By Sally Tippett Rains
October is National Pizza Month so make sure to build time in for celebrating. According to local legend, Amadeo Fiore is credited with bringing pizza to St. Louis when he opened a “pizzeria” at 204 North Sarah in the basement of the Melrose Apartments near the end of World War II.
St. Louis has a lot of great pizza restaurants and Trip Advisor lists Anthonino’s Taverna as the top rated pizzeria in the Greater St. Louis Area with Dewey’s Pizza coming in as a close second. Dewey’s is actually second and third (several locations) with Pastaria and Guidos Pizzeria and Tapas rounding out their favorites.
Rob Raina and Mike Rains of STL Sports Page got the opportunity to visit Dewey’s at the Webster location and get a backstage tour. It’s located at 122 East Lockwood Avenue Webster Groves, Missouri 63119.
That pizza at the top of the page is the Bronx Bomber, one of their specialty pizzas. It has red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and black olives.
Dewey’s pizza chain is in its’ 26th year. Dewey’s General Manager Hank VerPlank, and Manager, Jess Shaw are shown in the photo, left with one of their specialty pizzas: the Tito Santana– which is like a taco with meat, cheese, Fritos and lettuce on top .
The STL Sports crew got to see how a pizza is made and even participated in making one.
If you just want to watch the pizza demonstration, click the video player below.
We had the pizza demonstration featured in this week’s podcast. If you missed the podcast, you can watch both: CLICK HERE.
Make Your Own (Healthy) Pizzas
We like to get cauliflower pizza crust, which is a low-carb and healthy crust. We set out pizza sauce and toppings including sausage, bacon bits, pepperoni, onions, green pepper, and various cheeses. In St. Louis provel cheese is a must. Pizza is cooked in a hot oven– 400 degrees for about 18 minutes. Make-Your-Own-Pizzas are fun for all ages and while the cauliflower crusts are surprisingly tasty, you can buy other types of crust including, the small Boboli crust that kids would like.
If you are a pizza lover, there are many ways a person can enjoy pizza. Besides the restaurants in St. Louis, there are the frozen pizzas, the Totino’s Pizza rolls, some stores sell pizza chips and there are pizza sticks.
While it’s fun to have a “Make Your Own Pizza” night at home, St. Louis cook Becky Hardin, also known as “The Cookie Rookie” has a recipe for Pizza Sticks, shown below. (STL Sports Page did a feature on Hardin. To read that feature CLICK HERE.)
You Can Make Pizza Sticks At Home
Pizza Sticks (Pepperoni Pizza on a stick)
From “The Cookie Rookie”
Ingredients
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Recommended Equipment
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Bamboo skewers
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Baking Sheet
DIRECTIONS:
Instructions
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Soak 10 bamboo skewers in warm water for at least 30 minutes or use metal skewers.
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Preheat oven to 400°F and cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.
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Unroll pizza dough onto a lightly floured countertop. Mix the melted butter, garlic salt, and basil together. Brush the dough lightly with garlic basil butter.13.8 ounces refrigerated pizza crust,¼ cup unsalted butter,¾ teaspoon garlic salt,1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
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Cut the dough, lengthwise, into 1-inch wide strips.
Notes from Becky Hardin, The Cookie Rookie
- They are Easy. Using refrigerated pizza dough and jarred pizza sauce makes this recipe so simple. It’s ready in less than 30 minutes!
- They are Tasty. These hand-held pizza sticks have all the great flavor of classic pizza and are customizable for any palate.
- They are Kid-Friendly. Remove the skewers for the littles, but these are easy to hold and less messy than traditional pizza.
- For more information on Pizza Sticks from The Cooke Rookie: CLICK HERE
