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Mid Rivers Newsmagazine is St. Charles County's
exclusive direct-mailed community newspaper. |
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Restaurant Spotlight Archive |
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Direct From Italy Comes Lake Saint Louis PizzaBy Mary Ann O'Toole Holley
If there’s one fault, it’s that it seems out of place for a top of the line, genuine Italian pizzeria to be situated in a small strip mall near a grocery, a UPS store and a nail salon. But that’s the way owner Joe Taranto and his family wants it. “Maybe I should have named this place Piasano’s Pizza or something like that — something that sounded more Italian, or maybe I should have opened in a touristy area,” said Taranto, born in New Jersey to Italian immigrants who returned to raise their son in their native Palermo, Italy. “But I named it Lake Saint Louis Pizza and opened here because we want to become part of the community. I’m here and I’m in for the long-haul.” Lake Saint Louis Pizza, or LSL Pizza as the sign on the slender shoe-box of a restaurant says, isn’t your ordinary pizza joint. Taranto isn’t a pizza jockey; he’s a chef — a creator of the finest of Italian cuisine; a culinary king that knows nothing of canned sauce or sausage toppings that resemble rabbit pellets. “I come from a family of cooks, from my parents to grandparents to great grandparents, and cooking, for us, is a way of life,” said Taranto, a first generation American who left behind a family of Sicily trattoria owners and cooks who simmer pots of sauce as big as kettle drums and prepare pizza crusts flinging them into the air like giant stingrays. “Everything I prepare is fresh — the sausage, the sauce, the crust … About the only thing I don’t prepare myself is the bacon and pepperoni.” Pizza is prime at Lake Saint Louis Pizza with 12-, 14-, 16- and 20-inch pies ($8.50-$12.50 and $1.25-$2 per topping). Each is laden with delicacies like primo mozzarella cheese, seasoned beef, sliced meatballs, grilled chicken, portabella mushrooms, fresh garlic, sweet onions, kalamata olives, baby spinach and an almost endless list of other options. Feta cheese, cheddar cheese and ricotta cheese can add a unique flavor, and crusts are available as New Jersey-style hand-tossed, Chicago-style deep dish and thin and crispy Saint Louis-type crust. Nonetheless, each pie is prepared to perfection in a classic seasoned brick oven, lending a flavor found only in extraordinary pizza crust. The calzones… oh-so-delicioso, are filled with a trio of ingredients ($7.50), baked and basted with melt-in-your-mouth butter before reaching your table. Lake Saint Louis Pizza’s nearly non-stop menu exudes flavorful combinations of everything from meatball parmesan subs to Sicilian salad that’s void of lettuce but filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and fresh oregano ($3.99-$6.99). For a more traditional offering, try the dinner salad, featuring Iceberg lettuce, red onions, pimentos, black olives and artichoke hearts ($2.99-$5.99). Nothing has been sacrificed at Lake Saint Louis Pizza. Breadsticks, hot wings, Italian wings, roasted wings and toasted ravioli fill the bill when it comes to appetizers ($3.99-$6.99). “It’s important for me, for my business, to have good, quality food,” said Taranto. “If you buy the sauces and crusts, and offer run of the mill choices, they’ll never be yours. You can buy inexpensive pies frozen. So, I say, why bother if I don’t make it myself? Lake Saint Louis Pizza started out as a Take & Bake pizza. Now, three years as an established eatery, pizza and more is served hot and fresh in-house with libations like O’Fallon beer and fine wines. Delivery is available for all points beyond: O’Fallon, Wentzville, Saint Peters and more. If you’re beyond their delivery area, Joe says, “just ask.” If time permits, Lake Saint Louis enjoys going the distance.
Lake Saint Louis Pizza 161 Civic Center Drive (Schnucks Plaza) Lake Saint Louis, MO
Phone 636-625-4328 Dine-in, carryout, delivery Visit www.lslpizza.com
Hours: Monday – closed Tuesday-Thursday – 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday – 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday – 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.
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Some may say Lake Saint Louis Pizza is out of its element.
