I hear Chicago style and New York style and on a recent posting, I heard there was a St. Louis style. How are the different? How do they differ from the original Italian?
As one born and raised in St. Louis, I know the answer to this one! Chicago-style pizza is deep-dish - thick crust, high on the sides like a pie, and lots of toppings piled inside. New York is thinner, cut in large slices which are then folded in half lengthwise so they’ll fit in your mouth without getting sauce on your fingers. These are pretty well known.
St. Louis style is less well known outside of St. Louis, and I think it’s kind of an acquired taste. The crust is very, very thin, but not particularly crispy. It’s often cut into squares rather than wedges. The sauce is typically smooth, rather than chunky, and is often flavoured with fennel-seeds.
As for the best pizza in St. Louis, many people swear by Imo’s, but I always preferred Two Nice Guys, or (before they folded) Parente’s.
FYI, the Italian area in St. Louis is on the south side, called The Hill, and is the birthplace of baseball players Joe Garagiola and Yogi Berra.
Also, a number of St. Louis joints (including Imo’s, where I worked for three years) use provel cheese, which is a mixture of mozzarella, provolone and cheddar (I believe). Good stuff.
Isn’t ‘original italian style’ a disproved myth? I thought that nothing like pizza as we know it was made in Italy until the idea was brought back from the US - it’s an american invention.
Good call on the cheese, myskepticsight ! My family always ordered it with straight mozzarella, but I always liked the provel. I don’t think the third one was cheddar, though. It was another white cheese, and creamier. Fontina, maybe?
(And just 'cause I’m nosy, what part of St. Louis are you from? I grew up in Kirkwood…)
I remember the thin crust pizza from going to elementary school in Granite City, but since it was nearly 30 years ago I don’t remember what kind of cheeses it had on it.
Chicago-, New York-, St. Louis-, and California-syle pizzas are an American invention but the concept originated in Naples, Italy. Pizzeria Brandi has been in operation, under different names, since 1780.
I’m from North St. Louis county - Florissant. Now in Columbia going to Mizzou though.
Wikipedia says provel is made from cheddar, swiss, and provolone. So I was wrong anyway. I like mozz too, but provel is still way better. When I worked at Imo’s and made pizzas for myself, I’d mix the two.
Rather, pizza that we’d recognize as “pizza” originated in Naples. It was at Pizzeria Brandi, then known as Pietro… e basta così, that Queen Margherita of Savoy had a pizza baked in her honor in 1889.
Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in the US (in New York’s Little Italy) in 1905. It’s still in operation, though not quite in the original location.
There are, as I understand it, two types of pizza called ‘Chicago style’ – deep dish and thin crust. I never really went for the deep dish, so I don’t know the story there, but pizzarias in Chicago generally cut the pizza in roughly square slices.
mmmmm. I can feel the Imo’s cheese sticking to the roof of my mouth. Great now I got drool all over my keyboard 
My St. Louis relatives won’t let me get anywhere near St. Louis style pizza. They shun it. But it does match this description.
As an aside, I remember when Joe Garagiola used to use an adjective to describe “The Hill” back on TV in the 1970s, but that adjective has fallen into disuse for many reasons.
I know the one you mean, Bob 
Politically incorrect!
Did your St. Louis relatives ever take you to the other “landmark” near The Hill? You haven’t REALLY been to St. Louis unless you’ve had a Concrete at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard.
The difference is that every pizza from outside Chicago just plain sucks. Order a deep dish from Pizzeria Uno or Due and then wonder how you ever ate anything else. (Not that I am biased or anything!)
Do your relatives live in O’Fallon? They may be shielding you from among the worst pizza in the world.* I stopped at the legendary Stefanina’s and swear to Og that they used Cheez Whiz instead of cheese.** It took a few slices to figure out what that flavor and texture were. I’m no fan of Imo’s*** but this was magnitudes worse. But that could explain how they got the pie out to the table so quickly. And why the lighting in the place was so dark.
- OK, 3 continents or so. I’ve eaten pizza in North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. My experienced tastebuds would rather not have St. Louis style again. That cheese combination is, um, interesting.
** To those who like Cheez Whiz, more power to you. I just don’t think it belongs on pizza.
*** I’m absolutely convinced that Imo’s is McDonnell Douglas’ failed attempt at Cold War-era food weapon technology. Is it simply a coincidence that Imo’s opened in 1975, the same year the US ratified the Geneva Protocol for Chemical Weapons Use that prohibits the use of chemical weapons in warfare? I think not. Oh, and “Hi, Opal!”
Ewww… cheese wiz on pizza.
It’s hard to get good pizza outside of New York/New Jersey though ;).
What?!?! You didn’t like Stefaninas? Whenever I’ve been there the pizza has been great. A friend of mine’s family owns it.
And even though I worked at Imo’s, I still dig it. It’s the best delivery chain in St. Louis by far. Pizza Hut doesn’t even qualify as pizza, Papa John’s, Dominos etc are all disgusting.
I don’t doubt you about Stefanina’s. It’s been around a while and certainly couldn’t have stayed in busness long for what they served me. Maybe they were having a bad cheese day. Next time I’m in the area I’ll have to give them another try.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned California “pizza.” The “pizza” with Thai chicken, black beans, eggplant, shrimp or other nontraditional toppings and crusts. What I’ve had is usually delicious but it doesn’t seem to be pizza to me, hence the quotation marks. Or no one else on this thread considers it pizza.
We have California Pizza Kitchens at some of the nicer malls here, and I hate that place. I don’t dig fancy pizza. Give me some pepperoni, sausage and bacon. My friends drag me there sometimes and I get straight up cheese. Blah.
Ted Drewes…drool. When the wife and I visited St. Louis, my pricipal at the time, who hailed from thereabouts, gave me a 7 page list of places to eat during our 4 day trip. Ted Drewes was at the top of the list. 