16. Provel
No, I have not misspelled something.
Provel is cheese. Sort of. It's like American cheese--a pasteurized processed cheese. Not real cheese.
Provel is a St. Louis cheese. I have never yet seen it elsewhere--except perhaps in the satellite cities of Cape Girardeau or Columbia Missouri, that sort of place, where St. Louisans go to college or wind up after they go to college. I never saw it in Georgia or Texas or anywhere else I've spent time in a grocery store.
Provel goes on pizza. For those of you who don't know what "St. Louis style pizza" is, I'll explain. St. Louis style, just as someone who eats it on occasion, not as some sort of expert, is a round cracker crust pizza cut into squares, or sometimes into the traditional pie wedges. I like thin crust, crispy cracker crust with lots of toppings and low on the sauce. I have had wonderful St. Louis style pizza down at Pizza A-Go-Go, where Frank will play the little organ in the corner to entertain diners on a slow night. I've had decent St. Louis style other places...most of these places do not use provel (or give you the choice). Provel on a pizza must be piping hot right out of the oven to be palatable, but some places can make it decently.
Others (especially chain restaurants) do not. They are not ok. The pizzas have a weird sheen to them. Provel cheese was invented to replace mozzarella on pizzas--an easy to melt (and probably cheap) cheese that doesn't string when you bite into it. Provel doesn't do that, after all. It breaks apart easily in a bite. But then it sticks to the back of your teeth and roof of your mouth. You have to coat a pizza in more toppings than its little cracker crust can hold to hide the provel.
Provel makes my friend Mary sick when she eats it; when we go to St. Louis pizza places, we always request mozzarella instead of provel--many places will substitute for you.
For a long time, I thought provel was just a shortened form of the word provelone, which is a fine cheese in its own right. But no--provel is a combination of provelone, cheddar, and swiss all stuck together.
St. Louis has an Italian section in town called The Hill, and some places are fabulous little sandwich shops and grocery stores. Others are restaurants that specialize in Northern Italian cuisine. Plus a hard to swallow sweet red sauce and this weird, weird cheese.
It is best avoided.
7 comments:
I keep meaning to try Pizza A go-go- perhaps a pick up after one of those ridiculous t-ball games at Epiphany.
It's good--and has been so for years (they used to be down on south grand, you know). It's a thin crust pizza, but not, NOT the same thing.
To be honest, there are worse things than Provel. I would rather eat it than the following; sit in a park surrounded by stinky-trees; sit through The Planets or Coptic Light at SLSO under Robertson again; be panhandled outside Matt's apartment.
Pizza A go Go? where is it?
St Louis style pizza is a challenge. Definitely something to get used to. Or avoid, which is our typical tack.
Across the street from Epiphany--44 to arsenal, turn left. Turn right at the very next light (Ivanhoe?). It's on the right, few blocks down.
Oh, I am not Italian, but I do love all things Italian. I actually like Provel, as well as other things on my pizza. I was in small town Missouri this weekend and was surprised to find Volpi salami. You could do a post on that - or even a post on each S. City neighborhood.
As you would no doubt suspect, I have never heard of Provel. I love your first line. And I loooooove thin-crust pizza.
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