Pi Pizzeria

A little mix for those hot summer days by the pool, driving in the twilight hours with windows down/stereo blasting and lazy river float trips! Soak up the sunshine and enjoy. . . 

Summer 2014 Pi Pizzeria Mix

We are thrilled to announce the next round of Chef's Picks for Pi Pizzeria. The first is called the "Grand Market" which is inspired by the diverse international markets and restaurants found along STL's Grand Avenue and is also inspired by "Bibimbap" which is one of Chef Cary McDowell's favorite Korean dishes.

Bibimbap (Korean pronunciation: pibimbap, sometimes anglicized as "bi bim bap" or "bi bim bop") literally means "mixed rice." Bibimbap is served as a bow of warm white rice topped with sautéed and seasoned vegetables, Gochujang (chili pepper paste) and soy sauce. A fried egg and sliced meat, usually beef, are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before serving. 

We worked hard to "adapt" the form factor of the Bibimbap to our Signature Deep Dish Pi. Similar to the "Chouteau" we are stoked to be able to slow-cook meat in our deck ovens, utilizing the residual heat from a long day of pizza baking. in this case we use beef brisket, a cut of meat used extensively in the BBQ world because of it's ideal "meat to fat" composition.

The brisket is rubbed aggressively with the Gochujang which gives it a subtle, yet strong and spicy characteristic. We've adapted the traditionally sweet and piquant Bulgogi BBQ Sauce, taking great care to represent the fragrant punch of ginger and garlic, the nuttiness of sesame and the sweetness of honey to make a base sauce that we mix with our deep dish pizza sauce. 

True to form, we use the light crunchy texture of fresh vegetables; zucchini, carrot, sweet red peppers, baby spinach and portobello mushrooms to accentuate the power of the beef. After the pizza is bakes, we glid it with chilled and marinated bean sprouts. To further emphasize the "bam", we top with chopped kimchi. Every BBQ culture has a tangy, delightfully acidic slaw that a corrals all the flavors together and in Korean cuisine, kimchi plays this role. 

Lastly, we top with an egg in accordance with traditions. We feel that our deep dish crust is a great role player for the cooked rice in the traditional dish. It's an exciting departure from our signature offerings and we think you'll love it as much as we do!

For our Thin Crust Chef's Pick we decided to bring back one the customer favorites created in celebration of our birthday week this past March. Inspired by our sister restaurant, the "Gringo" flavors highlight the different tastes and textures of our interpretation of the cuisine: sweet, smoky, spicy, creamy, tangy and herbal.

We use a rich puree of chipotle peppers folded into our signature thin pizza sauce and then accentuate the cheese step with a take Gringo's "Queso Fundido" which features spiced mozzarella and jack cheeses. We use sweet corn, wonderfully plump black beans, tangy pico de gallo, our brightly acidic marinated red onions and bake it in our deck oven.

When it's cooked, we top with "powdered" feta cheese (sorta like "Mexican Parmesan" with a similar flavor profile to cotija cheese) sliced and chilled avocado, cilantro leaves and a heavy shake of chili and lime.

If you'd like, ask your server to add on a meat topping such as brisket or bacon! 

Spring is finally in full swing and after a winter that seemed to defy time and definitely tested our endurance, we are soaking up the sunshine and are just silly happy to see green on the trees. Patios are open, birds are singing and skies are blue! 

Our mix for you this season is mostly upbeat, full of love songs and good cheer. As always, we've included a local band that makes our ears happy. This time around it's Bruiser Queen. We hope you enjoy!

As part of our Birthday Week Celebration, we are offering two specialty pizzas, Monday - Friday of this week! 

The thin crust offering, "Gringo" is inspired by our sister restaurant. We use a rich puree of Chipotle peppers folded into our signature thin pizza sauce, "Queso Fundido" which is a blend of Chihuahua and Jack cheeses, sweet corn, plump black beans, tangy Pico de Gallo and marinated red onions. After baking, we top with Cotija cheese, sliced avocado, cilantro leaves and a shake of chili & lime. 

Our deep dish creation is named after one of the STL areas' foremost trail parks, Greensfelder Park. After enduring such a hard winter, the promise of spring is alive in the bright presentation of the Greensfelder. We top our  deep dish crust with a cream cheese/chopped spinach mix and a hefty handful of fresh spinach. On this pillow, we place our marinated artichoke hearts, sliced Portobello mushrooms and a healthy drizzle of garlic oil. After the first pass of baking, we top it with our rich signature deep pizza sauce and send it through the oven for a second pass. It's then garnished with Parmesan and dried oregano.

We've got lots of other great specials and events for our Birthday Celebration Week and Pi Day! Come join the fun! 

As we transition from these blustery cold months into Spring, we offer up our next round of Chef's picks to celebrate the wonderful promise of the upcoming season! 

“Chouteau"

There seems to be a constant debate amongst folks with deep St. Louis roots on whether to pronounce it "Show-TOW" or "Shoe-TOW", as is the case with many historic French pronunciations in STL. Whichever way you pronounce it, the avenue named after St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau, is undeniably integral to our city's history

The spirit of this combination took root at a location on Chouteau Ave, which was all the more reason to use this area when naming it.  

For this thin crust Pi, we season Pork Shoulders with a “Dry Rub”, which includes chili peppers, salt, sugars and the like.  This is “packed” onto the meat and we cook it “low and slow” in our Pizza Deck Ovens- a first for us!

Once cooked, the meat is “pulled” so that the the flavors and juices get evenly distributed throughout.  Keeping on the BBQ Theme, we make a “White BBQ Sauce” to complement and accentuate the rich flavors of the Pulled Pork.  It is inspired by the traditional sauce of Central Alabama, made famous by the famous “Big Bob Gibson’s” in Decatur, AL.  It has a wonderfully tart flavor, with a little back-end spice of Mustard and sweet Sugar.  

We add this White BBQ Sauce in harmony with our Thin Sauce to the base layer, as well as tossing it with chopped Romaine, which is served on top after-bake. The wonderful crunch of this “Salad” plays the role of a traditional “Slaw”, without the often unpleasant finish of raw cabbage.  An aggressive shake of the Dry Rub before delivering/boxing will pull all of the flavors together, giving the “granular” mouthfeel of a dry rubbed Rib.

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“Botanical Heights"

We chose this name for our seasonal Deep Dish Pi because the Botanical Heights Neighborhood in St. Louis is an emerging, reclaimed neighborhood where things are being “repurposed."  We like the metaphor, as we are taking 2 lowly root vegetables,Carrots and Parsnips, and using them in a new and unconventional way on a pizza!  

We take both Carrots and Parsnips, peel them, and season them with Olive Oil and Salt, and slow cook them until tender in our conveyer ovens.  When they are still warm, we toss them in a little honey and let them cool.  This "brings up" their natural sweetness and earthiness to a flavorful level, so that they don’t get “lost” in the bed of Black Kale (also known as Tuscan and/or Lacinto Kale) chosen for it's lush texture and hearty "tooth." 

We build this vegetarian Pi by using a layer of our Mozzarella, followed by a copious amount of Black Kale that has been tossed in Olive Oil and Salt, and stacked high in a deep crust.  Pre-bake, we add the aforementioned Carrots and Parsnips, and cook it in our Conveyor Oven for 1 pass.  Before the second pass, we add a nice layer of our coarse, slightly spicy Deep Sauce and a few more Carrots, Parsnips and Kale .  The result is a decidedly caramelized and roasted appearance, in which the flavors all come together.

On Friday, February 14 and Saturday, February 15 at Pi CWE, buy a large thin crust heart shaped pizza and receive a complimentary cupid's edition of our Chocolate Skillet Cake with sweet & sour cherries ($5.95). 20% of all sales of this Valentine's Day pizza will be donated to the St. Louis Area Foodbank. Dine in and carry out. Sorry...CWE only!

We had a blast taking part in this fun event last weekend in the Delmar Loop! Our human dogsled team even took 3rd place!

Well there is no doubt about it, it is definitely winter! Here in St. Louis we are digging our way out of a foot of snow, a rare thing for us, and in parts of the country it is colder than the average temperature on Mars! 

One way of warming up, our spirits at least, is to listen to some great tunes! We hope you enjoy the winter "mix tape" we've made for you. As always, it is a blend of some of the artists we play in our locations through Pandora, a local band we can't get enough of (in this case Middle Class Fashion) and other songs that are making our ears happy!

Our new Executive Chef, Cary McDowell is settling into his new role at Pi Pizzeria and Gringo and we are so pleased to have him with us!  His first round of Chef's Picks for the fall season are some mouthwatering, brand new additions to our menu; plus we've brought back a couple of favorites for the season. 

Inspired by the origin of the Muffuleta, Chef McDowell has constructed our newest deep dish Chef's Pick, the Lasalle: made with mozzarella, olive salad, mortadella, salami & capicola. Chef says, "It's topped with a chilled olive salad after baking, which perfectly accentuates our spicy deep tomato sauce."

Our thin crust Chef's Pick for the season is a vegetarian dream. The Cabanne- mozzarella, caramelized cauliflower steaks, baked kale, cauliflower gravy & green apple.

Our seasonal salad pick is sure to make a lot of folks happy. Back by popular demand, the Pi'oneer salad makes a triumphant return to all full service STL locations and D.C. The Pi'oneer is made with romaine lettuce, volpi salami, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives and house-made creamy italian dressing!

Last but not least, our comforting and oh-so-yummy Butternut Squash soup with Wild Mushroom & Kale is once again available at our downtown location at The MX.

This past Saturday our employees at all Pi locations and Gringo showed their love for Halloween!

Our Pi location in the Central West End made some tasty snacks for the Coffee Bar to serve during the neighborhood's annual Halloween celebration: http://stlouis.about.com/od/halloweenevents/p/Central-West-End-Halloween-Party-Costume-Contest.htm

Gringo got in on the fun too, serving up some delicious street food: 

Last week's Latte Art Throwdown at the Coffee Bar at Pi in the Central West End was a blast! We'd like to thank our fantastic judges; Feast Magazine's Liz Miller, Pi and Gringo Executive Chef Cary McDowell and Jeff Gibbs, co-owner of Nashville's The Frothy Monkey.

At the end of the night, the winners were: 

1st place: Nora Brady (shown in photo above) From Blueprint Coffee 2nd pl: Frank Ladish From Comet Coffee 3rd pl: Kevin Reddy From Blueprint Coffee

Thanks to everyone who came out!

Recently we found this fantastic list from Buzzfeed, "22 Excellent Reasons to Drink More Whiskey" and we are totally convinced (as if we weren't already) that it's time to put that idea into practice. 

We'd like to add reason #23; as the weather turns colder a good whiskey drink will warm you up! We've got a solid choice for you to order the next time you visit us here at Pi Pizzeria - The Rye Manhattan. Bottoms up!

Oh Fall, it's so nice to see you again. Perfect patio sittin' weather, brilliant foliage, cozy clothes, Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale; these are just a few of the wonderful things this season has to offer. There is also the other side of Fall; darker mornings, shorter days, colder nights and the knowledge of the bleakness of winter just ahead. For all those reasons we cherish the cozier and more comforting aspects of Autumn.

The music we selected for our Fall playlist reflects all of those feelings of Fall. A little dark, a little sweet, a bit brisk with a good helping of nostalgia.  We hope you enjoy! 

We were honored to have the very talented Phil Jarvis liven up the walls at our location in the CWE and at Gringo with some of his fantastic sign work!  Thank you Phil! We love them!

We recently enjoyed some cooler than normal temperatures here in St. Louis, which put everyone in a fall kind of mindset. All of us here at Pi Pizzeria soaked up that lovely weather and enjoyed it tremendously. It was especially nice while out on our patios to have moderate temperatures, blue skies and sunshine during the day and a bit of a chill at night.

Don't get us wrong, we love fall. However, it IS still summer and we don't want to give it up just yet. This is ice cream season! Sure, you can have ice cream year round but we all know it tastes the best in the summertime, right? We are looking forward to a few more weeks of beating the heat with creamy, delicious Serendipity Ice Cream, made right here in St. Louis! Then we'll keep enjoying it in the fall and then despite the freezing winter we'll still be drinking milkshakes and thenwe'll keep on enjoying ice cream into the spring and then the delicious circle continues. Eh...who needs summer as an excuse. We love ice cream no matter what the season!

Serendipity has been a favorite of locals since owner Beckie Jacobs opened the parlor in Webster Groves in 2003. You can find out more about the company and all of their offerings on their website.

At Pi we offer Serendipity's Salted Caramel, Old Fashioned Chocolate and Vanilla Bean. You can pair them with our delicious Cookie Pi, Apple Pi and Dark Chocolate Brownie or enjoy them in a float!

Have you visited our milkshake bars at our Kirkwood and Delmar Loop locations? Options include Vanilla Bean, Malted Chocolate, Organic Strawberry, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and S'more. Currently we also have a special Banana Split Milkshake! 

Last month, Pi was pleased to host an after-viewing party at our downtown location at The MX for the St. Louis public debut of Crafting A Nation which was shown at MX Movies. It was a really fun event celebrating a fascinating and inspiring documentary filmed by Free Mind Productions. Crafting A Nation covers economic recovery and the American Dream via the booming craft beer industry.

The film visits craft breweries in 15 locations including St. Louis, along with  following a new Colorado brewery from idea to grand opening. The movie shows these breweries as they finish construction, launch their brands and open to the public. The focus is on the struggles and triumphs of small business owners and the film illustrates how in local economies, breweries can serve as a catalyst to a chain reaction which occurs from breweries revitalizing a section of the city. By providing jobs, the result is a domino effect that follows with other small businesses working together to succeed as a result of a brewer.  

Pi takes great pride in supporting craft brewers and we're sure you will feel the same kind of pride we do in seeing so many local brewers highlighted in the documentary, including Schlafly, Urban Chestnut, Four Hands Brewery and others.

A big thank you to Kevin Lemp (left) with Four Hands Brewing for donating the cask of Contact High for the event!