Downtown St. Louis has a new destination for pizza and beer, courtesy of a popular local brand. The aptly named Hot Pizza Cold Beer (610 Washington), a new concept from the team behind Sugarfire Smokehouse and Hi-Pointe Drive-In—including Charlie Downs, Mike Johnson, Dave Molina—opens today, February 2. Situated in the former downtown Pi Pizzeria space in the Mercantile Exchange building, the new restaurant will offer a fun menu (with everything from a 16-inch slice of pepperoni pizza to homemade SpaghettiOs) and a lively atmosphere (complete with vintage arcade games and 24 taps at a massive u-shaped bar).
“We all love pizza, and when Pi left, we needed some pizza on this block, as well as a neighborhood bar,” says Molina, executive chef and co-owner. “The same when Robust was here—it was a neighborhood hangout for people who lived around here, and we don’t really have that anymore. We really want to make this that fun neighborhood place.”
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Here’s what to know before you go.
The Atmosphere
The family-friendly restaurant embraces the irreverent, fun style of the Sugarfire and Hi-Pointe brands. Hot Pizza Cold Beer will offer a little something for everyone, accommodating those who want to grab a meal on the run, get takeout, or make a night of the experience.
Hot Pizza Cold Beer is situated in a lofty, open space where the centerpiece is a U-shaped bar with 24 local taps. The room is surrounded by windows on three sides and decked out in nostalgic movie posters and pop-culture memorabilia, including posters of such classic movie as Caddyshack and Jaws, as well as a poster of perpetually pursed-lipped Poison lead singer Brett Michaels and a stuffed Alf holding a Walkman.
The restaurant has ample seating; a red stained wood banquette along the interior wall takes up almost the entire length of the space and wooden tables and stainless seating are positioned throughout the large room. Exposed ductwork, broken up by a wooden-plank ceiling adornment above the bar give the room a mix of a warm and industrial feel.
The Menu
Pizza is the anchor of the menu. Molina and Johnson went to great lengths to perfect the pizza for the new concept. The pair always knew they wanted to do a New York- or New Jersey-style pie (the type of pizza they both prefer), so they connected with Johnson’s good friend Anthony Franciosi, a New Jersey native who runs a successful pizza business in Colorado, to help them develop Hot Pizza Cold Beer’s signature pie. With Franciosi’s help, they created the dough that will be used on nearly all of the pizzas and pizza sticks. They also traveled to New York where they went on what Molina describes as a glutinous adventure to uncover all that is beautiful about East Coast pizzas.
“Then we got really lucky,” Johnson says. “If Anthony’s a pizza savant, Charles [Lattimore] is a pizza scholar, literally. He went to pizza college in Chicago [North American Pizza & Culinary Academy]–I didn’t even know there was a pizza college–and taught us things here we never knew we didn’t know. Dude just fell into our laps; his wife works for us at Hi-Pointe.”
The result is a menu filled with creatively composed pizzas and build-your-own options. Guests can choose from a variety of crust options, including the signature East Coast-style, St. Louis-style, cauliflower or a Keto-friendly chicken crust. Sauce offerings consist of marinara, pesto, white sauce, and barbecue. For composed pizzas, Molina and Johnson have translated the over-the-top whimsy that characterizes the other restaurants in their group to Hot Pizza Cold Beer, with offerings such as the comically named Meat Extravaganza (with pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, bacon, and Canadian bacon), Meat Sweats, and the Menage A Za (which Johnson cheekily describes as a three-way with the supreme pizza, a spinach artichoke calzone, and garlic knots).
The restaurant will also have nods to its sister spots, with takes on both a hamburger pizza (complete with a French fry garnish) and a barbecue pie. Perhaps Hot Pizza Cold Beer’s most eye-catching dish is the P.I.M.P Slice, a 16-inch build-your-own slice (cut from a large, round dough) that Johnson believes is the biggest slice in town. Guests can choose from a variety of toppings, though many (justifiably) will opt for the oversized pepperoni.
Pizza is only part of the restaurant’s story, though. Molina and Johnson are excited about the numerous snackable items as well, including dips such as baked goat cheese with marinara that’s served with garlic bread, an excellent roasted garlic hummus, buffalo chicken dip, and whipped feta with pomegranate molasses. Wings, French bread pizza, and homemade pizza are tailormade for noshing with the restaurant’s craft beer offerings. Salads (such as a traditional Caesar) and sandwiches (such as chicken parmesan or a Philly cheesesteak) lean into the East Coast culinary vibe. Giant mozzarella sticks, Skee-Yee-Tio’s (homemade SpaghettiOs), and that monster-truck version of a slice of pizza, lean into the group’s penchant for whimsy.
True to its name, cold beer will be flowing in the form of 24 dedicated local taps. Sangria and margaritas will also be available on draft, and the restaurant will have a variety of cocktails.
The Backstory
An acclaimed fine-dining chef, Johnson founded Sugarfire Smokehouse in Olivette with legendary local restaurateur Charlie Downs in 2012. Since then, the brand has grown into an acclaimed phenomenon, boasting several smokehouses throughout the region, as well as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Westminster, Colorado. In 2017, Downs and Johnson built on Sugarfire’s success by launching the burger restaurant Hi-Pointe Drive-In in the former Del Taco on McCausland Avenue. Since then, Hi-Pointe has grown to include locations across the St. Louis area.
Now, Downs, Johnson, and Molina are excited to add a new feather in their hospitality group’s cap with Hot Pizza Cold Beer. They also hope to give downtown another great restaurant. “There are a lot of people who live around here who all support these businesses and encourage people to come downtown,” Molina says. “When Pi was here, there’d be so many people who live and work around here that would come in and hang out after work. It was a very lively place, and we want to make it that again.”
