Rural Missouri - January 2015 - 15

Pizza lovers
can't get
enough of Ugo's pies
by Jim McCarty | jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop

tected from the oven
or you get it really
ou like pepperoni. She's a vegetarian. The brown."
Many of the Italian
couple across the table wants Italian sausage and mushrooms. No worries if your residents of Bevier insist
dining destination is Ugo's Pizzaland in on only Provel cheese
Bevier. Whether it's pizza, pasta or one of the sig- for their pizzas. They also
nature sandwiches, owners Tim and Gerri John- want the Italian sausage
son will do their best to make sure everyone gets made by the Fontanini
what they want at the charming Italian restaurant family in a Chicago suburb. "The people we buy
housed in an old bank building.
Once Tim and Gerri were regulars at Ugo's, which our cheese from are really
is served by Macon Electric Cooperative. They liked surprised at how much Provel
we use," Tim says. "Because
the food so much they bought the restaurant.
"We would come here sometimes at least three the Provel cheese line is south of
times a week," Tim says. "We were really big fans. I-70. It is St. Louis-style pizza."
While it's easy to build your own pizHonest to God, we never ate anything but the Big
Ugo Pizza the whole time. When we agreed to buy za, you would do well to try the specialty pies
the place, we had never tasted anything else in the on the menu. Chicken is rapidly gaining popularrestaurant. But we knew enough to know that alone ity. Ugo's offers Buffalo Chicken with blue cheese
and hot sauce, BBQ Chicken with Sweet Baby Ray's
would carry the place."
The Johnsons took over from Kellie Schaefer sauce, Spinach & Artichoke and Chicken Alfredo.
Ranch dressing lovers will
- daughter of the pizzeria's
want to try the Chicken Bacon
founder Mike Ugolini - in April
More content inside
Ranchero Pizza.
2013. Since that time, they've
our digital edition
A new offering is the sweet
slowly been putting their own
www.ruralmissouri.coop
and spicy Twister pie. Born
touch on the place while accepting the fact that Ugo's regulars know what they like. during a tornado watch, the Twister uses a sweet
Tim discovered that when he tried to change the chili sauce on the Ugo-style crust and is topped
with chicken, bacon, onion and jalapeños.
eatery's pasta sauce.
There's more to the menu than just pizza, how"We had a sauce that we thought would ﬁt a little better," he recalls. "We worked on it awhile. We ever. The pasta dishes rival the popularity of the
introduced it for a couple of weeks. Our regulars pies. You will ﬁnd most of the pasta you love,
told us they liked the old sauce better. And we lis- including baked manicotti, mostaccioli, cannelloni,
fettuccine, spaghetti, toasted ravioli and ziti. Just
tened to them and went right back to the old one."
At Ugo's, it's all about the pizza. You can get two like the pizzas, you can customize your pasta with
kinds of crust here: the thin, St. Louis-style Ugo meat sauce, meatballs or whatever your taste buds
demand. A supreme version adds green peppers,
crust and a traditional hand-tossed crust.
"The Ugo crust is kind of famous," Tim says. onions and mushrooms.
One of the more unusual pasta dishes is the
"That's what my wife and I ate here all the time. I
Lasagna Roll Up. This features a lasagna strip
relate it maybe to the taste of a saltine cracker."
While Tim still tosses the thicker crust to stretch rolled up with a special blend of ricotta, Parmeit and make it rise, he turned to a machine to speed san and Romano cheeses, baked in meat sauce
up the process after throwing 74 pizzas one night and topped with mozzarella. "When they hit that
to feed employees of the nearby Thomas Hill Energy table, the white porcelain plates just came out of a
500-degree oven," Tim says of the pasta. "So everyCenter owned by Associated Electric Cooperative.
Whichever crust you choose, expect it to come thing is hot, the cheese is really melted."
Ugo's also features sandwiches, most with an
loaded. The bustling workers pile on the toppings.
"Our pizzas are known to be loaded to the edge," Italian theme appropriate to this town that was
says Tim. "I tell them that when the pizza hits the founded by Italian coal miners. Offerings include
table, the ﬁrst thing people look at is the edge of the "Son of Italian" sub with salami, ham, pepperothe pizza. If it's full out to the edge, it is going to be ni, banana peppers, mozzarella cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, vinegar and oil.
pretty satisfying."
Many of the subs mimic the pizzas. These include
He says the best seller is the Meatza pizza, which
is a Ugo-style crust topped with ham, pepperoni, the Chicken Ranchero and the Chicken Alfredo
Italian sausage, beef and mozzarella cheese. Tim sandwiches. Just to mix things up, you also might
try the Ugo's calzone. Picture a pizza with all your
likes to add bacon and onions to the mix.
The Supreme is another favorite. This beast favorite toppings folded in half and baked like a pie.
starts with a base of sauce and Provel cheese. Then There's also chicken wings sauced in Italian, sweet
it's topped with Canadian bacon, pepperoni, ham- red chili, BBQ, spicy BBQ, teriyaki or plain. Soft
burger, sausage, mushrooms, black olives, onions serve ice cream, cheesecake and large chocolate
and green peppers. A layer of mozzarella cheese chip cookies are available for dessert. You can relax
sprinkled with Italian herbs and spices ﬁnishes with beer, locally sourced wine and mixed drinks.
Whatever you order, you can count on Tim ﬁndthings off.
"A lot of places put all of their cheese on the bot- ing time to see how you liked your meal. "I ask,
tom," Tim says. "Our Ugo-style has Provel on the 'How was your food?' Fine is OK, a good answer,"
bottom for a good reason. When it mixes with the he says. "But I really want to hear something a little
sauce, it makes a really creamy tomato sauce. Also, better than that. I'm not asking just to be nice. I
the Provel browns quickly, so it needs to be pro- really want to know how we are doing."

Ugo's Pizzaland
Specialties: Thin crust and hand-tossed
pizzas, along with pasta and sandwiches.
Signature pizzas include the Twister, Chicken with Artichoke and Meatza.
Price: Pizzas range from $12.49 to
$21.49. Other entrées, $7.49 to $10.49.
Cash, checks, major credit cards and Apple
Pay accepted. Honors Co-op Connections
Card for $2 discount on orders of $20 or
more.
Details: Open Monday through Thursday,
4:30 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Closed Sunday.
No smoking. Enclosed deck available for
groups. Beer, wine and cocktails served.
Directions: Located south of Highway
36 on Route C at 200 N. Macon St. in
downtown Bevier.
Contact: 660-773-5334
www.ugospizzaland.com
www.facebook.com/ugospizzaland

Bevier

JANUARY 2015 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP

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Rural Missouri - January 2015

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