Dough Bros Pizzeria & Sub Shop [Meeting #116]

Dough Bros Pizzeria & Sub Shop
400 N. State Street (Map)
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 600-9078

CPC invaded Dough Bros Pizzeria & Sub Shop on Saturday, May 9, 2015. 

Apologies to our millions of followers out there for the long delay. According to the internets, there are a couple other pizza clubs in Chicago attempting to fill the void we tend to leave. Check them out. They're newer than us, they'll die before us, they haven't been to as many places, and they don't provide as much detail, but they're better than nothing I suppose. Anyhow, have no fear - we'll live forever, even if it's just your humble scribe reporting from his nursing home cafeteria. But that's a long way off. In fact, by the time I hit publish on this 9-month-overdue post, planning will be well underway for our next meeting.



A long while back, I heard some rumblings that quality slices were being served downtown at 400 N. State Street. That caused some serious confusion in my brain because I knew that to be the site of State Street Pizza Company, a place that served pizza so terrible that only the drunkest of bros stumbling out of River North dens of douchebaggery could possibly find it satisfying. It turns out, even they refused to eat the overcheesed and underflavored industrial grade pizza coming out of that place.

But the location was good and quality slice shops are in short supply so it made sense that Jonas Falk, an enterprising whippersnapper who'd found success selling healthy lunches to schoolkids and was branching into the restaurant industry, decided to give the place a go. What's more surprising was that he was able to bring aboard Roland Liccioni, the chef at fancy-pants French restaurant Les Nomades, to join in the pizza venture.

I don't know who gets the credit, but Dough Bros Pizzeria & Sub Shop (stupid name) is serving up some seriously good pizza.



The place is small. There's only a few tables and, at least on our visit, they went unused by anyone but us. My hunch is the tables are pretty much only used at lunch time during the week. We got whole pies, but this place is very much geared towards people who are buying by the slice.

We got two pizzas.



If a chef is going to name a dish after himself, it better be good. Fortunately, the Roland Pizza is not only damned good, it's like no other pizza we know of in Chicago. Topped with heirloom tomato, thai basil, lemongrass sausage and fresh mozzarella cheese, this pie was a big plate of tangy, cheesy goodness. So good in fact, here's a couple more pictures:



Seriously, that's a delicious pie. You should eat it. Okay, time to move on.




While most pizzerias are happy to do a half/half pizza, it's not at all common to find one that will do half red/half white. Maybe because Dough Bros (still a dumb name) is primarily a slice shop, not only were they unfazed by half red/half white, an employee actually suggested it when we were openly having trouble deciding between the pepperoni and the mushroom.



I don't know what kind of pepperoni they're using at Dough Bros (come on, change the name already), but it's some excellent stuff. Everything else -the red sauce, the mozzarella, and the parmesan - are all a couple of notches above your standard slice shops. This is damned fine pizza.



The mushroom pizza has wild mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, shaved parmesan, and black truffle (allegedly - certainly not enough to see). This funky pizza is great for anyone looking for a solid hit of fungi umami.



Honestly, it's been so long since we ate there that I remember nothing about the crust. Don't remember it being bad or good. Probably was neither. Looks like it could have been cooked a little longer or in a slightly hotter oven. Whatever. This is a slice shop. The slices are really good. You should try it if you're in the area and in the mood for some pizza.

Cora Approves!