First Look: O+O Pizza in Webster Groves

The next in a series of big moves from the Olive + Oak team, O+O Pizza opens today, Wednesday, Sept. 16, for service. The restaurant’s premiere follows the opening of a new Olive + Oak location in early July at 216 W. Lockwood Ave. and the addition of neighboring Perennial on Lockwood to the family. O+O Pizza takes over Olive + Oak’s old space at 102 W. Lockwood Ave. 

Though it’s an entirely new restaurant, much of O+O Pizza will feel familiar – that’s because owner Mark Hinkle and executive chef Mike Risk are porting over neighbor The Clover and the Bee’s entire dinner menu, reverting the popular restaurant to a daytime cafe. “It’s like we’ve been preparing for this for two years,” Risk said. Once the space was available, it was an easy choice to do a pizzeria. “It took us like one day of discussion,” Hinkle explained. 

The centerpiece of O+O Pizza will, of course, be pizza. Adding a new pizza oven to the kitchen (as well as a new set of burners to do more pasta), Risk has developed a set of thin crust pizzas that play similarly to Neapolitan, but are crispier and have more char. Pizzas like the O+O original (tomato sauce, Fior di Latte, pecorino) and a white pie populate the menu; a large topping menu for build-your-own pizzas contains components like rosemary, mushroom, artichoke, pistachio pesto, hot honey and more. Meats include Ezzo’s super supreme pepperoni, meatball, mortadella and more. 

The rest of the menu is basically The Clover and the Bee: pistachio pesto, toasted ravioli, calamari fritti and a number of salads make up the starters. Mains include eggplant Parmaesan, veal saltimbocca and beef short ribs; hand-made pastas include a cacio e pepe, agnolotti and more. 

The bar program will be largely the same, including a long list of original cocktails and a solid list of Italian wines: sparking, rose, white and red. As expected, beers come from Perennial Artisan Ales as well as Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., 4 Hands Brewing Co. and more. 

At first, O+O Pizza will only offer patio dining and carryout, and will open the dining room at a later date. The updated former Olive + Oak dining room will take on a more casual vibe and will have about 85 seats. O+O Pizza will be open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. and from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. 

Check out the slideshow below for more info on Webster Groves’ newest pizzeria.