Euclid Avenue in the Central West End is, for brunch, the St. Louis equivalent of New York’s Upper West Side. You can’t swing a purse without hitting a diner, and as the dandelions grow, so will the crowds. Even business at breakfast spots seems to be picking up again. But we’d never thought of Pi as a brunch spot.
Pi is open late enough that it sometimes serves as an after-theater destination for us if the parking gods are cooperative. We find the very tasty thin-crust pizza much closer to the cracker-type that rigid St. Louisans criticize when talking about local specialty pizzas. They believe there’s only One Right Way to make pizza; we like many styles, shapes, fillings and crusts. And that’s okay, because there are two things we don’t argue about; the other is barbecue.
We’d heard about the every-morning coffee bar at Pi, but it wasn’t until our last visit that we noticed, in small type at the bottom of the menu, that any deep-dish pizza can be had as breakfast pizza after the 11 a.m. opening of the rest of the house. Breakfast pizza, available every day, means scrambled eggs instead of tomato sauce. With curiosity a pre-requisite for a job like ours, we stopped by–on a Sunday morning, as it happened.
We arrived just before 11, wandered to the breakfast bar for coffee and to try a chocolate croissant. Besides pastries, there are waffles and the breakfast pi of the day, available by the slice. There’s granola, too, leading us to think this would be a good quiet spot to munch and read on weekday mornings. The coffee and croissant, warmed and delicious, were delivered to our table, a pleasant policy we wish more counter-order spots would adopt. So we sat in a corner with a fine view of the Euclid-Maryland intersection and watched the world go by, overseen by the statue of T. S. Eliot in front of Left Bank Books, and by the ghost of Lady Charles, a long-time chef whose ashes were symbolically tossed at the middle of the intersection one dark night.
We’ve become quite taken with Pi’s blazed-wing appetizer, which are dusted in a crunchy, spicy coating and baked, but they often take longer to cook than some of the pies. So we let the croissant act as a first course and began the debate over the next one. We hesitated over the Western Addition, offering mozzarella, spinach with ricotta and feta, mushrooms, onions and garlic. Ultimately, though, the lure of the pig was too much and went with the Mission, combining mozzarella, Berkshire pig sausage, red onion, anchovies, and red pepper flakes. It was a good decision, the anchovies giving little hits of salt every now and then, the mellow sausage judiciously used. The red pepper flakes were scarcely noticeable, for those who are heat-reluctant. It’s a fine take on deep-dish pizza, and the egg filling, less moist than the usual tomato sauce, kept the crust crisp.
We were left musing about other potential combinations like sundried tomatoes, bacon and banana peppers. Next time….
Apple pi has been the house dessert since the first Pi opened, and despite the jokey title, this is good stuff, nice tart apples that don’t turn to mush, plenty of caramel, and rich enough that two can share. Don’t miss unless you’re stuffed.
Good natured (and, we suspected, rather caffeinated) service and a nice easy-going weekend morning pace. But be warned: No reservations. Period.
Pi
400 N. Euclid Ave.
314-367-4300
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $12-$23
Comments
One response
Thanks very much, Joe and Ann! We are extremely grateful for your continued support. We especially appreciate you spreading the word about our CWE breakfast.
Thanks again,
Chris Sommers
Owner, Pi