While the COVID-19 pandemic was busy wreaking havoc, St. Louis’ newest restaurant owner took a worthy detour.
Pizzeria da Gloria, was under construction, Joe Kurowski realized a more urgent need. Knowing that many restaurant workers were losing their jobs, he spearheaded the local branch of Ask Chefs Anything, a national fundraiser in which people could bid on 30-minute Zoom calls with their favorite chefs and food-industry icons. The attorney-turned-pizzaiolo raised $7,000 for local immigrant restaurant workers displaced by the pandemic.
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On Wednesday, he plans to open the doors (or at least an online ordering platform) to a pizza restaurant in perhaps the most logical place to find one: a former Italian restaurant in The Hill.
Kurowski took over a portion of the former Amighetti’s/Colino’s space near the corner of Marconi and Wilson, the parcel that included two interior rooms and, as luck would have it, a mostly enclosed, brick-walled, 40-seat patio that should pay dividends as the pandemic continues.
Several years ago, Kurowski quit his job as an attorney. “It was serious and rigid, all the time,” he says. “I wasn’t having any fun.” But he fondly remembered when he was. His love of pizza blossomed a decade ago, when he acquired a pizza recipe from an individual living in New Haven, Connecticut, a well-known pizza mecca. He talked his parents into buying a wood-fired oven, a Forno Bravo, for their back yard.
While studying in Italy for a year during college, he attended a class with Gabriele Bonchi, known as the “Michelangelo of Dough,” and his interest grew. But it wasn’t until he quit his attorney job and moved to NYC that he thought it could become a career. He apprenticed at Fornino under the direction of two master panaderos from Mexico who taught him a different style of pizza. After attending the wedding of a friend who lived in Naples, he cold-called enough places that he finally found a job working with a world champion pizzaiolo and a chain-smoking veteran dough sculptor who “measured nothing and calculated mix times with cigarette breaks.”
Back in New York, Kurowski worked at Danny Meyer’s pizzeria, Marta, and for several other pizza endeavors including Speedy Romeo. Owned by another St. Louisan, it was the first New York pizza joint to use (gasp!) Provel as a cheese option. (Of the handful of rotating pies incorporating Provel, the top pick is the St. Louie.) According to Pizzeria da Gloria’s website, Kurowski also designed what is believed to be the first Kosher Detroit–style pizza in Midwood, Brooklyn. He was also a pizza dough consultant in New York.
Bottom line: It was Kurowski’s vast knowledge of the genre that helped develop his signature style—call it American pizza with Italian sensibility.
“The reason that Neapolitan is so good is that they grow the most flavorful tomatoes near Naples and have the freshest cheese,” Kurowski explains. “If the mozzarella there gets to be a day old, it’s used in something else.”
So he uses the highest-quality American products that he can find—a special high-gluten flour from Utah, tomatoes from California, and “cheese from Wisconsin that is really, really good.”
The cook time helps define the style. “Ours can’t be called Neapolitan-style or even neo-Neopolitan,” he says. “Neopolitan cooks quickly, so a lot of water is retained. We use different flour, tossed dough, and do a slower cook at a lower temp, so the crust is crispier.” A few spins in the hardwood-burning oven, and the pie is ready in four minutes, as opposed to 90 seconds.
The spartan kitchen, finished in large-format subway tiles, revolves around the Italian-made Pavesi-brand oven. One deciding factor was the seamless, single-stone floor, so a pizzaiolo can load, spin, and unload pies more easily. “Compare it to rollerblading on your friend’s new driveway instead of on an uneven sidewalk,” Kurowski says.
The pies measure 12 inches, admittedly a tricky size in the pizza biz. “It could be for one meal only or maybe not,” says general manager Jeff Rutledge, an alum of Amigo’s Cantina, Fitz’s in the Loop, and The Melting Pot. “You reach the halfway point and say, ‘Hmm, do I stop or keep going?’
“One issue is that the crust is so good,” he adds. “Most pizza bones go to my dog. These I eat.”
The menu is simple—six pizzas to start—similar to the pizza joints that Kurowski remembers from his travels in Italy, which serve pizza almost exclusively. “There will be a salad, but no pastas and no fried foods,” he says.
Five of the pizza options will feature fresh mozzarella that Kurowski will stretch every day from the curd. The sauce is a raw tomato product with the addition of garlic confit, a secret weapon of many chefs, including Kurowski.
The least pricy pie is the $14 Marinara (with tomato sauce, garlic, and chili flakes), bookended by an $18 pie made with tomato sauce and stracciatella cheese (think burrata without the skin). In the middle are a traditional Margherita, a mushroom pie made with a white wine lemon cream sauce, and a distinctive pepperoni iteration (using cup-and-char pepperoni from Ezzo Sausage Company) that’s sprinkled with pickled jalapeños.
The standout item, however, is the Bonci, a tribute to Kurowski’s Roman pizzaiolo mentor. It’s topped with mandolin-cut eggplant, sliced lengthwise, then finished with garlic oil, parsley, and no cheese. The no-frills Bonci might be the best cheeseless pizza you’ve ever eaten.
The beverage list is simple as well, with natural wines, as well as local craft beer and some Anheuser-Busch offerings (like its base product Busch, one of Kurowski’s indulgences).
Pizzeria da Gloria will initially open only for carry-out service, with pickup available at a side parking lot. For the moment, delivery won’t be available. (“That’s a half-baked idea, especially starting out,” says Kurowski).
When the dining rooms (a 30-seat former event room and a 20-seat bar) open, patrons can expect a retro vibe. “The space seemed trapped in time, so we wanted to keep that ’70s feel,” says Kurowski, referring to the floral wallpaper and walls painted forest green (the predominant color of many ’70s-era restaurants). A series of Italian versions of classic American movie posters will hang on the walls.
Guests can order via phone, though online ordering is preferred because it’s faster and the flow is more controllable. Pizzas may be ordered online 14 days in advance, which is advisable since only 100 doughs will be prepped per day. Guests may specify a cut or uncut pie. (Tip: Pizza reheats easier on a baking sheet when uncut.)
When the patio opens in the spring, expect to see picnic tables, two fountains, diminutive mosaic tile chairs, and decorative wood elements. The alfresco space is anchored by a wrought-iron fence with the restaurant’s rose logo prominently featured inside a circle. (Pizzeria da Gloria’s name and rose logo represent two branches of the family tree: Kurowski’s grandmother was named Gloria; his great grandmother was Rose. ) “There used to be an A in that spot,” Kurowski says, “for Amighetti’s.”
