There are a handful of places on my "Dying to Eat At" list in the Lou! And the other night totally at random Griff and I got to try one of them and it didn't disappoint.
Thursday evening we were at the Emerson Young Artist's Showcase in Clayton. http://www.stlouisartistsguild.org/new/march-17-april-9-2016
Griff's super talented nephew had a piece in the show. So we went to support him and check out the art. Holy moly! I was blown away not only by him but by the fact that there are so many talented young artists in the St Louis area. If I hadn't known it was high school kids that had created the pieces at the gallery I would have never guessed that. If you have a chance to get over there and check it out you should.
When we were leaving we were both starving and had no desire to go home and cook. So we did something that is quite rare anymore for us and went out to eat on a week night. When the question came up, "Where do you want to go?" There was zero hesitation on my part, "Babe, I'm taking you on a date to Pastaria!!"
Pastaria has been on my list since the day they opened! And always with the longest wait ever. My family tried to go for my birthday back in February and the wait was 3 hours! (Which definitely wasn't doable for a group of 10 with 2 kids in tow.) So last night was the perfect time to try again.
When we got there they said there would be a 30 minute wait for 2 or we could sit at the chef's counter. We took the chef's counter!
As we sat down I was excited to see we had a front row seat at the wood fired oven to watch them make pizzas. We were brought water in mason jars (you all know for some reason everything tastes better in a mason jar). We perused the drink menu but we're old and it was a week night so we both stuck with water. But the drinks looked amazing so next time we're going on a weekend! While we were deciding on food they brought us super fresh (can you say still warm from the oven) baked bread. It was crusty on the outside and light and fluffy in the middle. They have set out different olive oils for dipping and fresh cheese. The oil, the bread, the cheese... That could have been my whole meal and I would have been happy.
Next up I ordered us the Crispy Risotto Balls! They were the first thing I eye balled on the menu the very first time I checked it out online. I was so excited to try them and they didn't disappoint. Let me preface this with: Risotto is my favorite food pretty much ever. One of my best cooking accomplishments was when I learned to make it myself (but more on that on another blog). There was a light fry on them and once you bit into them it was the cheesiest goodness ever. Seriously think of the best mozzarella stick you've ever had and then times that by a million. They came with two sauces. One was an amazingly delicious marinara and an herb ranch kind of sauce. I liked both but preferred the marinara.
Our food arrived not too long after that. When it comes to wood fired pizza I'm typically a traditionalist so I got the Margherita pizza. And it was everything I want in a pizza. It had a crunchy but doughy thin crust with the perfect char in spots. The perfect amount of fresh sauce that was salty but a tad bit sweet all at the same time. A light amount of cheese that was melted to perfection by the wood fire oven. And then huge basil leaves that were crispy in all the right places. It was cut into 4 perfect pieces so I was able to fold them over and have the perfect bite!
Griff got the pasta with clams which also happens to be his favorite dish that his mom makes for him. So I knew it would have to be perfect to even compete with a homemade dish. I had a bite of course and thought it was delicious! I snagged a clam and it was super fresh and cooked just perfect, chewy but not too chewy. The sauce was lemony and light. It had red pepper flakes that were a little over bearing in my opinion but the pasta was fresh and cooked to the perfect al dente. Griff liked it but wished it had more clams. And also thought they could have gone a little less on the red pepper flakes.
At this point we were stuffed! Of course we glanced at the desert menu but nothing felt like something we couldn't live without on a Thursday night. The gelato was tempting but we held back.
All in all, Pastaria did not disappoint! It's definitely one of the best wood fired pizzas I've ever had. I'm anxious to go back again to try more menu items and end my meal with gelato! I highly suggest you check it out for yourself! http://pastariastl.com
