No entertainment strip of bars and restaurants is truly complete until there is at least one establishment serving up amazing pizza. The Grove has Pie Guys. South Grand has Pizzahead. Cherokee: Yaquis. The list goes on.
Now, denizens of Morgan Ford can get their pizza fix from Three Little Monkeys (3172 Morgan Ford Road, 3lmstl.com), the latest offering from Zach and Mary Rice, the husband and wife duo behind popular dining destinations Mama 2's Biscuits and Black Sheep Whiskey + WIne.
When I walked into Three Little Monkeys last week, the first thing I noticed was Top Gun (the original) playing on a TV on one side and a Queen concert on the other. I had no idea the pizza parlor's whole vibe was the 1980s and 1990s, but I was delighted to see it.
The restaurant's color scheme of neon pink and turquoise will no doubt provide serious dopamine hits of nostalgia for anyone who watched Legends of the Hidden Temple or birthday parties at the Discovery Zone. The ambience is made even brighter by two walls of windows looking out onto the bustle of the Morgan Ford business district.
The Rices have kindly set up a Sega Genesis system attached to an era-appropriate Sanyo TV so that Gen X-ers and older Millennials can play NHL 95 as if they're back in their friend's basement after school while waiting for their orders. Their children, nieces or nephews can watch in disbelief, marveling at how much space televisions used to take up.
Despite that last paragraph, I assure you that the throwback elements of Three Little Monkeys is a vibe rather than a gimmick. It's the sort of place you could make a regular hangout spot without the novelty of it wearing off.
That's in no small part because the pizza is excellent. When I stopped by last week, the only slices on offer (yes, they have pizza by the slice!) were pepperoni, sausage and cheese. All three were fantastic. The airy, crunchy crust still had just a little bit of oil at its edge, interfacing perfectly with the sauce and cheese. The basic toppings more than did the job.
Speciality pizzas like the Chicken ALF-edo (alfredo sauce, chicken bacon, smoked gouda, mushrooms), the Just Meat It (red sauce, pepperoni, sausage, bacon) and the Seoul Asylum (Gochujang sauce, fried chicken, kimchi, slaw) will soon be available by the slice, too, I'm told.
In addition to the pizza, the menu includes salads, wings and the guacamole wontons that were so popular from the Rices' previous Morgan Ford mainstay, Three Monkeys.
My only disappointment is that I didn't bring any quarters with me. Along one wall, the restaurant boasts a handful of classic arcade games, including Tapper, a game I'd never heard of and seems to involve pouring beer for thirsty patrons the way Space Invaders has you shooting down alien ships. Judging by the Anheuser-Busch logo on the side of the game, the beer company must have had a hand in its creation, a piece of branded content from well before anyone ever put those words side by side. It looks like the sort of game you'll want to play exactly once.
Which is the opposite of Three Little Monkeys, which pizza aficionados of all generations will want to come back to time and time again.
Three Little Monkeys is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
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