1717 Clarkson RoadThis is going to be a really hot take. A very unpopular take.
I like St. Louis pizza.
Most people will say, “St. Louis has it’s own pizza?” Yes. I’ve blogged about it before both in St. Louis and in Kalamazoo.
We had already went to dinner at Hwy 61 Roadhouse our first day in St. Louis but I was concerned I wasn’t going to have time to actually order a pizza. I was laying in my room watching Daredevil: Born Again when I decided to see how far the closest Imo’s was from me. It was just down the street and closing in an hour. I decided I needed to get a pizza while I was in town and if I ordered a large, I could eat a few pieces tonight and have some leftover for later in the week.
Imo’s Pizza is a St. Louis based pizza chain with over 100 locations in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. The original store was in The Hill where all of the best St. Louis Italian restaurants are. They were also the first delivery pizza shop in St. Louis and the one who changed the traditional mozzarella cheese topping to Provel. Imo’s is literally the inventor of St. Louis style pizza.
The store I ordered from is on Clarkson Road near Baxter Road in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield. The restaurant is part of the Clarkson Square shopping center and by the time I got there at 9:30 at night…about a half hour before closing, the shopping plaza was pretty empty.
I put my order in online about 9:15. The Internet said my pizza would be ready about 9:45. I was only about a three minute drive to the store so I kept watching my show then headed over to the shopping plaza about 9:40.
It was almost closing time when I walked in to pick up my pizza. There was just one employee in the back who was starting to clean. They stopped taking orders at 9:30 so I was probably the last to pick up my pizza. I walked up to the counter at the back of the store and waited for her to see I was there. She handed me the box and I headed back down the road to my hotel.
While Imo’s is mostly a carry-out and delivery chain they do have a small dining room in this store. Again, it was closing time so the chairs were already put up for the night.
I ordered an XL Pepperoni pizza and stupid me, I didn’t realize that you can get free garlic bread with an XL pizza. So I just got the XL pizza.
Like I said in the beginning, I know this is an unpopular opinion in most of the country, but I like the Provel cheese. It’s a super processed combination of provolone, Swiss, cheddar, and liquid smoke. This cheese is really what makes the pizza what it is. It’s such a unique flavor and such a dominate flavor. Other than the cheese, the pizza is similar to a Chicago Tavern Style pizza. It’s a super thin crust cut in to squares. The pepperoni are under the cheese which comes out cooked to a delicious golden brown.
I ate on this pizza for a couple of days because I really wasn’t hungry when I ordered it. I just wanted an Imo’s pizza before we left town and I didn’t know when I was going to have time so I made sure to grab one when I did.
The cost for the XL one topping pizza was just over $21.
Imo’s Pizza is one of my favorite reasons to come to St. Louis. Kazoopy’s in Kalamazoo used to do a St. Louis style..maybe they still do. Last time I ordered it from Gull Road, the cook was so confused on what a “St. Louis Style” pizza was and couldn’t find the cheese (nor knew what it was) so I just got a regular pizza that day. Being in St. Louis and getting the real deal is such a treat.