Jimmy’s Pizza Café [Meeting #108]

Jimmy’s Pizza Café
5159 N Lincoln Ave (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 293-6992

CPC shoehorned into Jimmy’s Pizza Café on March 29, 2012.

It was only two meetings ago that I lamented the state of Chicago’s Pizza by the Slice offerings, both in terms of quantity and quality, and I still stand by the fact that for a city to be as bike and pedestrian-friendly as our new mayor and everyone else around town seem to want it to be, we need to have a plethora of suitable single-serve dining options- first and foremost, Pizza by the Slice.

So it was with great pleasure that I read the CPC email suggesting Jimmy’s Pizza Café for our next meeting. Jimmy’s is just a few short blocks from my apartment, and since they opened late last year, I’ve been there at least 2-3 times a month to get down with their New York (and New Orleans- more on that later) style goodness.

Jimmy’s is designed in the simple, traditional, small-tables, pies-on-display, order-at-the-counter pizzeria manner, but based on the size and tastes of our group, we decided to order whole pizzas rather than slices.

The first pie up was half-jalapeno half-spinach. Though lighter on the toppings and meat than most CPCers would ordinarily prefer, this pizza went over quite well. The jalapenos were hot- more than a few were pulled off of slices around the table, but this relatively simple pie was the perfect introduction to the Jimmy’s experience. Simply put, Jimmy’s is amongst the elites as far as NY style pizza in Chicago goes. From the perfectly crisp bottom layer up through the moist chewiness of the mid-dough, the sweet tang of the sauce, perfectly adequate but never excessive blanket of mozz, to the occasional char bubbles around the crispy/chewy collar, these guys nail the foldable savory sweetness that New Yorkers have justifiably loved and bragged about for decades.

Next up was the sausage and mushroom. The fennel-heavy sausage was a universal crowd-pleaser, and while the mushrooms didn't appear to be anything more than regular button mushrooms, they were surprisingly flavorful and stood up well to the sausage.

Last but undoubtedly not least was the bulgogi kimchi (props to LTHforum for letting us know about it in this post), a special, off-menu pie that requires pre-order notice a few days ahead of time. This monster, topped with bulgogi, kimchi, garlic, scallions, sesame seeds and egg, was thoroughly enjoyed, though a few CPCers seemed a bit overwhelmed by the intensity of the flavor combination. Additionally, as this pizza was far more heavily topped than their ordinary offerings, the crust was hard pressed to handle that much weight, and this was definitely the soggiest of the three pizzas we ordered, limp crusts sagging under their mighty burden.

In addition to this fantastic pizza, Jimmy also offers Intelligensia coffee and homemade beignets— pillowy New Orleans style doughnuts topped with powdered sugar—and dang if they weren’t the perfect ending to our meal.

Jimmy’s Pizza Café has so much working in its favor- let’s just hope the slightly out of way and inconducive-to-walk-ups location at the corner of Foster and Lincoln Avenues doesn’t keep people from checking out this north side gem.

Roots Handmade Pizza [Meeting #107]

Roots Handmade Pizza
1924 W. Chicago Avenue (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 645-4949

CPC invaded Roots Handmade Pizza on February 7. 2010.

Deep dish; stuffed; Neapolitan; New York; New Haven; Midwestern thin crust. What do all of those pizza styles have in common? Every respectable pizza aficionado knows what they're all about. Now what about Quad Cities style? Ever heard of it? Do you know where the Quad Cities are? Do you know how many cities are in the Quad Cities?

First, the easy answers. There are actually five cities in the Quad Cities and they are on the Illinois and Iowa sides of the Mississippi River. I've been there twice, once to witness the 1997 Great American Bash and once a couple years later for a girl. I finally outgrew wrestling and the girl is married. And because I failed to get pizza on either visit and I may never get back to the area, the possibility exists that I wouldn't have gotten to try Quad Cities style pizza were it not for Roots Handmade Pizza.

That brings me to the other questions: Yes, the Quad Cities have developed their own pizza style. It's basically regular thin crust pizza but with the twist of having malt in the crust. The malt makes the crust a bit more yeasty than is found on the average pizza and supposedly is responsible for some extra chewiness.

Anyhow, on to the food...

While the Pizza Clubbers are typically just a pizza-eating crowd when we gather together, the mozzarella sticks at Roots are an absolute requirement. At $9 for 5 of them, these are certainly the priciest mozzarella sticks any of us have encountered. I'll let everyone else speak for themselves, but I'd say they are also the best. Crafted from housemade mozzarella and covered with a crisp and well-seasoned/salty batter, these might actually be worth the price.

For the pizzas themselves, we ordered one with sausage and one taco pizza, two choices that went over very well with 6 1/4 CPC members who came to the meeting. At the end of the meal, we'd inhaled both pies.

I'll start with the sausage because, well, the sausage itself is freaking outstanding. The crumbled bits sausage covered virtually every single inch of the pizza and were loaded with fennel and pepper. The mozzarella was laid on thick and the sauce was pretty sparse, but while less of the former and more of the latter would have been nice, neither thing mattered because that pork was so good.

Taco pizza is apparently a thing in the Quad Cities. And the CPC is no stranger to taco pizzas, having had them at Meeting 31 (Barcello's), Meeting 41 (Michael's), Meeting 45 (Pete's Pizza), Meeting 56 (Pat's Pizza), Meeting 65 (Aurelio's), and Meeting 81 (John's Pizza Ristorante & Lounge). I love Pat's and I didn't go to every single one of those meetings that included taco pizzas, but if there's a better example of this delicacy in Chicago, I've never had it.

Everything about the taco pizza looks and sounds like a bad idea. It's got iceberg lettuce, cheese, beans, sausage, and, even cheesy tortilla chips (consensus was they were inferior to Doritos). Oh, you also get an unlimited supply of packets of taco sauce to go with the thing, something we took full advantage of. Despite the potential for this being nothing more than a silly gimmick, this was one outstanding pizza. And there's no question the extra chewy crust was key to standing up to the mess of toppings on this one.

One little detail of note to all the baseball fans out there: Roots has a couple of baseball connections courtesy of some of the people who invested in co-owners Greg Mohr (QC native) and Scott Weiner pizza venture. The Ricketts family, current overseers of the transformation of the Cubs, put some money into the place. People who, like me, pay far too much attention to these things might remember that Tom Ricketts and the Cubs Wonderboy General Manager watched a World Series game at Fifty/50. Well, that's co-owner Mohr's other restaurant (and their wings will apparently be available at Wrigley Field this year). The other baseball tie is that Yankees outfielder (and Chicago native) Curtis Granderson is also an investor in the place and he even brings some of his Yankee friends over for pizza dinner from time to time when they're in town slapping around the White Sox.

Papa Ray’s [Meeting #106]

Papa Ray's
2551 W. Fullerton Ave (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 661-2113

CPC crowded into Papa Ray's in the Logan Square neighborhood on November 10, 2011.

We’ve all had pizza-by-the-slice, and to some extent, it’s usually pretty satisfying (more than likely because we’re starving when we get it; on-demand pizza greatly appeals to the under-satiated). The quest for some is to find the best slice they can in that genre to fill the gaps between more refined pizza meals where whole pies are made to order, and generally have greater breadth in topping selection and customization.

One small chain of pizzerias that strives to be the aforementioned go-to for top quality pizza-by-the-slice is Papa Ray’s Pizza & Wings. Founded at the turn of the last decade by George and John Rayyan, Papa Ray’s busted out of the gates with 3 Chicago locations all within a few miles of each other and established in close proximity, timewise. The Chicago Pizza Club visited the Logan Square location on November 10th.

As eluded to above, pizza-by-the-slice is not always the most gratifying food for the discerning palate, and for those who insist on only the best in every aspect (organic, super-fresh and/or exotic ingredients, pristine presentation, delicate proportions, etc.) Papa Ray’s will likely disappoint. However, if you fancy large servings of blue collar, no-frills pizza, this could be the place you hang your proverbial hat.

Potential drawbacks here are the expected inconsistency in freshness of the slices since they can potentially sit uneaten for some time, as well as the caliber of ingredients being appropriate to the genre and price point. As of this writing, you can get a massive slice with a refillable soda for $4.41 after tax. On the evening we went the choices were cheese, sausage, pepperoni, or bacon and the Pizza Club got one (or more) of each and split them up. The meats seemed to be a click or two above what you’d expect for fast food pizza – the sausage was not too rubbery; the pepperoni pretty standard; the bacon actually pretty decent and thick. As for the cheese, nothing about it was outstanding – same pre-packaged stuff you get at the grocery store. The sauce did have a bit of salty/canned flavor, but was more or less benign. The crust is actually pretty good with a pleasant fresh baked essence – one member commented and I thought I overheard “frozen” mentioned.

We shall see what the members had to say, but for the price and convenience, I think Papa Ray’s does a great job. And, if you decide to eat it there, they put that day’s newspaper in a clear plastic holder that spans the length of the counter so you can stay current while stuffing your face (at least, this is true at the Fullerton location).

Dough Boys [Meeting #105]

Dough Boys
626 South Racine Avenue (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 243-9799

CPC crowded into Dough Boys in the Little Italy/University Village neighborhood on June 13, 2011.

Billed as a counter-service and delivery pizza place, Dough Boys is yet another collaboration of famed Chicago restaurateurs Scott Harris and Jimmy Bannos (Purple Pig, Salatino’s, etc.), and absolutely nails the casual “pizza joint” vibe they’re shooting for—though with decidedly better pizza than your average joint. From the simple outdoor patio, complete with red and white checkered tablecloths, to the four tables and no-frills interior, to the photocopied notebook paper menu, Dough Boys gets the easy stuff out of the way and focuses on what they know we’re there for: damn good pizza.

Pizza at Dough Boys comes in four styles: (1) Chicago-style thin crust, (2) New York style thin crust, (3) Sicilian and (4) stuffed, with the NY and Sicilian styles also available by the slice. Given all the standard topping options, plus a couple of less common ones like zucchini and roasted red peppers, we got down with the following:

• Chicago-style thin crust – Daily Special: pepperoni, onion and garlic
• Chicago-style thin crust – black olives and roasted red peppers
• New York-style thin crust – sausage (by the slice)
• New York-style thin crust – cheese (by the slice)
• Sicilian – pepperoni (by the slice)
• Sicilian – cheese (by the slice)
• Stuffed – sausage

While Chicago-style thin crust is often pretty standard fare, the high quality and plentiful ingredients—well seasoned, tangy sauce and soft, creamy mozzarella—make this one a winner. The sturdy, lightly corn meal dusted crust, while perhaps a bit tame in terms of flavor, had a nice crunch and was more than up to the task of holding up under the considerable moisture of the sauce and toppings. Universally enjoyed by CPCers.

The New York-style thin crust, while hindered by the fact that it had been sitting out for not-sure-how-long under the front counter (or is that the secret to its authenticity?), had a delightful end crust, crispy and chewy, with a bottom crust sturdy enough to hold the slice up without needing to fold it or curl the tip back. Served fresh, this slice would be absolutely spot-on, and even slightly dried out under the counter, it was one of the better NY-style slices Chicago has to offer. Definitely a great slice-to-go option.

The Sicilian, unfortunately, suffered far more for having been sitting under the counter so long. While there is no denying that the crust itself is a work of baking magic, it is more than an inch thick, superbly light and airy on the inside and wonderfully crisp on the outside, the thickened cheese and lack of sauce made this slice a disappointment, and clearly the least popular amongst CPCers. A bit more sauce, a bit less cheese and a bit less time sitting around under the counter, and this one could really be a gem.

The stuffed pizza is clearly the treasure here and the real reason why Dough Boys is destination dining. Taking 40 minutes from order to table, this labor of love boasts a lard crust that gives it a unique richness of flavor and a flakier, crispier texture than just about any other stuffed pizza can offer. Topped with a wonderfully generous dose of the aforementioned soft, creamy mozzarella and covered with a wallop of chunky, tangy sauce, this bad lad deserves recognition as one of the finest stuffed pizzas in Chicago.

The bill for one stuffed sausage, three NY style slices, three Sicilian slices and two Chicago style thin crust pizzas came to $99, a mere $11 per person. That’s not much dough at all, boys!

As an added bonus, Dough Boys is a few short blocks away from the lovely Mario’s Italian Ice, a wooden stand painted in the Italian green, white and red, jutting out from the front of a brick row house on Taylor St.

A cool, fruity and delicious way to end a great night of grub.

Gulliver's Pizza and Pub [Meeting #104]

Gulliver’s Pizza and Pub
2727 W Howard Ave [Google Maps]
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 338-2166

CPC invaded GULLIVER’S Pizza and Pub on February 4, 2011.

According to El Presidente, Chicago Pizza Club meeting #3 was held at Gulliver’s way back in 2003, before the days of this blog. Thus, no review was ever written and no photos were ever taken. To rectify this, CPC members emerged from their snow-ridden homes, after having braved “Blizzaster 2011,” a.k.a. “Snowmaggedon,” and met up at Gulliver’s, in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood.

Gulliver’s was started in 1965 by Jerry Freeman and Burt Katz, claiming to offer the “North Side’s original pan pizza.” Shortly thereafter, Mr. Katz moved on to open Pequod’s and then Burt’s Place, while Mr. Freeman stayed on as proprietor until his death in 2006. Since opening in Chicago, Gulliver’s has expanded to two other Chicagoland locations, in Glenview and Oak Brook Terrace.

The décor here is something out of a Vincent Price movie. The dining areas are filled with an amber-colored light, emitted from an eclectic array of chandeliers, and absorbed by the dark wood trim, walls, and furniture. Carefully placed throughout the rooms are marble busts on columns and various photos and antiques hanging on the walls. Buttressed by the aroma of fresh pizza, this bizarre space is quite welcoming.

Gulliver’s offers three kinds of pizza: (1) pizza in the pan, (2) thin crust, and (3) stuffed. With a wide array of topping options, most everyone will find their usual or unusual combination. On this evening, CPC ordered one of each pie and took the following account:

• Pizza in the pan, large (14”), with sausage and garlic
• Thin crust, medium (12”), with artichoke and black olives
• Stuffed, small (9”), with pepperoni and onions

The pizza in the pan is dense. On presentation, the pie looked very much like a Lou Malnati’s deep dish, in that the chunky tomato sauce, garlic, and sausage were all clearly visible on top, with the cheese embedded. However, where Lou’s crust is golden cornmeal yellow, this pie had a lighter biscuit-like shade.

On taste, the pie is a winner. The sauce was juicy and tangy with strong notes of oregano. The chunks of tomato give it texture. The garlic was chopped fine and was plentiful. The sausage portions were cut big and while they were meaty and flavorful, they were not very spiced, reminiscent of the sausage used at Lou Malnati’s. This reviewer prefers the fennel sausage Chi-town magic found at Sano’s. The crust was crispy at the edge and bready at the base, with hints of butter throughout. It is in the crust that I take some exception. Although well-made and pleasant, it was somewhat bland and unspectacular.

The thin crust was my least favorite. On presentation, it looks generic. The toppings held well in the cheese and the crust had no char. On taste, it skewed towards the toppings and lacked an overall point. The sauce was pasty, bearing little resemblance to the sauce in the other pies. The cheese was firm and had little oil. The crust was solid, but bland. As the sum of its parts, this pie had little to offer by way of flavor or inspiration. Go pan or stuffed.

The stuffed was totally unexpected. After having tried the pizza in the pan, I expected it to be two pan pizzas stuffed into one. As my last stuffed pizza experience ended with a frown, I had low expectations. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. This pie had a character all its own.

This pie has great finesse. Like an undersized defensive tackle, it does not overwhelm with mass, but wins with technique and elusiveness. For instance, the onions were substantial, but melted away in my mouth. The pepperoni gave the pie porky protein, but did not overwhelm. The pie was deep, but the crust was light. The amalgam of cheese, sauce, and toppings flowed, but maintained individual structural integrity. Some would call this pie, “stuffed light.” For many, including this reviews, that is just fine.

The bill for three pies, six bottles of Fat Tire, one pint of Guinness, and one side-salad was $87.00. With tip, it came out to $17.00 per person. Score!

APART Pizza Company [Meeting #103]

APART Pizza Company
2205 W Montrose Ave [Google Maps]
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 588-1550
BYOB!

CPC invaded APART Pizza Company on 12/21/10.

We were drawn to APART Pizza Company because Adam had a Groupon that he generously agreed to share. Also, APART was listed in Chicago Magazine's Top 25 pizzas in Chicago which had me wondering whether I'd missed something the last time I'd been there. In any event, a highly rated pizza at a discount made for idea meeting conditions. But sadly, in an embarrassing display of pizza loyalty, a mere four members showed up for the meeting, which was held at the Lincoln Square location of Apart (there's a second location in Edgewater/Andersonville).

Upon our arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we could put the Groupon off for another day as on Monday and Tuesday nights, the large 18" pizzas are BOGO (that's Buy One, Get One in internetspeak). After careful deliberation which consisted of me crossing off about 2/3 of the pizza listed on our menu and Adam picking two of the remaining ones, we ended up with eponymous APART pizza as well as the Tricolore.

The APART comes with sausage, pepperoni and fresh champignons. The pepperoni was pretty standard but I thought the mushrooms were better than average and the large knobs of sausage were very flavorful. The second pizza, the Tricolore, seemed to disappoint everyone. The pizza comes topped with fresh tomatoes, goat cheese and spinach, and is billed as looking like the Italian flag. They need to mash up that Italian flag as the tomato slice was too tomatoey, and others expressed disappointment with the spinach and goat cheese portions as well.

As far as the crust goes, it's designed to be a crisp, crackery crust but that doesn't translate to the 18" beasts we ordered. The crust had no chance and there were some sogginess issues. I found I had to fold my slices in half by folding the tip back to the end crust. Parts of the Tricolore's crust were more charred than some CPCers would have liked, though I didn't find that to be a problem. Neither the cheese nor the sauce stood out as positives or negatives. Given the amount of toppings and cheese, I thought more sauce would have been nice, though that might have led to complete crust disintegration.

Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy the pizza but nobody was blown away. But at $7 each, including tip, there's really no room for complaining.

Petey Pizza gives APART Pizza Company a 6.33/10

Via Carducci La Sorella [Meeting #102]

Via Carducci La Sorella
1928 W Division Street [Google Maps]
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 252-2244

CPC invaded Via Carducci La Sorella on 11/18/10.

Opened as the sister restaurant to the original Via Carducci in Lincoln Park in 1996, Via Carducci La Sorella has been offering rustic Southern Italian cuisine to the Wicker Park neighborhood since 2007. Their menu offers several dishes, including nine pizzas and one calzone. Since we were a small group of three this Thursday evening, we ordered three 12" pizzas, each of which were cut into ten slices and ended up costing a total of $20 per person including tax and tip.

We sampled:

• Novella : Fresh porcini mushrooms, new potatoes, red onions, rosemary, mozzarella (no tomato sauce)
• Rustica : Figs, caramelized red onions, gorgonzola cheese (no tomato sauce)
• Roma : Sausage, mushrooms, onions, mozzarella and provolone cheese

The pizza has an unusual thin crust. It wasn't the super thin cracker crust you often find at Chicago pizzerias, but a thicker attempt at the cracker crust (think layered matzah crackers). The crust was virtually flavorless, consisting of probably no more than flour and water. Its texture was bizarre in that it had an initial flakey quality that turned into a somewhat stale bite. Atop the crust were mediocre ingredients. I applaud Via Carducci La Sorella for stepping out on a limb and trying some unique toppings, like the figs found on the Rustica, and potatoes on the Novella. The Roma was the most typical pizza and I think was the most well received of the bunch. Although I wasn't put off by the Rustica, I believe this ranked as the least favorite among the group. Out of the three pizzas, only one had tomato sauce (Roma), and I found it to be run of the mill and not too dominant. Although the toppings seemed to be fresh, the proportions were a bit skewed. For instance, the Rustica had little gorgonzola cheese, and was overpowered by the mozzarella. Needless to say, we had quite a bit of pizza remaining to take home.

Via Carducci La Sorella is inviting with its intimately spaced tables and dim lighting, and was bustling the night of our meeting, as I'm sure it is any other night of the week. Although I did see a nearby table nibbling on a pizza, the other offerings seem to be the choice selections.

Macello Ristorante [Meeting #101]

Macello Ristorante
1235 W Lake St. [GoogleMaps]
Chicago, IL
(312) 850-9870

CPC invaded Macello Ristorante on 11/2/10.

Macello Ristorante is situated along the moderately-industrial corridor that is Lake Street on Chicago’s near west side. Next to the roar of the elevated tracks that form Lake Street’s canopy, Macello is tucked discretely between a vacant lot and a space that once housed a welding shop. Upon entering Macello, you immediately smell hard woods burning in their two wood-burning ovens (yes, two). The room is very inviting and a great place to eat pizza, which at Macello, is made in the fashion of the Puglia region of Italy (very southern part, where owner Giovanni Denigris hails from, according to reconnaissance by Chicago Magazine in their July 2010 write up of Macello).

Chicago Pizza Club ordered four pies during the November 2, 2010 excursion to Macello:

• Pizza Macello: Burrata, Cerignola Olive and Barese Sausage
• Pizza Pugliese: Burrata and Thinly-sliced Mortadella
• Pizza Bianca: Fresh Cherry Tomato, Mozzarella, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil and Arugula
• Pizza Americana: Fresh Mozzarella, Sopressata, Mushrooms, Roasted Peppers

One advantage to having two wood-burning ovens is that you can crank out the pizzas fairly quickly, and the wait after ordering was not long for our group. All of the pies had a very thin, crunchy crust that seemed to hold up well to the ingredients. A nice bonus was the ever-so-slight char on the crusts’ edge, which made each slice completely enjoyable to the last bite.

The Pizza Macello was speckled with tasty dollops of Burrata cheese, which was complimented by the mild, herby olives; Barese sausage was applied appropriately and the combination with Macello’s moderately acidic/slightly sweet sauce was very nice, indeed. The Pugliese seemed to be lauded by all those in attendance – paper-thin slices of Mortadella allowed plenty of flavor exploration, and the fresh, spongy Burrata played nice with the slightly salty meat and the tomato sauce.

The Bianca, which gained Macello its spot in Chicago Magazine’s aforementioned issue, was refreshing and light, with large arugula leaves doing the heavy lifting for the pie’s overall flavor; chunks of Mozzarella and big pieces of cherry tomato with olive oil and basil gave a background reminiscent of Caprese salad. Last up for Pizza Club was the Americana – it was this reviewer’s least favorite of the evening (not that it was bad…just in comparison to the others) – the Sopressata was very strong, like a hybrid between salami and pepperoni, and seemed a fairly appropriate pairing with the mushrooms and roasted red peppers, if only for their role in offsetting the Sopressata’s very strong flavor. Mozzarella was a good inclusion here, although after eating the Burrata at Macello, one might wish they could sub it in on all their pizzas.

Pizzeria Serio [Meeting #100]

Pizzeria Serio
1708 W. Belmont Ave [GoogleMaps]
Chicago, IL
(773) 525-0600

CPC invaded Pizzeria Serio on 10/12/10.

We had previously been invited to Pizzeria Serio for a tasting prior to their official opening. We decided to give them a few months to work out the kinks and get their business running before heading back for an official visit. I'll note that Scott, the owner and pizza-maker, knew we were coming and gave us some complimentary calzones that we would not have otherwise ordered. How his knowledge of our attendance affected the pizzas is unknown because the restaurant wasn't packed this evening and he was making all the pizzas that night anyway.

Since our previous report, Pizzeria Serio has opened and acquired the sought after alcohol license. They had some nice bottles and drafts of local microbrews and I settled in with a Three Floyd's Alpha King to enjoy my pizza. Despite initial concerns that the city wouldn't allow him to burn wood in his oven, he was able to make the necessary changes to the hood to incorporate wood burning into his gas-fueled oven.

We happened to be there on a Tuesday and there is a nice special for pizzas - get 50% off your second pizza. We ordered 6 pizzas (and got the 50% for 3 of them):

• Marinara
• Margherita
• Margherita Con Carne
• Sausage and Peppas
• Diavolo
• The Big Cheese

Initial plans for 2 sizes of pizza have been scrapped and they settled on a 14" one-size-fits-all pizza. No major changes have been made to the crust from the initial review and usually it holds up well. I think that in trying to make The Big Cheese and Sausage and Peppas fully topped, he does a disservice to his crust. It is obviously overpowered and left soggy by the ingredients. In contrast, I felt that the crust on the Margheritas was excellent largely because they were approriately topped. The Marinara was quite good, although I thoroughly enjoyed the excessive amount of garlic. I was excited by the Diavolo, but in the end found it too spicy for my tastes (and I usually enjoy spicy food). The pepperoncini were all I could taste of the pizza. The sauce is sweeter than you would expect to find on this type of pizza, but not as sweet as an Aurelio's (or most South Side places, for that matter). I thought it worked well - particularly on the calzone.

I think the single most impressive thing I ate this night were the calzones. The bread was spot-on and the simple ricotta and mozzarella filling puts the focus squarely on the bread and a little bit of sauce. Last time, I really enjoyed the soppressata and I failed to get it this time - mistake. I think that in general, the best pizzas here tend to be the more simple ones. Scott is working on adding a spinach pizza to the menu, but otherwise he's locked in.

Pizzeria Serio is not touting itself as a NYC pizza place, but that's what its pizza most closely resembles. There are more hits than misses here, with the misses coming mainly from excesses - toppings, heat, . I find that a less complicated pizza from Serio really shines and showcases their technique better than more convoluted options. They have multiple large HD screens and a nice bar upstairs for watching sports. This western edge of Lakeview is short on pizzerias and Serio fills the void for a good neighborhood pizzeria.