Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Good Pie



Simple Elegance
Inside a rehabbed brick building on Olive, the owners of The Good Pie make a pizza that is very unique to the St. Louis area, and we are lucky enough to have it close to us. The pizza is Neapolitan style, which adheres to traditional rules and ingredients, but the main thing that gives this pizza its unique flavor is the oven. The owners imported a special oven from Italy, which took them a long time to get into the country. It was extremely heavy and they were barely able to fit it through the door. (It's the big stone thing behind the guy in the picture) The oven is fueled by wood and has a temperature inside of 900 degrees, so the pizza is popped in for a few minutes and brought to your table. This technique gives the pizza a crispy crust, while leaving the simple toppings steaming hot.
Everything in this restaurant seems to follow an idea of making things simple but good. The salad mista is arugula, olive oil, lemon, and Gorgonzola. It's not smothered in ingredients, but lightly mixed for a nice balance of flavor and greens. The olive mista is an olive plate brightened up with a hint of lemon on the olives. The funghi e taleggio is a cooked mushroom dish topped with a tasty cheese. The pizzas also follow this idea of simple elegance. A few good ingredients are all that is needed.
The restaurant has a very relaxing, warm feel to it. While music plays in the background you can order a drink from the small bar. There are a few beers on tap, or you can get a carafe of wine for $10. The staff is very friendly and the service is great. It's open most days from lunch through dinner *Sauce link* but I think word is getting out about this place because it was really starting to fill up yesterday, so try to get there if you can.

1 comment:

chris.mattler said...

We went here again on the snow night, and surprisingly there were a few people there too. This time we saved room for dessert. It was mini lemon cakes topped with powdered sugar and a squeeze of orange. Dessert reminded me of a cross between beignets and sponge cake. Just like everything else here, it was excellent. Another nice touch was the coffee which was made with freshly ground beans and served in a coffee press. Like I said before, the hallmarks of this place are tasty food and of quality ingredients.