Pizza in St. Louis: Slideshow

Basso is Italian for low, and this restaurant is located in the cavernous basement of the Restaurant at the Cheshire. Part of the multimillion-dollar renovation of the Cheshire hotel on the western edge of the city, Basso boasts as its chef Patrick Connolly, a St. Louis native who made his name (including a James Beard Foundation award) in Boston and New York City before returning home. His menu is “Italian gastropub,” which in practice means excellent wood-fired pizzas and rustic pasta dishes. The “McDowell’s Golden Arcs,” with speck, delicata squash and Fontina, is a standout pizza. Among the pastas, try the mafalda, thin ribbons of pasta tossed with a beef and pork ragù, pecorino romano and breadcrumbs.

Crushed Red is the manifestation of a new, homegrown fast-casual concept whose partners include prolific restaurateur Chris LaRocca and (Barrister’s and Milagro Modern Mexican) chef Jason Tilford. The menu is split between pizzas and salads; for both, you can build your own or choose a “crafted” option, like the “Chipotle BBQ Chicken” pizza or the “Cowpoke Smoke” salad (which features smoked brisket, red onion and blue cheese. The pizzas are perfectly sized for one, the ingredients fresh and well prepared.

Epic Pizza & Subs is a pizzeria and sandwich shop located in Soulard. It specializes in thin crust pizzas and also serves pizza by the slice. Its late-night hours make it a popular place to dine in Soulard after neighboring bars close.

What makes a great bowling alley? Is it the dusty chic of 1950s-era furniture and watery beer specials? Or is it the sheer enormity of some of the newer hi-tech bowling emporiums, featuring a small city's worth of alleys, several cafés and even laser tag? In the case of Flamingo Bowl, Joe Edwards' joint on Washington Avenue, it's neither. Rather, Edwards has brought a bit of the suburbs to the city with his boutique vision of bowling. Neither too large nor too small, Flamingo Bowl offers twelve lanes, a lounge, an extensive list of cocktails, decent bar food and, of course, a healthy selection of tchotchkes from Edwards' personal collection of mid-century Americana. What's more, Flamingo Bowl is open from noon until 3 a.m. seven days a week, making it both the perfect place for a "working" lunch and an ideal place for a sporting nightcap.

The Texas-based chain Flying Saucer Draught Emporium has opened its first St. Louis location a mere pop fly away from Busch Stadium. As the name suggests, the beer selection is the primary draw: 80 craft brews on tap, another 150 in bottles. You will find big names from the craft-beer world, but St Louis’ booming scene is well represented among the selections. The food is standard-issue bar grub: burgers, sandwiches, wings, pizza. The appetizers are the most reliable pleasure, especially the oversize soft pretzels. Several dishes featuring bratwurst are the best bets for your full meal.

Katie Lee builds on the success of her popular Clayton pizzeria with her second effort, Katie’s Pizza & Pasta, in Rock Hill. Inspired by her time living in Florence, Italy, Lee aims to capture casual Italian osteria at her newest location, this time expanding the menu to include house-made pasta. Fans of the original outpost should rest assured that her signature pies feature prominently on the menu — a medley of butternut squash, figs, pancetta and goat cheese drizzled with balsamic encapsulates her style. For Neapolitan purists, however, the Margherita does not capture the classic. Pastas are equally hit or miss. Katie’s is at its best when it does classic pesto and meatballs, but the liberties it takes with carbonara fall flat. The charm of the place makes these inconsistencies more bearable, however. Lee has managed to take a plain, shotgun-style storefront in a strip mall and turn it into a cozy, shabby-chic space. The open kitchen and packed bar give the place a bustling energy, and the bar has a creative selection of Italian influenced craft cocktails while patrons wait amid the throngs of admirers for a table.

The King Louie's in King Louie's Empire Deli & Pizza refers not to the late, much loved restaurant on Chouteau Avenue but an even older spot in Wood River, Illinois. Lou Rook Jr. (father of Annie Gunn’s chef Lou Rook III) founded that King Louie’s, and his sons Dave and Mike have opened this deli and by-the-slice pizza joint on Washington Avenue. Pizza slices are appropriately huge and blanketed in melted mozzarella. You can also order whole pies with the toppings of your choice, or you can choose one of the restaurant’s specialty pies. The deli menu features several sandwiches, including a classic Reuben, a stack of rare roast beef and a sort-of upscale cheesesteak featuring thinly sliced rib eye.

Part pizza place, part concert venue, and part dive bar, Lemmons is a one-of-a-kind St Louis establishment located at 5800 Gravois in the Bevo Mill neighborhood. There’s always something to do at Lemmons; the bar hosts live music on stage several nights per week, but even when there’s not a band playing, Lemmons has plenty of activities to keep your whole group happy. If bar games are what you’re into, they’ve got you covered with foosball, shuffleboard, pinball, and pool, as well as a few arcade games. Wednesday and Thursday nights Lemmons hosts some of the city’s best trivia, and every Monday the bar offers a free pizza buffet while cult classics like High Fidelity, Army of Darkness, and The Princess Bride don the projector. While the main culinary attraction from Lemmons’ is their cheese-slathered Chicago-style pizza, the menu also includes thin-crust and pan pizzas, burgers and appetizers like garlic bread, cheese fries and that quintessentially St. Louisan snack - toasted ravioli.

A charming little pizza joint in south city, Mr. X turns out pizza that isn’t high-falutin’ or trendy — just delicious. The basic hand-tossed crust is chewy and tasty, the sauce is a little sweet and a little spicy, and the cheese is beautifully blistered in the oven. The basic toppings are available (pepperoni and sausage are always good bets), but for a change of pace try the “Mr. X,” with chicken, green peppers and mushrooms, as well as salami and the Bosnian dried beef known as suho meso.

Acclaimed chef Gerard Craft (Niche, Brasserie by Niche, Taste) turns his attention to Italian cuisine at Pastaria, a large, bustling fun restaurant in downtown Clayton. The cuisine is simple, affordable and -- for the price (nothing over $20) -- outrageously good. Pasta, made in house, features in dishes both simple (the sublime chitarra: spaghetti-like noodles with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes) to the sexy and sophisticated (the luscious pistachio ravioli). Pizzas are made in the Neapolitan-style, on a thin crust and cooked very quickly in a very hot oven. You can opt for an American style pepperoni pie (the meat cured by the restaurant) or a more ambitious pizza with Brussels sprouts, lemon, bechamel sauce and lardo. Save room for dessert, especially the gelati. Craft, with executive chef Adam Altnether and executive sous chef Brian Moxey, has created another gem. There are no reservations; expect a wait.

A wood-burning oven is the centerpiece of this restaurant, quite popular in Edwardsville and worth the trip across the river from St. Louis. From that oven come thin-crust pizzas both simple and sophisticated. The "Prosciutto" is an elegant pie with fingerling potatoes, roasted garlic and rosemary joining the cured pork. The "Jerk Chicken" is more playful, a tasty variation on barbecue-chicken pizza. The wings, roasted in the oven, are excellent, whether as an appetizer or an entrée.

Pizzeria Tivoli opened in July 2010 on Kingshighway in the Princeton Heights neighborhood. The restaurant offers a shotgun-style bistro setting inside its cozy dining room and patio seating in the front and along the side. Menu choices include a small selection of salads and starters and, for the main event, a variety of thin-crust, wood-fired pizzas. The usual suspects such as margherita pizza make appearances, but Pizzeria Tivoli also has unique choices such as their namesake pizza "Tivoli," which features tomato, artichoke hearts, chicken and red peppers, and the "Villa d'Este," which approximates the experience of eating a gyro.

A fun and very laidback sports bar replete with tasty grub and cold beer. TV monitors and (mostly) St. Louis sports memorabilia cram the walls, while the requisite snacks - chicken wings, pizza, burgers - fill your tummy. The wings are good: spicy, meaty and crisp-skinned. You can also order the "Blazin' Chicken Dip," which folds together chicken, Buffalo sauce and cheese. Burgers are simply adorned and tasty, while pizzas are amply loaded with cheese and toppings. Stop in for happy hour Monday through Friday for 4 to 7 p.m. and start planning your fantasy sports team strategies.

While Budweiser is synonymous with St. Louis to the outside world, savvy outsiders know to namedrop Schlafly in St. Louis instead of Busch. Indeed, if it weren't for the humidity and Schlafly seasonal releases, how would we mark the changing of seasons? It's not summer unless we're drinking Raspberry Hefeweizen or the crisp Summer Lager, and the winter doldrums become rich and heady under the influence of the Oatmeal Stout.The always-hopping Schlafly Bottleworks is the brand's flagship, and the massive Maplewood location is a venue, restaurant, bar, bottling plant, retailer and mini-museum paying homage to St. Louis' storied brewing history. The well-staffed restaurant serves up thoughtful New American cuisine, and yes, all the beer you care to drink. Freshness is king at Bottleworks, from the beer brewed on the premises to the homegrown, organic menu. When the weather is warm, the courtyard features live jazz and folk music.

The centerpiece of twinOak Wood Fired Fare is a brick oven that’s used to cook just about everything the kitchen turns out. The restaurant — which takes its name from twin-sibling owners Curt and Casey Friedrichs and the logs that fuel the oven — focuses on pizzas: thin-crust pies both classic (tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil) and “signature” (the “Gringo Star,” for example, with chorizo and jalapeño). The handful of appetizers (hot wings) and entrées (steaks, salmon) on the menu that aren’t members of the pizza food group benefit from the woodsmoke kick the oven delivers.