Chris Sommers

First Look: Gringo Offers Taco Options Like Al Pastor, Octopus and Grasshopper in the Central West End [Photos]

From the formidable forces behind the successful pizza empire that is St. Louis chain Pi Pizzeria comes a new concept called Gringo (398 North Euclid; 314-449-1212), which opened its doors in the Central West End last week with a full menu of tacos, margaritas and more. See also: - Pi Pizzeria Te ... More >>

Pi Pizzeria's "Grove" Pizza: One of 100 St. Louis Dishes You Must Eat Right Now

The Gut Check One Hundred is our accounting of the 100 dishes in St. Louis that you must eat right now. These are the best dishes at the newest restaurants and the newest dishes at the best restaurants. These are the 100 dishes that define St. Louis dining in 2013. Our list culminates this fall when ... More >>

Pi Pizzeria Team Opening Gringo, a Taco Joint, in Central West End

What would Pi Pizzeria (multiple locations) owners Chris Sommers and Frank Uible do next after opening four sit-down restaurants as well as a takeout-only location, expanding to the nation's capital and operating (and then retiring) two successful food trucks? If you said, "Open a taco joint," step ... More >>

Pi Pizzeria Expands to Downtown St. Louis Mercantile Exchange Building

Tucked into the brand new Mercantile Exchange (MX) building downtown is the fifth location of Pi Pizzeria (610 Washington Avenue; 314-588-7600) in St. Louis, now stretching the pizza chain from West County down to the mighty Mississippi. "It's the heart of our hometown city, and we're thrilled to ... More >>

Chris Sommers' Sqwid Wraps Its Arms Around Businesses and Patrons

Everyone with a fork and an Internet connection fancies himself a restaurant critic these days, Yelping about an overcooked steak or Twittering on about a beautifully plated dessert. Which is fine, except that the conversation tends to be one-sided and leaves little opportunity for restaurant owners ... More >>

Pi Pizzeria to Dedicate Its Food Truck to Benefit Charity

​Pi Pizzeria is known for many things. Its pizza is loved by President Obama, it has a great happy hour, it set the standard for the food-truck boom in St. Louis and, of course, it serves up a mean deep-dish pizza. Now, founder Chris Sommers intends to use the brand's visibility for good -- by d ... More >>

Flying Saucer Remodel Unveiled, Tenant(s) Still a Mystery

​Developer Rick Yackey yesterday unveiled an architect's rendering of a remodel of the Flying Saucer, the former Del Taco and Phillips 66 building at 212 South Grand Boulevard. The design by St. Louis firm Klitzing Welsch Associates features a new brick and glass facade but retains the basic desig ... More >>

Lewis Reed Campaign Gets Big Gift; Francis Slay Campaign Gets Big Names

Slay and Reed: The election is a long way off but the fundraising isn't.​The next election for mayor of St. Louis is still some 20 months away but already the campaigns are under way. Incumbent mayor Francis Slay currently has over $611,000 of cash on hand for the 2013 election, according to the l ... More >>

Chris Sommers (Deep) Dishes on the Changes at Pi Pizzeria

Robin Wheeler Steven Caravelli is headed to Pi Pizzeria.​Pi Pizzeria this week announced a change at the top of its culinary team: Steven Caravelli, formerly the executive chef of Sleek and Araka as well as a brief stint at The Mud House, is taking over for Marc Baltes, who is leaving St. L ... More >>

Kaldi's, Pi in Mix for the Del Taco Flying Saucer?

​The saga of the (now former) Del Taco building, a.k.a. the flying saucer, at 212 South Grand Boulevard has taken yet another intriguing turn, with two of the city's most powerful politicians tweeting competing ideas for saving the iconic structure from possible demolition.On Saturday, Mayor Franc ... More >>

St. Louis Food Blog Digest, 6.6 - 6.12

​Gut Check dishes on our favorite St. Louis food blogs. Off the Menu: Evan delved in to Chris Sommers of Pi's latest business venture: Sqwid, a mobile app that provides a platform for direct customer feedback. Sauce: Sauce blogged about goosefoot. A Veggie Venture: Alanna whipped up some ... More >>

Pi to Open New Location at Mercantile Exchange Downtown

Courtesy: StandPoint Public AffairsA rendering of the new Mercantile Exchange project downtown​The ever-expanding Pi pizza empire -- I think it's safe to call it an empire at this point, no? -- will open its fifth location at the new Mercantile Exchange development downtown, the restaurant and the ... More >>

Updated! Fast Food Industry Mag QSR Names Pi Pizza Truck Among Top 20 Food Trucks in U.S.

{Updated 2/9/11 4 p.m. with comment after the jump from Pi co-owner Chris Sommers.} In its February issue, QSR Magazine, which covers the fast-food industry waterfront, names Pi Pizzeria's Pi on the Spot among the Top 20 food trucks in the nation. Writes Daniel P. Smith of QSR (which we're pretty ... More >>

Pi Pizza Truck Hits Bureaucratic Bump in Edwardsville

Last Wednesday, January 19, Restaurant Pi's popular pizza truck toddled over the state line to Illinois to peddle pies in Edwardsville. Alerted on Twitter, east-side Pi fans flocked to the parking lot of Fond restaurant to scarf down their choice of pepperoni, sausage, spinach-mushroom and tomato-b ... More >>

Restaurant Tidbits from Brasserie by Niche, Franco, Pi

Jennifer SilverbergNow you can enjoy the onion soup at Brasserie by Niche seven days a week.​A few notes from the last week:- Brasserie by Niche announced via Twitter this weekend that it will now be open seven days a week.Smart move: By all accounts, Gerard Craft's French restaurant, which landed ... More >>

This Election Night, The Rent Is Too Damn Pi

Courtesy: Pi Pizzeria​It seems like only yesterday that Gut Check was noting its perhaps exhaustive coverage of Pi Pizzeria. But when owner Chris Sommers sends us a graphic as amazing as this, we have no choice but to share it with you.This Election Day night -- Tuesday, November 2, for those of y ... More >>

Pi 2 Go Opens in Chesterfield, and St. Louis Mourns the Best Restaurant That Never Was

armadillojoes-stl.com​So, yeah, Pi 2 Go is now open at 14870 Clayton Road in Chesterfield. As the name implies, the latest outpost of Pi's ever-expanding cornmeal-crust empire is carryout-only. Why is Gut Check so meh about the news? Because it means that Armadillo Joe's Tex-Mex & Taxidermy is ... More >>

Party with Tattooed Restaurant Folks & RFT at Pi! Benefit the St. Louis Area Food Bank!

Gut Check and Riverfront Times invites all St. Louis-area restaurant workers -- especially the tattooed ones -- to join us on July 12 for a Kitchen Ink party at Pi pizzeria's Delmar Loop location. The party, scheduled on a Monday so restaurant folk will be able to attend, coincides with the opening ... More >>

Pi Kitchen Manager Brutally Beaten Outside McKinley Heights Jack in the Box

Ali Aziz, the 29-year-old kitchen manager at the Kirkwood location of Pi pizzeria, was brutally beaten early Sunday morning in the parking lot of the Jack in the Box restaurant at 1807 Gravois Avenue in the city's McKinley Heights neighborhood.Details remain sketchy, but Pi owner Chris Sommers ... More >>

Cold Pizza Pi!

​Need a reason to put pants on come Sunday morning? If you can get clothed and get yourself to Pi in the Central West End by 11 a.m., you can have cold pizza for breakfast. Beginning this weekend the restaurant will offer a selection of its thin-crust and deep-dish pies -- with meat or with ... More >>

Twitter Food Fight! Customers and Restaurateurs Hash It Out!

It always seems to take the Midwest a bit to catch up with the coasts. In San Francisco they had their first Yelp-related smackdown with criminal charges in November. Last week the New York Times published a story about chefs taking to Twitter to air grievances about suppliers, customers, employees, ... More >>

Pi, Niche and 30 Other Loud Restaurants

Jesus, it's loud in here.​Gut Check recently asked readers to chime in and name the loudest restaurants in St. Louis. While this is a highly unscientific poll, the responses show that a few restaurants stand out when it comes to decibel level.Our survey received 46 votes. 7 of them went to Pi ... More >>

All for Aughts: Let's count down the best local restaurant openings of the decade!

The Ten Most Important St. Louis Restaurant Openings of the Aughts #10: Pi (2008)

​Pi (2008)Forget for a moment that then-Senator Obama declared Pi's pizza the best he'd ever eaten. Forget too that President Obama invited Pi owner Chris Sommers and staff to cook at the White House. Consider that in only two years, Pi's cornmeal crust recipe, though imported from San Francisco, ... More >>

2009 in Review: April

​​In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama fell in love with Pi's pizza during a campaign visit to St. Louis. In April of this year, President Obama invited Pi's Chris Sommers and team to the White House to cook that pizza. Surely, that couldn't annoy anyone, right? Except for the owners of Chicago pi ... More >>

The South Butt takes on the North Face -- and more

Chez Leon gives way to a new Niche

Pi Cubed: Obama's favorite pizza joint pushes back opening of second location

News and Notes: A Benefit for Grace Dinsmoor and restaurant openings

FoodWire: Pi, Pi and More Pi

Lots of news today about Pi (6144 Delmar Boulevard; website), which began a year and a half ago as a Delmar Loop restaurant serving San Francisco-style deep-dish pizza and is about to become a mini-empire. First, the second location of Pi -- a.k.a. Pi Squared -- at 10935 Manchester Road in Kirkwood ... More >>

Gut Check: Stimulus packages!

Around the Horn: Ian covers all the bases to find you the best All-Star Game chow

Gut Check: Ian dines with kings, but keeps the common touch

Reflections on the Debut of the "Dorm Room" at 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar

Hedwig von Ebbel, Wikimedia CommonsA who's who of St. Louis food types descended upon 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar (1913 Park Avenue) last night for the inaugural "Dorm Room" dinner.Among those spotted in the crowd -- writing that makes me feel just like Deb Peterson! -- were Gerard Craft and Math ... More >>

This Week in Gut Check, Regurgitated

Who knew it would be such a political week here at Gut Check International Headquarters? We called out some Post-Dispatch commenters for their ridiculous (and sometimes racist) takes on Pi traveling to the White House, and then we chatted with Pi's Chris Sommers about the trip and the fallout.Speaki ... More >>

Pi's Chris Sommers Deep-Dishes on Cooking at the White House...and the Controversy

User "Wadester16," Wikimedia CommonsChris Sommers, owner of the Delmar Loop pizza restaurant Pi (6144 Delmar Boulevard; Web site), will appear on Fox & Friends tomorrow morning to set the record straight on his visit to the White House to cook pizza for President Barack Obama. The interview shou ... More >>

Gut Check: Obama had one Pi time in St. Louis

Updated: Barack Obama Likes Pie -- And Pizza from Pi