The only category more controversial in St. Louis would be "Best High School." In this town, thin-crust pizza is cosa nostra—"our thing"—and the contentiousness can reach fistfight-provoking levels. A local chain even advertised with the slogan "out-of-towners just don't get it"—a tad defensive perhaps, but what are you going to do when you're land-locked within a nation that refuses to recognize a culinary art form that's a regional point of pride? Like the indigenous meaning of the word "hoosier," "St. Louis-style" or thin-crust pizza has perplexingly remained local. Oh, well, more for us. One could apply the above argument on a micro scale to the unheralded, tucked-away-in-a-strip-mall A'mis on Manchester Road. Here the intrepid pizza seeker will be impressed first and foremost by the dough. You won't see any Roma shells sitting around turning to cardboard at A'mis. This dough is made fresh daily, and after it's been brick-oven baked the underside is brown in all the right places. The flaky crust dissolves on the tongue to make way for the masterful blend of fine mozzarella and...wait for it...Provel, accented by an assertive tomato sauce. All ingredients and toppings are fresh and of the highest quality. And much of it is spiced to the hilt, resulting in an explosion of flavor in every bite. (Sausage in particular is a standout.) There are no shortcuts in making a pizza this exquisite, but the cognoscenti know the value in taking the long way home.