, you should add a bit of your slurry at a time as its easy to add more water to a dough and hard to remove it.

3. Mix on medium speed for five minutes until the dough takes shape and balls around the hook. Turn mixer off and allow dough to rest for another five minutes.

4. After the dough rests, mix again on medium speed for another three minutes, then remove to a surface lightly dusted with flour.

5. Cut in two or three pieces and create dough balls.

At this point, I will either place each ball into a zip lock bag with a splash of olive oil and into the fridge if I plan on using the next day or freezing, or place into metal mixing bows, again with olive oil to rise for use later that day.

Your baking time will depend on your tools and practice. For my convection oven, I bake at 450 degrees for eight to eleven minutes, turning the pie 180 degrees about half way though the bake. I highly recommend using a pizza stone or unglazed ceramic tile, but you can also use a baking sheet or your grill to turn out a pizza that will have your friends asking, “Is pizza night next Monday as well?”

The Blackthorn Pub

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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