Thursday, October 13

a tale of two birthday pies

There is no better excuse for me to make others pay for me to try new restaurants than my birthday.  This year, my birthday weekend took me to two pizza places: Onesto and PW Pizza.

Since it was such a beautiful day, I took Friday off of work and searched for a eatery where my mom and I could eat outside.  The search took us to a place I've been wanting to try for quite some time, Onesto's Pizza on Macklind in South City.   I never really ventured into the actual restaurant, but the outside set-up was simply gorgeous (the '75 and sunny' weather maaaaaay have helped boost its gorgeous-ness, but very cute and cozy, nonetheless).

We settled in and each ordered a "quartino" of red wine (don't judge. drinking at 11 a.m. is normal, right?), a lunch pizzette (a 10-in. pie) and a small house salad.  The salad was simple - a very light vinagrette, mozzarella, tomatoes and red onion on a bed of mixed greens. The lettuce was the fancy kind that has the type with those little tentacle bunches (that's the technical term, correct?), which I could have done without, but all-in-all very good.

The BEST part about the pre-pizza portion of our meal, however, was one of my ol' NYC favorites: garlic knots.  Pizza dough tied in a knot, brushed with butter/oil, garlic and other seasonings and baked to perfection.  I mean, really, can you get better that that? In NYC, garlic knots were essential whenever I grabbed a slice. And Onesto's lived up to the hype.  So light and airly, but buttery and delicious.  Yum, yum, yum.

My mushroom and roma tomato pizza was equally as delicious.  The crust was the perfect crisp/soft, thin/think blend, while the sauce and seasonings were simply spot on.  (WARNING: the 10-in lunch "pizzette" is huge.  My mom and I would have been perfectly fine splitting one and still have had a slice or two to take home.)

Overall, it was a beautiful day and a great experience at Onesto - there is something to be said about simple, elegant, good food.

Onesto Pizza & Trattoria on Urbanspoon
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Saturday led us to an equally as amazing, though somewhat different pizza place: PW Pizza on Choteau underneath Vin de Set.

What I liked about PW so much was the variety of sauces, cheeses and toppings that allowed you to get as creative (or as boring, ahem hubs) as you would like.  From chimichurri sauce and tuna to gruyere and roasted eggplant, the combinations can take you to places pizza has only dreamed of.

Since we had already stopped in on the patio upstairs for a drink and an appetizer (yum, frog legs), we jumped right into 'Build-Your-Own-Pie" mode.  For my birthday dish I went with some of my favs: marinara sauce and goat cheese topped with artichokes and sweet pickled peppers.

Ok, ok. so I may have went a little overboard on the tangy items.  But that's the beauty of it.  You can make it anything you want.

The base of the pizza was excellent, however.  Again, an in-between type crust, though PW was a bit more on the chewy and airier side of things. 

Regardless, I cannot wait to go back and see what other combos I can come up with... aaaaand to try an appetizer or calzone or two.  Everything at PW Pizza is handmade (thanks for the info, STLPD), including the oh-so-delicious fennel sausage that made its way to the hubs pizza, so I am imagining good things.


PW Pizza on Urbanspoon

bottom line: both awesome, in different ways.  both intriguing enough for a return trip.