Tasty Tour: St. Louis-style pizza

As much as Katie and I enjoyed Sonic, we cannot live on America's drive-in food alone on our roadtrip. We made arrangements to meet my college friend Colleen in St. Louis, her home town. She recommended we meet at Imo's, a chain based in St. Louis, that is located conveiently right on I-44.

When the place was first established in 1964, only delivery and carry out was available. They say they're the first pizza place to offer delivery, but who knows. They also cut their pizza into squares because the guy who started the place used to lay tile for a living.

According to Colleen, what makes St. Louis-style pizza unique is the cheese they use called provel. It's a white, processed cheese made of a combination of cheeses that foodies say was invented specifically for use on pizza, but at Imo's I got it on salad as well. Provel is produced only in St. Louis, Colleen explained, and is wildly popular on pizza and with pasta. Interestingly enough, the copyright to the name is held by a Glenview-based Kraft subsidy right down the road from Chicago.

The pizza we ordered had plenty of provel, along with black olives and bacon. Colleen suggested this as a local fave. The crust was thin and crispy, but not dry. The sauce was an average tomato-based sauce with a little tang to it. The cheese itself melted completely on the pizza and held to both the toppings and the pizza. I hate biting into a pizza and having all the toppings come off with it, but that wasn't the case here. The cheese and toppings were tasty and I really enjoyed the pizza.