After more than two decades in business, one of the region’s most revered pizza joints is expanding. The owners of La Pizza (8137 Delmar), a New York-style pizza parlor in University City, announced on social media over the weekend that they would be opening a second location in the St. Charles space that previously housed Talayna’s World Class Pizza (340 N. Main). The new location is slated to open this fall, likely in November. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Atmosphere
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Located at the north end of Main Street, the forthcoming location has twice the square footage as the flagship and will seat 40–50 inside, compared to the cozy 18 seats at the U. City location. There’s also sidewalk seating in St. Charles and the possibility to add a few more tables in a small, gated alley.
Since it was not uncommon for La Pizza to run out of pizza dough on busy nights, one of the biggest reasons for the move was having a larger kitchen. “We’d make as many dough balls as we possibly could,” says co-owner Paul Bishop II, “and a lot of times it just wasn’t enough.” The St. Charles location will serve as the dough commissary for both locations, so running out of pizza dough should no longer be an issue, he says.
The St. Charles location will be open for lunch and dinner, and closed on Mondays, because “everybody needs a day off,” Paul says. “That grass ain’t gonna cut itself.”
The Menu
Devotees will be happy to hear that no significant menu changes are planned. “We’ll have the same pizza program, same pizza-by-the-slice program, and same Baker’s Pride deck ovens to cook them in,” says Paul. The hand-tossed, New York-style pies (available in 14-, 16-, and 18-inch sizes) are available whole or by the slice. Sicilian slices, strombolis, calzones, salads, cheese garlic bread, and half a dozen hero sandwiches round out the menu.
“We might add more Sicilian pies—that’s as many decisions as we’ve made so far,” says Paul.
And just like the flagship location, no alcohol will be served, only soft drinks and Snapple iced tea.
The Backstory
In 2003, La Pizza opened in a small building at the corner of Delmar and Bonhomme. The restaurant sold New York-style pizzas, with slices large enough—and pliable enough—to fold in half. It was a godsend to pizza lovers looking for an alternative to St. Louis-style thin crust. Writing for the Riverfront Times, dining critic Cheryl Baehr called it, “The only acceptable slice for many New York expats…the embodiment of the quintessential Big Apple slice.”
In a 2010 cover story article, SLM’s dining team named La Pizza “the best in St. Louis,” which Paul says was a game-changer. La Pizza continues to appear on many ‘best pizza’ lists. In 2019, it scored a respectable 7.2 from Barstool Pizza Review’s Dave Portnoy, who proclaimed it, “The best pizza I’ve had by a mile so far in St. Louis.”
Paul—who operates the restaurant with his father, Paul Sr., his wife, Nicole, and other family members—says they had discussed expanding over the years, and “St. Charles had been on the radar screen for a long time.”
“We didn’t want to rush it,” Nicole quips.
“Yeah, we wanted to mature a bit,” Paul says of the pizzeria, which turned 21 in July.
St. Charles is also special to Paul and Nicole for another reason: The couple first met there on Main Street in 1996. “I was on the street outside Donatella’s, my mother’s restaurant, handing out samples of Italian ice when Paul came along,” recalls Nicole. “That’s how it all started.”
