easy as pi

I figured for my very first blog post (ever), I would share something that is very dear to my heart. It is one of my truest, deepest loves. It has lifted me up from lowest lows and raises me to my highest high. It has made the seemingly impossible possible. It is the alpha to my omega, the ketchup to my french fries, the soy milk to my cookie.

It is pizza.

And not just any pizza; pizza that I can actually eat--and order without sounding like a complete weirdo ("Are you sure you don't want cheese? Just crust and vegetables? Are you lactose intolerant? Where do you get your protein?") This pizza surpasses any other pizza for multiple reasons, the primary being that I can actually order it with (soy) cheese. I can also load it up with fresh, non-GMO vegetables. Oh, and the crust is whole-wheat and doesn't taste like hot cardboard.

I stumbled upon such greatness (or rather my sig-oth, Jeffrey, did) in the Delmar Loop in good 'ole STL. On the outside, Pi Pizzeria looks like the up-and-coming, too cool pizzeria, but on the inside...it's actually just that. We were greeted by PNW hipsters with emobangs and skinny jeans who were eager to inform us that Pi was a green restaurant with the best deep and thin crust in St. Louis. As we looked over the menu in their eco-chic minimalist dining room, I nearly pooped myself when I saw that they offered daiya vegan cheese, match meat substitutes, and gluten-free crust. Hazzah.

It wasn't until our melted circle of wonderful (half vegan cheese and artichokes, half real cheese and sausage) came hot and fresh out of the oven that we both realized something interesting. I realized that I had found true love and that as long as I can get vegan cheese I can forever give up cow cheese, and Jeffrey realized that they had put (tonz of) vegan cheese with his sausage side (which doesn't make sense, but hey).

The point...it was wonderful. It was fantastic. I teared up (not kidding, I get emotional. I cry during tomato season, too).  And in the midwest, it is about as good as you can get.

Did I mention that after they got our order wrong they brought us another perfected pizza? I inhaled the first pizza before I had a chance to snap it, so this is round two.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it looks weird. Soy cheese doesn't brown when it cooks.

You can see the slight difference, but you would never notice if you didn't already know. Example: when we went there with Jeffrey's family, his dad ate an entire half of a pizza before noticing that it wasn't real cheese. 

More facts about Pi:

-They have four locations (The Loop, Central West End, Kirkwood, and Chesterfield) and a truck

-The thin crust is the only verified vegan crust-the deep dish crust is a cornmeal crust and is therefore vegan, but they butter the pan before cooking it (so close! earth balance?)

-You can follow them on twitter at @pistl

-My non-vegan sig-oth is a big fan, and it's not actually marketed towards vegheads, so even if your main concern is eating a great pizza, you should definitely check it out.