Photo by George Mahe
Pi Pizzeria + ¡Rico! Mexican's new location at 10312 Manchester in Kirkwood
For anyone wondering about how Pi Pizzeria + ¡Rico! Mexican is doing in its Glendale digs, the answer is gangbusters. The predominantly pickup and to-go based restaurant that opened less than 10 months ago at the corner of Manchester and Berry has nearly outgrown its small footprint.
The business will relocate just over a mile west, to the former Kirkwood Brewhouse (10312 Manchester), which quietly closed last fall. Owner Chris Sommers told SLM last year that he wanted to return to the mid-county area since closing the Kirkwood location of Pi in early 2018. When he and chef Cary McDowell secured the prominent space in Glendale and decided to combine several concepts under one roof (pizza, Mexican food, and burgers), they knew that expansion was likely at some point. That day has come.
Construction is already underway in the 120-seat dining room and partially covered, 48-seat patio. McDowell has spent the past month cleaning, renovating, and restoring the space. “I like these types of projects,” he says. “We’re injecting new life into a legacy spot. I like being involved in the continuance of a place. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes not, that’s always been the way I’ve done things.” With that in mind, McDowell hopes for a mid-October opening.
“One of the hardest things we did as a company was shut down the Kirkwood location [of Pi],” he adds. “We didn’t want to do it. We had to do it. We had the traffic. The parking was bad, and the layout was, too."
McDowell hopes that the new space will lend itself to family gatherings (as it did before, at Kirkwood Brewhouse and the previous Winfield’s Gathering Place) and that the offerings will make it feel even more convivial.
“We were able to bring some product back to the neighborhood at Berry and Manchester, but now we can do it in a semi-turnkey, full-service spot that happens to have tons of parking, a big patio, and logical spots for curbside pickup.
“It’s funny,” McDowell continues. “I live in the neighborhood, and before I worked for Pi, we’d cruise Manchester Road looking for dinner and pass Pi by because it looked like it was too busy, which wasn’t the case, but it shows the importance of optics. You want your place to look busy but not too busy.
"We love having the carryout spot down the road, and I’m not sure what the future holds for that location,” McDowell adds, indicating that it might remain as is or be the perfect place to try a new concept.
That said, the menu in the new space will be basically the same as the downscale version. “It’s a slippery slope,” McDowell explains. “We want to include the items that are popular, the ones that are unique to us, and the ones we know we do well. But we’re burdened with staffing limitations now, so that’s the new challenge. I’ve had to pull myself back creatively because of what the staff can produce efficiently. Things like kitchen layout, limiting steps, plate transfers, and menu mix have never been more important.” (In terms of staffing, McDowell notes that managers from other Pi locations will be able to help, adding that he strives to nourish the career aspects of the restaurant industry. “People move on so quickly,” he says. “I would like to engage some of them before they do.”)
Regarding design changes in the new space, McDowell jokes that he’s never inherited so many TVs. “With 590 The Fan located right next door—which is chock full of the city’s finest sportscasters running in and out—I’m sure they’ll be some symbiosis and plenty of ideas for programming.”
The kitchen includes a built-in Ole Hickory smoker, which McDowell welcomes. “For us, it will be more of a high-capacity slow cooker for things like Cuban pork, brisket, and pork butts, which I didn’t have before. In the small store, I’d cook slow-cooking proteins on top of the pizza ovens, similar to the Alsatian baeckeoffe tradition, in which a dish is cooked on top of a gradually cooling oven, rather than in it. “Now that I have all of this cooking capacity, you may see some additions," he says. "I’ve already been experimenting with St. Louis-style ribs."
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
A trio of Pi+Rico tacos: tinga (chicken), carbon (steak), and classic crunchy
Asked whether he's concerned about the other restaurants in the area that serve tacos, McDowell says, “It all comes down to differentiation.” He praises the nearby Mexican restaurants and taco joints for “doing what they do the way that they do it—there’s always room in the market for good things and different things.
Courtesy Pi
“You could say the same thing about pizza being available up and down the street,” he adds. “Pi’s style of pizza, even today, is still different than any other pizza in this market, and that differentiation is the exciting part for me. It’s one of the main reasons Pi has been such a success.
“We’ll offer an expanded menu of different pizzas, plus a solid burger, a killer fried chicken sandwich, tacos for the kids, and margaritas for mom and dad, as well as full service or the convenience of pickup. You can see why Chris [Sommers] and I are pretty excited about it."
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
