A South City pizzeria has expanded its offerings from pies and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine to popular Mexican dishes.
The six-year-old Eni’s Pizzeria (6203 Gravois) in Princeton Heights recently introduced a separate new menu of Mexican specialties in addition to its pizza and Mediterranean grill offerings. The concept change came about after founders Brahim “Ibro” and Shadije Mehmataj had a serendipitous meeting with Aurora Santillan, who has a background in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
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The Menu
Brahim and Shadije Mehmataj founded Eni’s Pizzeria in 2017, after moving to St. Louis from Kosovo. “Everything here is made from scratch: the pizza dough, the sauce, the salad dressings,” Ibro told SLM at the time. “These are all my family’s recipes. My grandfather made pizza.”
Over the past six years, the South City pizzeria has gained a loyal following for its pizzas. The top-selling signature Eni’s Pizza, for instance, riffs on Balkan flavors, with olives, green peppers, spinach, and smoked beef. The restaurant also serves gyros and doners, all of which remain on the menu.
Now, with Santillan joining the team, the pizzeria has expanded its scope to include Mexican-inspired additions. A new Mexiterranean pizza is topped with spicy beef birria. “We invented the birria pizza,” Santillan says. “We’ll also add an al pastor pizza to the menu soon.”
Santillan also introduced several specialties, including the quesa birria, a dish first seen in Tijuana 15 years ago. “It’s a very popular dish right now,” she says. The dish originated when food truck vendors began serving the traditional spicy stew in corn tortillas, adding a melty cheese and serving the tacos hot and crispy. Social media helped boost the dish to its current popularity. At Eni’s, the corn tortillas take on the bright-red color of the chile de arbol that flavors the birria. They’re served three per plate, with two sides of salsa, including a house-made spicy red (made with chile de arbol) and a green salsa (made with jalapeño peppers, garlic, oil, and fried onions).
“Other items include what everyone looks for when they go to a Mexican restaurant: fajitas, chimichangas, burritos,” Santillan says. “We make all the popular Mexican dishes.” In addition to the aforementioned salsas, the restaurant makes Mexican rice cooked with a mild tomato salsa, corn, and peas with jasmine rice, as well as fresh refried beans.
The dessert menu currently consists of fried cheesecake chimichangas, though Santillan plans to add churros and fried ice cream, in addition to tiramisu on the existing Balkan menu.
Santillan has also introduced a series of specials to introduce the new menu, including a daily happy hour from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. During that time, fajitas with beans, rice, and a salad are $7.99, and lime margaritas are $3. Customers can upgrade to a fruity margarita (strawberry, mango, or piña colada) for $1 more. Santillan is also working on evening specials, such as Taco Salad Tuesdays, Wednesday chimichangas, and Thursday burrito nights.
The Atmosphere
The dining room (seating up to 75) boasts a stone fireplace, recessed light coves, and a hand-built bar with a stone archway in front of the kitchen. A side room works well for private parties. There’s a landscaped 25-seat patio in back. A small parking lot is located behind the building.
Music includes a mix of Balkan and Mexican, with live music and karaoke on occasion. Follow the restaurant’s Instagram page for updates.
The Backstory
Eni’s is located in a stone building that also houses the Mehmataj’s insurance office. When Santillan showed up at the office to discuss insurance for her family’s construction business, the conversation soon turned to dining. Santillan’s background included working in restaurants and hospitality, so Shadije showed gave a tour of the restaurant. Ibro, who’d worked as a civil engineer in Kosovo, designed and built the restaurant, bar, and patio. Santillan was impressed. “I told him their place is very beautiful,” she recalls.
Afterward, Shadije pulled Santillan aside and said, “‘You need to talk to my husband. He’s been working by himself for almost seven years, and I think you would be a good person to work with him,’” Santillan recalls. “I was in the middle of opening a construction business, but I was interested.”
Santillan’s meeting with Ibro went well. ““I knew the first time we talked that Ibro was just like me,” she says. “I asked him if they wanted to add a Mexican menu to the business.”
Santillan joined the team in April and, after slowly adding Mexican dishes to the menu, they held a grand opening in early June. Shadije came up with the name for the eclectic mix—Mexiterrean—an inspired riff on the melding of the two cuisines.
Ibro grills and cooks the Mediterranean food, while Santillan manages the restaurant and runs the front of house. Her sister cooks the Mexican dishes fresh daily. Santillan and her sister learned to cook family recipes while growing up in Michoacán, Mexico.
Today, Santillan enjoys interacting with customers, and she feels fortunate to be working in the restaurant business. “I am so grateful to be here,” she says.
