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The OG Pepperoni pizza features a Calabrian chili-infused hot honey drizzle, one of the genius touches that makes O+O Pizza outstanding. | MABEL SUEN
[REVIEW]
The Real MVP O+O Pizza is serving up some of the best Italian food in St. Louis — and sometimes Canada Written by
CHERYL BAEHR O+O Pizza 102 West Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves; 314-721-5422. Open 4-10 p.m. every day.
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ike Risk didn’t need confirmation that his eggplant parmesan was good. For twelve years he ran the kitchen of Trattoria Marcella, one of the city’s most celebrated Italian restaurants, where he got a lot of practice cooking the
quintessential dishes that define the cuisine. owever, he learned that the eggplant parm he’d developed for O O Pi a was the stuff of legends from St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly. Over the winter, the hockey player developed such an affinity for the dish that he would order it often — sometimes multiple times a week. e was so enamored with the ra or thin layers of eggplant, chunky sauce and gooey cheese, in fact, that he wanted to share the love with his parents back home in Canada. With Risk’s help, he had two pans of the stuff shipped on dry ice so that they could see what he was raving about. It wasn’t winning the Stanley Cup or MVP that made him “Son of the ear it was the eggplant. That Italian food good enough to be shipped internationally was flying under the radar for the better part of two years is shocking.
owever, that was the case with Risk’s Mediterranean inspired evening menu at the Clover and the Bee, where he has served as executive chef since it opened in late 201 . Originally conceived of as a more casual complement to the powerhouse Olive Oak, the Clover and the Bee quickly made a name for itself as an essential daytime spot. Known for its excellent breakfast and brunch fare, the restaurant’s wait times for a table on Saturday and Sunday mornings rivaled those of its impossible to get into sister restaurant. And rightfully so. What many people did not know, however, is that the Clover and the Bee was also open for dinner. Though its evening menu started out more eclectic, it became dominated by Italian cuisine over time. Risk couldn’t help himself his experience at Trattoria Marcella made him proficient in that style of food, and he loved to eat it. So
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did Olive Oak’s co owner and general manager, Mark inkle, who, after returning from a vacation in Italy, encouraged Risk to go all in on making the Clover and the Bee an Italian restaurant, at least during dinnertime. Even as the Clover and the Bee’s daytime reputation stole the evening menu’s thunder, Risk threw himself into his Italian fare. The effort set the restaurant group up perfectly when Olive Oak moved from its original location next to the Clover and the Bee to its new, larger digs up the street. With the adjacent storefront vacant, inkle saw an opportunity to give Risk’s Italian food a spot of its own. With a decent part of the menu already sketched out, he and Risk finally had the space to go for it. In the initial stages of their talks, inkle wanted the new restaurant to focus on pi a. Risk balked as much as he enjoyed
JUNE 9-15, 2021
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