‘Zza（英文）

Original printed byline: Sean McGroarty

2017年4月至5月

此内容暂无简体中文译文，以下为英文原文。

Historical April–May 2017 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

No, I didn’t fall asleep on the keyboard. Chris Sommers, who rose to prominence after founding Pi Pizzeria on Delmar, has opened a new type of pizza place on Skinker, right next to Bobo Noodle House and Kayak’s.

He calls it ‘Zza.

I suppose his next concept will be Pa. Or Azzip. Anyway, this past weekend, Cristina took Charlie and Brendan off on a college visit. You would think that whenever my lady goes out of town, my first priority would be to ensure the safety and happiness of my children. You would be wrong.

As any dad knows, the first priority in such circumstances is to figure out how to cook as few meals as possible.

I had a good stock of sugar for breakfast. They’re on their own for lunch. That left dinner.

I found out that waffles for dinner only works twice in a row. Luckily, ‘Zza opened well within walking distance. Invigorated by the thought of hot food and no clean up, we bundled up against the seasonably chilly March air and set out. Children’s laughter mixed with dad grumbling as we made our way out to Skinker, then south.

I was a bit worried that the place might be jammers, on account of the date (3/14, or π Day), but we found out later that we missed the rush.

The interior of ‘Zza is rather industrial looking, with exposed HVAC venting, polished concrete floor, and aluminum chairs.

The entire north wall of the space is filled with windows that look out to Pershing, which allows a pleasant amount of light and a nice view for anyone who wishes to eat at the counter lining that wall.

The opposite wall is decorated by two modern, Picasso-looking murals.

All in all, it gives the feeling of an orderly and clean place to enjoy a meal.

As soon as we walked up to the counter, a nice man approached us with a tablet to take our order.

The three younger ones chose cheese and pepperoni pizzas. Joe chose to be the adventurous one of the evening and ordered an STL Summer, with provel, onion, jalapeno, spicy sausage, and parsley.

I ordered a cobb salad (healthy? Of course it’s healthy. It’s a salad). Chris describes his new restaurant as fast-casual.

He uses a TurboChef, a high-temperature convection oven that allows his chefs to cook an oblong, individual-sized pizza in just two minutes. So, even a relatively large party like ours only had to wait a few minutes before they brought our food out to us.

My salad was quite good, although the dressing was just a little sweet for my taste.

The three younger children, Patrick, Peter and Gertie, polished off their pizzas in record time, although I managed to purloin a piece or two when no one was looking. Joe enjoyed his STL Summer, although he underestimated the effect of jalapenos.

We all had water or soda to drink, although quite a few types of canned beer were available. Do not go to ‘Zza expecting Pi by the slice. Chris Sommers is really offering another type of pizza altogether. Overall, ‘Zza succeeded admirably for the McGroarty Family.

We all enjoyed the food, quite reasonably priced at about $9 for anything on the menu.

The service was fast and the staff extremely friendly. Well done, Chris.