Best Pizza in St. Louis . . .

I'm in search of the best pizza in town and all around. I grew up in St. Louis on Toasted Ravioli's, Provel Cheese, Steak and Shake, and Fitz's root beer. That being said; I am now begining to doubt the power of the provel. Farrato's, my personal favorite has a crispiness of the pie that is spot on; the cheese, however seems to be more of a distraction. I enjoyed a recent pie from Imo's but ultimately settled my opinion on the fact that this pizza is more unique and not necessarily the best pie ever.

So, where is the best pizza in town? Is there something better than Farrato's? Or is St. Louis pizza greatness tied down to provel cheese?

PS - Thick crust suggestions are welcomed as well.

[battra]

My personal favorite is Riley's in Tower Grove East. St. Louis Style. On Mon and Tue you can get it for half price and it's just perfect.

Have a couple beers eat a cheap and tasty pie...not a bad night.

[FriendOfTheDevil]

We just had Balducci's Deep Dish for the last two days. That is some really good stuff...

FOTD

[twoodruff]

Haven't seen any deep dish recommendations yet, so I'll throw out Black Thorn or Lemmon's. Both have an excellent Chicago Style deep dish.
And although I think it's a chain, I will also give a shout to Dewey's. They just opened a restaurant in Webster Groves, and I had an excellent pie there over the weekend.

[greggold]

Although not pizza joints, I would recommend the pizzas at Frazers Brown Bag and Trattoria Marcella. Both are great thinner pizzas, handmade with fresh toppings and no provel.

I would also give Guido's, on the Hill, high marks for its St. Louis style pizza. Across from Adrianna's. For thick crust I second Blackthorn...

[ennuisans]

I'll second the love for A'mis, but wanted to mention a couple missing from the list:

Black Thorn on Spring has a dandy Chicago style deep dish. Two pieces is almost too much, but since they take just under an hour to bake call ahead or entertain yourself with shuffleboard.
Feraro's in Soulard serves "Jersey-style" pizza, which might appeal to those homesick for New York. I can't find Jersey Style described anywhere, but Sicilian seems to be close.

[Richard 16]

Feraro's now has a location in S. County - Baptist Church at Tesson Ferry. I find the crust is just a little thicker than NY.; very foldable (to give you a sense of the thinness) with an excellent crust. No wood or brick, but an 800 degree oven.

[chuckkw]

LaPizza on Delmar near 170 is very, very close to Brooklyn pie. Delicious. The owner (this was a couple of years ago) confirmed that he learned his trade in Queens. I am a NY transplant who had given up on Pizza here in STL. It was the missing color from my rainbow...

[Richard 16]

FWIW, you won't get much support from me for St. Louis style. I've never had a STL style where the crust didn't have the texture of stale matzoh. OTOH, there many, many pizza places I've never been to.

For New York style I like Il Vicino, La Pizza, Napoli (in St. Peter), and Racanelis -- pretty much in that order. Dewey's is very good, and it's a thin crust, but it's not NY style -- it's Ohio; Cincinnati I believe.

[highcard]

Richard...try the New York Style at Ami's...it's great.

Just a couple of nights ago, I had a pizza at Giannino's on Lindbergh, just South of Watson. Really good...not quite thin crust, yet not really "hand tossed" thickness.

edited to change thinkness to thickness...doh

[Doug]

Add Alex's House of Pizza in Rolla MO to your list of places to eat when traveling on I-44...

[tusti]

I will have to agree with you about Farrato's, my only problem with them is you have to get there by 5:00 PM if you want to get a parking place anywhere near the place

Have not been to Ami's, I'll have to try it some time.

IMO's has the best thin crust st.louis style Pizza from Springfield IL to St.Louis Its tops.great fruity sauce mellow mixture of cheeses good crust make a great Pizza along with your toppings.I frequent Waterloo Imo's .

mm mm good
Cal

Pizza-a-Go-Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. I was intrigued by Talayna's On The Park, where you can order your choice of crust: St. Louis crust, New York crust, Chicago crust, or Boston crust. Their New York crust was good, speaking as someone who grew up near New York.

2. Dewey's in Kirkwood is a hot spot, very crowded, and is definitely a step above the usual pizza. They also do white pizzas

Rossino's

Rossino's, agreed. The oldest in town and still the best.

Two suggestions:
Il Vicino: in Clayton, has excellent wood-oven baked pizzas. Bonus: grownups can order the kids' sized pizza margherita! Also family-friendly, etc. NO provel--in fact, the server's come around and grate parmesan onto your pizza if you want it!

Racanelli's: on Euclid in the CWE and in the U. City Loop. A note of caution: the Euclid location has been haphazard at dinner time: on our last visit, an employee took slices out of the fridge with ungloved hands and tossed them in the oven to heat up. The slices were a bit tired and dried out. Anyway, when their pizza is fresh, it is great. No provel here!

I agree that both Ami's and Farotto's are excellent, as is Fortel's.

However, I really like the "hand tossed" style at Frank & Helen's on Olive, East of the Inner Belt...BTW, they have "broasted chicken" also and it's excellent as well.

Lou (not Joe) Boccardi's on the Hill has to be my favorite though. Rectangular and loaded...mmmmmm.

For delivery, Pointers can't be beat.

[tusti]

Hey JBinstl, we used to go to Lou Boccardi's all the time. Great pies and the gal that owned/ran the place was fun to talk to. Our problem with the place was, we could put up with the tweed jacketed snooty St. Louis U. prof types, but one night when a limo pulled up to the front door and shall we say a "gentelman" strolled in with four scantly clad young "ladies", that did it for us. :>(
Now, it's either Farrato's or Joe Boccardi's.

I think that Ami's up the street from Farrotos makes a better pie. Their "special" is spectacular.