A friend of mine likes to ride his motorcycle down to the Ozarks and hang out in the Lake Ozark/Osage Beach area hitting the bars and restaurants that cater to the tourists who flock to the area in the summer months. He told me of a place in Lake Ozark that had - what he thought - was the best pizza he'd ever had. He asked me if I'd ever tried the pizza at Casagrotto, and I told him I hadn't. I immediately put it on my "Restaurants to Visit" list and on a recent trip between Jefferson City and Springfield, MO on evening, I stopped into Casagrotto to see if the pizza was really that good.
Mark and Ryan Brick literally grew up on lakes. Their father was a trial lawyer in Des Moines and the Brick family would spend a number of summers on Clear Lake in northern Iowa. By the 1980's, the family was looking for an even larger lake to summer at and they began spending time on the Lake of the Ozarks. Their father then made a life changing decision in his mid-50's - he ended up buying Village Marina on Lake of the Ozarks and it included 24 boat slips and a small deli. Ryan Brick ran the marina and deli for his parents while Mark Brick had completed his degree in business and began to work for a bank.
As Mark continued to vacation at Lake of the Ozarks, he found that he liked the lifestyle there in the summertime. The family was looking to expand the marina and Mark decided to stay on and work in the family business. Village Marina quickly expanded to two locations on the lake with over 250 boat slips, boat sales and service, and a restaurant - The Boathouse - a seasonal bar and grill that has become one of the more popular spots to dine and drink in the Ozarks.
In Lake Ozark, the Casablanca - and its pizza place downstairs, Casagrotto - was a long time favorite of tourists and locals to hang out. The building originally was the first post office for the city of Lake Ozark, then was made into a bar/restaurant in the 50's. Eddie Jordan - who owned other restaurants around the lake - and Sharon Watson were the owners of the Casablanca, but they wanted to sell the business. Once Ryan and Mark Brick found out the place was up for sale, they approached Jordan and Watson to make a deal to buy Casablanca/Casagrotto and the Bricks took over the bar/restaurant in 2012.
Casablanca/Casagrotto is located on what was the former main road through Lake Ozark, Bagnell Dam Boulevard. (see map) Parking in the summertime - especially during the weekends - along the road can be pretty tough with all the bars and tourist shops that line the street, but I was able to find a parking spot just down the street from Casablanca. Walking into Casablanca, I found a cozy little bar that seemed to skew a little older in clientele than what I expected. But it was a nice place to get a drink and a sandwich. The only problem was that they allowed people to smoke in Casablanca and the cigarette smoke was very prevalent.
My friend had told me that Casagrotto was in the basement of Casablanca and I found a stairwell that took me downstairs to the pizza pub. I found an even smaller space in the basement with a small number of high top tables and a nice bar, where I sat. They had over 20 beers on tap at Casagrotto and I got a Stone Go To IPA from Misty, the bartender/server that evening. She gave me a menu to look over, but I pretty much knew that I was going to get a small pizza that evening.
There were two guys making pizzas off to the side of the bar area. I got to talking to them as they were in close proximity to where I was seated. They were both pretty funny guys.
One of the guys was telling me about the brick oven that they used to make pizzas. He said it was four or five years old and weighed something like 6000 pounds. "They had to bring it up through the backdoor in pieces," he told me. "The thing is almost too big for us down here."
Of course, I ordered my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza. The small is a 10", but it sort of looked smaller than that to me. One of the guys shaped the dough and put the toppings on top of the pizza. He was literally taking chunks off a big ball of sausage he had in his hand and was throwing the chunks on to the pizza.
The pizza came out of the oven in about 10 minutes. It was a thin, crispy crust and the toppings were really loaded on. The thick chunks of sausage had a great spicy and sage taste to them, there were plentiful discs of pepperoni, and the sliced mushrooms were fresh and earthy. The size was perfect for one person - at least for me. But it was so good that I was sad when I took the last bite.
My friend was spot-on with his recommendation of Casagrotto, located in the basement of Casablanca near the dam in Lake Ozark. The pizza was simply outstanding. The don't skimp on the toppings at Casagrotto as the pizza was weighted down from the large chunks of sausage, as well as the plentiful amounts of pepperoni and sliced mushrooms they placed on it. The beer selection in Casagrotto was also very good with a number of good craft beers on tap. Quite simply, Casagrotto was one of the best thin crust pizzas I've encountered in my years of travel.