Maplewood restaurant owner breaks fingers, keeps on going

A Pizza Story opened its doors (7278 Manchester Avenue, Maplewood) in early June, and on June 27 co-owner Muhammad Alhawagri broke two of his fingers mixing dough.

It was a problem because Alhawagri is the Pizza Story’s pizzaiolo.

The pizzaiolo “knows the formula, starts the dough, and he’s the one who has the method of baking. So even if other people are baking, he’s the one who teaches them,” Alhawagri said.

Alhawagri is also the only one who mixes the dough, so two days after the accident, he was back at work.

“I started making it with one hand, because this one was totally out of order,” he said. “In the beginning people had to help me carry stuff in. In a week or two I started to actually handle it myself with others carrying the heavy bowl. Eventually I was able to do it myself.”

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It’s not just a pride thing. Technically, he’s the only one who knows the formula, and he wants to keep it that way, he said.

“Also, it’s the formula I worked on, and changed over time, and tweaked. For it to work here in St. Louis, with St. Louis water, with ingredients from here,” he said.

STL Today recently reviewed A Pizza Story, and gave it two and a half stars.