Photo by Christian Gooden (Post-Dispatch)
Pizzeoli
Too many restaurants overextend themselves, serving all the dishes they think customers want, rather than only the dishes they know they do well. Not Pizzeoli. Here Scott Sandler focuses on Neapolitan-style pizza with a devotion that blurs science and art, an alchemy of recipe, time and fate that yields an exquisite pizza dough, its natural tang still clear through the wood-fired oven’s blistering. Sandler takes the time to make his own fresh mozzarella; a vegetarian, he has created a more-than-passable pepperoni substitute. The béchamel sauce that’s the base of his best pizza, the Bianca, would not be out of place in a classic French restaurant. Now Sandler is turning his attention to New York-style pizza. Slated to open on South Grand Boulevard a month or so after we publish this STL 100 is Pizza Head, featuring big pies and pizza by the slice. This critic can’t wait for Sandler’s next master class.
Hours: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday, lunch Friday-Saturday (closed Sunday-Monday)
Last year's ranking: unranked
Opened: 2014
Must order: The Bianca pizza ($12.95)