Not long after a 2021 fire catastrophically damaged the almost century-old vacant building in the middle of the historic downtown in Wood River, Illinois, someone threw out an idea. Or more so, an afterthought. It ran in the Alton Telegraph newspaper — a rendering of what the charred remnants could become, which seemed as much a proposed plan for the building as a metaphor for Wood River itself.
The city, like most of its neighbors along Route 3's once-thriving energy and steel belt, followed the post-industrial decline playbook all the way to blight. Buildings sat in disrepair, opportunities were few, and the perception and reality of crime made it feel like there was little hope to reverse these trends.
But someone had a vision, sketched out in the newspaper depicting the bustling hub that the historic downtown could be. The burned-out building at 7 Wood River Avenue would be a restaurant, the artist noted, and to illustrate the point, they drew the words "wood fired pizza" across the windows. It was an artistic liberty that would seal the building's fate, for the idea got into the consciousness of area residents. Though the rendering was just one person's imagining of the space, many took it as a plan and began asking civic leaders when the wood-fired pizzeria was going to open. As the idea took on a life of its own, civic leaders including the mayor and chief of police began asking themselves the same thing, until they found their answer in Matt and Amy Herren.
Two years after that fateful rendering, the Herrens are now the proprietors of 1929 Pizza & Wine (7 North Wood River Avenue; Wood River, Illinois; 618-216-2258), a gem of a pizzeria that is destined to put Wood River on any pie aficionado's radar. At the urging — and with the help of — the city's visionary police chief, Brad Wells, the husband-and-wife team took what was a collapsed, burned shell of a building and converted it into one of the most thrilling restaurants to open in the bi-state area this year.
In Wells' mind, the Herrens seemed like the perfect people to help him bring those plans to life, even if they came to him for other reasons. A California native, Matt moved to southern Illinois, founding Goshen Coffee in 2000, followed by 222 Artisan Bakery in 2003. Amy, who grew up in the Edwardsville area, left home to attend the Culinary Institute of America; after working in New York for eight years, she returned to open the successful restaurant Fond in 2008. Though arch enemies at first, the couple married in 2012, then left town with plans to immigrate to Australia that were thwarted by the pandemic. They rode out its first few years in Asheville, North Carolina, then returned to the area with plans to open a wholesale bagel shop.
The Herrens decided to poke around Wood River for a production facility because they thought they could get a good deal on a building. They found a spot that piqued their interest, called the number on the building's window and were greeted by Wells, who invited them to his office for a chat. Instead of simply laying out logistics for the prospective bagel building's lease, he shared his vision for Wood River's renaissance; before they knew it, they'd been both talked into opening the bagel business and tapped as the people who would bring to life the city's pizzeria vision.
When you experience the pizza at 1929, you understand why there was no better choice to take on such a restaurant. The undertaking is the perfect marriage of their skills — Matt's baking prowess and Amy's culinary talent meet perfectly in the middle on wood-fired pies. The magic begins with the crust, which somehow manages to get the thinness of a Neapolitan-style pizza in the center while remaining crunchy on the bottom. Its outside edges are leopard-spotted and puffy like a classic Neapolitan version, but they rise a little higher and have a bit more heft and depth of rustic flavor.
It's a stunning canvas for such outstanding offerings as the potato pizza. Here, the crust is brushed with olive oil and adorned with roasted garlic, then layered with potatoes sliced so thin they are almost translucent. The potatoes are shingled across the crust like a gratin, cooked until they crisp to golden and are topped with fresh herbs and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. As served, it's an excellent dish, but apparently the restaurant has developed a cult following of folks who take an extra one home with them, top an air-fried reheated slice with a fried egg and call it breakfast.
The restaurant's Margherita is every bit as perfect as the potato. The Herrens prepare it in classic Neapolitan style — fresh mozzarella, simple bright tomato sauce and fresh basil. However, their commitment to excellence makes it truly extraordinary. Housemade cheese is thicker and creamier than typical. Basil, plucked fresh from the garden, is what you'd find if you looked up the herb in the dictionary. Though not typically thought of as a seasonal dish, this pie is the embodiment of the joy of peak-season eating.
Similarly, the night's special pizza underscores farm-to-table bounty. The Herrens use locally grown tomatillos and poblanos for the verdant sauce, then top it with roasted squash and tender roasted carnitas sourced from an area pork producer. The result is a stunning, Mexican-inflected masterpiece. Local pork is also the highlight of the Sausage and Peppers pizza, which employs garlicky, fennel-seed-flecked homemade sausage and pickled goat horn peppers. The two combine to form a fiery dish, its heat mitigated by the impossibly creamy mozzarella cheese that melds with the tomato sauce to form an outrageously decadent pairing. Sausage pizza lovers, take note: You won't find a better one in the metro area.
The same can be said for the pepperoni pizza, which uses large rounds of garlicky meat that are sliced prosciutto thin, which allow them to curl up at the edges when heated, even as they stay impossibly tender. I haven't had a better pepperoni pie. As dazzling as it was, though, the night's show-stopper was the four cheese — a pizza so perfect it will be haunting me for years to come. The Herrens spread Parmesan cream atop the crust, then layer it with housemade mozzarella, fontina and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It's then baked and finished with a dollop of freshly made ricotta, olive oil and fresh herbs. It's a decadent masterpiece that should make all other cheese pizzas hang their heads in shame.
The non-pizza offerings at 1929 are also excellent, including luscious housemade ricotta, topped with local honey and served alongside Matt's outstanding fermented farmhouse bread. And the restaurant's Caesar salad, made with shockingly tender romaine hearts, seasoned breadcrumbs and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, is breathtaking thanks to its mouth-puckeringly bright dressing. Pizza. Bread. Salad. The joy you can get from such simple dishes is magnified a thousandfold when they are done as flawlessly as they are by the Herrens.
I'm not sure even the most daring visionary could have imagined such a restaurant as 1929 when it was first sketched out. We owe Wood River a debt of gratitude for giving us the outlines — and the Herrens our eternal thanks for filling it in with vibrant color.
Hours: Thurs.-Sat. 5-10 p.m. (Closed Sun.-Wed.)
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