Chicago's Pizza [Meeting #35]

Wednesday, October 18th
Chicago's Pizza
3006 N. Sheffield (GoogleMaps)
773.755.4030

CPC invaded Chicago's Pizza on 10/18/06

Come judge harshly indeed.

Chicago Pizza Club meeting #35 has come and gone, and those who attended are probably most happy about the "gone" part. The general consensus was that this was the most mediocre of mediocre Chicago pizza, and one can't help but wonder if they truly deserve to besmirch our good city's name.

The Chicago Pizza Club invaded Chicago's Pizza on North Sheffield last night and ordered up our pies just before 8pm. Our selections this week were:

• the Garlic Lovers Pizza: With fresh sliced tomatoes, roasted garlic, fresh basil and mozzerella cheese, brushed with olive oil. (This was from their 'Gourmet Pizza' menu).
  
  
• The Chicago Special Stuffed Pizza: Sausage, mushrooms, green peppers & onions.
  
  
• Thin crust pizza with pepperoni: This one is self explanatory.

Our pizzas took about 40 minutes to arrive, and worked out to $9 per person (paid in advance, including soft drinks) for the 8 Pizza Clubbers that we had in attendance (side note: we managed to order the perfect amount of pizza for 8 people). The Stuffed Pan Pizza was probably the best pizza of the three that we ordered, the sauce was pretty interesting but in the end I think it was mainly responsible for the massive heartburn I had when I woke up at 4 in the morning. The thin crust pepperoni pizza was pretty standard and nothing really to speak of, other than to say, yes, it faired better than a Domino's pizza. Their 'Gourmet' Garlic Pizza was probably the most maligned of our order, though I do know of at least one member who liked it.

As for this restaurant's atmosphere? Well, I think you'd find more atmosphere floating in space in an orbit around Pluto (I still can't get used to their only being 8 planets, but that's neither here nor there...). This was storefront seating, and the restaurant's modus operandi at this location seemed to revolve around carryout, delivery and pizza by the slice. Though I was presently suprised when they brought us out real plates and silverware. And, they did let us turn on the baseball playoffs, and that was nice.

In the end, this pizza wasn't worth the effort of our trek, parking in this neighborhood is extremely difficult, and even more so when the Vic Theatre across the street is attracting hippies like nobodies business for a concert. I'm guessing this place bases their business on locals who eat there out of convenience.

Petey gives Chicago's a 4.55.


Here comes our pizza


Maybe it's the Garlic Lover's, maybe it's not...


Thin-crust pepperoni


The pan pizza, looking a little worse for wear


Where it went down

O'famé Italian Restaurant [Meeting #34]

O'famé Italian Restaurant
750 W. Webster (GoogleMaps)
(773) 929-5111

CPC invaded O'famé on 10/05/06

O'famé is a family-run Italian restaurant boasting recipes that have been handed down through several generations, after originating within the neighborhood food businesses of Chicago's Taylor Street. Though inconveniently located in the center of a spiritless neighborhood calling itself "Lincoln Park," the restaurant itself is in a warm and simple two-room space. They accommodated us with a large table for twelve by the window, and the servers were friendly and attentive. A very nice touch for the squinting crowd: reading glasses at a table by the entry to help tired eyes peruse the menu in the dim lighting.

O'famé has a broad selection of pastas, salads, and sandwiches, but clearly the Chicago Pizza Club was there for the P to the I-Z-Z-A. They serve thin, pan, and stuffed pizzas, all topped with mozzarella and aged parmigiano cheese. We did not notice a big difference between the pan and stuffed varieties, though the pan pizza was certainly doughier, and at least the one we had was a bit soggy, but still pretty good. O'famé offers a variety of fresh ingredients, including their own homemade Italian sausage, ricotta cheese, roasted red peppers, and all the staples.

We enjoyed the following pizzas:

• Pan pizza: O'famé Specialty Pizza - Ricotta and Tomato with Basil
• We added basil to this specialty pizza and it went well with the ricotta and tomato. The dough of this pizza was a bit soggy, but it was also soft in a good way, going well with the delicate flavors of the ricotta and other ingredients.

• Stuffed pizza: homemade sausage, roasted red peppers, garlic
• The crumbled homemade sausage in the stuffed pizza was really good, and evenly sprinkled throughout each slice. The roasted red peppers were also nice. The stuffed pizza was soft like the pan pizza, but not quite as soggy.
  

• Thin crust pizza: bacon, artichoke hearts
• Both thin crust pizzas were nice and crispy. This pizza was topped with long, crispy slices of bacon, just like you make for breakfast.

• Thin crust pizza: O'famé Specialty Pizza - fresh garlic, oil, tomato
• This specialty pizza was the crowd favorite. The crust stayed thin and crispy and had a good amount of salt to complement the delicious fresh ingredients.

There was more than enough pizza to go around, and the cost without alcoholic beverages came out to $12/ person. Petey forgot his watch, but all of the pizzas came out hot at the same time (stuffed pizza lagged just a few minutes) after what seemed to him like about 45 minutes.

Petey gives O'famé a 6.8 / 10.

Tomato Head [Meeting #33]

Tomato Head
Webster & Sheffield (Google Maps)
(773) 404-801

CPC invaded Tomato Head on 6/21/06

We visited Tomato head in Lincoln Park and had a great time. This place had some great thin crust pizza. Not to mention the fact that this place is BYOB, a fact that we did not know during our meeting. Rest assured should we ever venture there again we will be certain to be armed with a few six packs. The pizza not only was good as will be described below but was affordable as hell!!! There were 9 of us at the meeting and without sodas we each paid only 6 or 7 bucks (can’t remember final tally) and we all had plenty to eat with one slice left to spare. All pizzas had the same thin crust that was not too crispy and not so soft that each slice fell apart once lifted.

The first pizza we tried was the ZorbaZah, This pizza had some of my personal favorites including feta, Kalamta olives and tomatoes. The toppings were fresh and tasty. The cheese was not too salty which was good since we had plenty of salt provided by the feta cheese. The sauce was good, and had plenty of flavor to it, but could have been spicier. The Greeks (muck like our Italian brethren to the east) like their oregano.

The next pizza was a Hawaiian Pizza which really hit the spot on hot summer day. The pineapple was fresh. This is a good pizza for fruit lovers as there was plenty of pineapple throughout. I think this was the first pizza to go.

Finally, the Belt Buster. This pizza was filled with toppings. Sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions and black olives, were all prominent on almost every slice. Much like the other two pizzas this pizza had plenty of cheese that was not so sticky that the slices congealed after 10 minutes, but still a good amount.

This was a great affordable pizza club that allows one to bring some booze and a bunch of people together for some pizza. (Cubs game on in the background to boot!!!) Petey gives Tomato Head a 7.5 out of 10 and recommends this to thin crust lovers of all ages.


Extreme close-up!


More extreme closeness... making me hungry...


Delicious thin-crust


Hawaiian anyone?


Where it went down

Special Report: Da Michele, Napoli, Italia

Petey scrimped and saved and got himself a train pass to Naples, Italy to sample some of the local pizza. Much fuss has been made in the club about Neopolitan pizza and we wanted to see how it really is in the motherland. We went to Da Michele, a place that has all of two menu choices and has been serving the Naples crowd since 1870. Faced with such staggering choices, we decided to try both of their pizzas. They feature a margherita and a marinara pizza.

• Margherita - mozzarella, basil, tomato
• Marinara - tomato, garlic, oregano

For those of you who haven't been to Naples before, allow me to offer a brief summary. It's a seedy Italian city and very rarely does anyone think it's not a good idea to graffiti tag their ancient fountains, buildings, monuments, plazas, and anything else made from marble. Also, I'm scared to cross the streets since no one ever follows any traffic signs and two lanes seem to accomodate 4 lanes worth of tiny, zippy vehicles. It has some positives: a great archeological mueum, it is on the Mediterranean Sea, the seafood is fresh, the architecture is impressive if mistreated, Capri is nearby, and they are currently in the middle of adding new subway lines and restoring many of their museums and buildings. I recommend it - in 2011.

The sauce on these pizzas was very good; it tasted homemade and fresh and there is probably no time in southern Italy when tomatoes don't taste great. The mozzarella was probably the best example of this cheese I have had on a pizza, except for maybe the bufalina at Spacca Napoli (Chicago). The basil and garlic were great, but they were present in such small amounts you could eaisly forget they were included. The crust was very similar to the one at Spacca Napoli in that it burned nicely on the underside, but became soggy in the center as it sat on my plate ready to meet my pearly whites. It didn't have the "chewiness" factor to keep it together - mine just turned soupy.

In the end, we enjoyed this pizza. It was completely fresh and basic, oftentimes all that is needed for a great meal. They do form long lines and they efficiently served our pizzas in less than 5 minutes. I think if I was born in Naples and had never travelled, I would feel confident in saying Neopolitan pizza is the best. That is not, to the detriment of Naples, the case at all for us. I still think it's a great change-of-pace pizza, but the truth is that its lack of topping diversity is frustrating. The toppings are not evenly spread throughout the pizza. For example, one large basil leaf was on the margherita and 2 chunks of garlic were on the marinara. When you managed to get all the ingredients in your mouth at the same time, a rare occurrence, the pizza was noticeably impressive. It exceeds in its simplicity, but this ain't the 19th century anymore. I need more toppings, better distribution, and a less soggy crust. Being the "original" anything can be overrated and I think that's the case with pizza. I guess the Italians figure that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Things have been done the same way here for a long time. I think this may be almost as good as Neopolitan pizza can be, so we do suggest you try it if you come to town. However, the style of pizza one finds in the USA has higher potential and has experienced more innovation and we easily prefer it. Take heart Vera Napolitano Pizza fans, I think Spacca Napoli in Chicago compares quite favorably to the few places we tried in Naples, a testament to the proprietor.

The menu


Kate has a beer


I want that one


"It's all mine!"


Real Italians!


Where it went down

Burt's Place [Meeting #32]

Burt's Place
8541 N. Ferris Ave. GoogleMaps
Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 965-7997

CPC invaded Burt's place 5/3/06

Our initial foray into Burt's Place was fraught with peril. Actually, it just went largely undocumented. Luckily, we ended up going again and this time - we have proof! Check it out here.

Barcello's [Meeting #31]

Barcello's
1647 N Milwaukee Avenue(Google Maps)
773 486 8444


CPC invaded Barcelo's on 4/13/06

This family-owned Bucktown pizzeria has been making their pizza from a top secret recipe developed in Calabria, Italy back in the early 1900's. Eat your heart out, Colonel Sanders. They have a prime location just a block of the intersection of North, Milwaukee, and Damen. Thankfully, Milwaukee Avenue seemed to offer enough parking to accomodate all 13 of the CPC members that attended.

We went on a Thursday night at 7:30 and were the only diners in the restaurant for a good portion of our meal. The decor was nicer than the picture on their webpage suggests and they added a nice touch of tall white flowers (Kelly tells me they are calililies) on every table. It’s nicer than your typical walk-in pizzeria and good for a group of friends but not a romantic place that will impress your first date. The wait staff was pleasant but looked at bit bored by the slow evening. They were helpful over the phone when I made reservations and made a special point of informing me that the restaurant was BYOB. We came armed with Sam Adams, Goose Island, Bass and Guinness.

The menu offered a wide range of pizza sizes (baby 10” – party 18”) and some gourmet ingredients including giardiniera, prosciutto, artichokes, shrimp, cappers, sundried tomatoes, red peppers eggplant, zucchini, and ricotta cheese. They also have a couple specialty options including a taco pizza and a double dough pizza. Barcello’s serves a full menu of Italian dishes and appetizers. Diners on a budget should look for coupons on their takeout menu.

We had the following:
Thin Crust (taco pizza)- tomatoes, lettuce, parmesan cheese, and ground beef
Thin Crust - (veggie pizza) - green peppers, broccoli, spinach
Pan Crust - italian sausage, prosciutto
Stuffed - sundried tomato, spinach
Thin Crust - giardiniera, blue cheese, artichoke (yes, you read that correctly)

The first round of thin crusts took about 45min to arrive, which was a little surprising since we were the only ones in the restaurant. Either there was a busy delivery service that runs in and out the back or they had to pre-heat the ovens when our group walked in. The stuffed crust that I was told would take 45min came at the 1 hour mark. However, when we added another thin crust they were very accomodating and the turn around was only 15min.

Petey gives Barcelo's a 7.35.


The veggie pizza, ready for action


Mmm... cheesey stuffed pizza


And here's the pan crust


Noam digs in


A thin crust


Where it went down

Lou Malnati's [Meeting #30]

Lou Malnati's
6649 N. Lincoln Ave.(Google Maps)
847-673-0800

CPC invaded Lou Malnati's on 4/12/06

Lou Malnati’s pizza is a long time Chicagoland treasure. The original pizzeria in Lincolnwood is a converted house into pizza joint. The place has been remodeled numerous times over the years but you can tell the bar area, where we dined and which is as smoke filled as it gets in Chicago lately, is somebody’s old family room. Upon arrival you notice the bartender paying off a NCAA debt to a regular customer as he tops of his Sam Adams. The bar area unlike the rest of the restaurant is old and poorly lit, but filled with character that says, “We come here to escape the wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend and have some good pizza.” In the 80’s the kids at the grammar school nearby could always come to Lou Mal’s for a quick game of Mrs. Pac Man and a smoke.

The place is filled with memories and some kick-ass pizza. We ordered these great selections:

• A thin crust pepperoni pizza
  
• A Lou’s, which is a Chicago style deep dish pizza and consists of fresh spinach, mushrooms and sliced tomatoes covered with a blend of mozzarella, romano and cheddar cheese served on a butter crust.
  
• Finally we ordered the new crustless sausage “crust" pizza with garlic.

First off, the service was great. We had a great server, Ralu, who was very interested in CPC and seemed very genuine in her concern for our enjoyment of the pies. She was timely with our drinks and generally made sure we had a good time. The pizzas all arrived at the same time, 36minutes (I think) after we ordered them. They were all hot and each had something great to offer.

The sausage crust pizza, designed during the Atkins craze of two ears ago is a carb counter's dream come true. Instead of bread crust there is a layer of sausage which serves as a de facto crust. The sauce on the pizza was plentiful as was the layer of mozzarella cheese. The sauce was different from all the other pizzas as there seemed to be more of it (perhaps trying to make up for lack of crust). The garlic we added was strong and noticeable upon arrival to the table, so watch out on a first date.

The Lou’s was great as well. The veggies were fresh and the sliced tomatoes added something to the sauce. As said earlier, there was less sauce on this pizza and the sauce itself had chunks of tomatoes, which is always nice. The butter crust comes with the pizza so you don’t pay extra for it, but it was not as buttery as some other places CPC has been to. The cheeses all blended together and make you think you are in cheese heaven.

The thin crust pizza was also terrific. The pepperoni on it was nice and spicy. The crust was crispy, but not burned. The cheese was nice and gooey. The sauce also tasted different than the other two pizzas. (It makes one wonder if this place has different sauces for different types of pizzas.) This sauce was hidden beneath the cheese and only came squirting out after each bite. It was a quality thin crust.

Petey gives Lou Malnati's an 8.875.


Mood lighting!


What we came for


Our lovely server (Ralu)


Oh! The carnage!!


Where it went down

Spacca Napoli [Meeting #29]

Spacca Napoli
1769 W. Sunnyside (Google Maps)
773-878-2420

CPC invaded Spacca Napoli on 4/5/06

What to say about Spacca Napoli? First off, this restaurant is located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood and from appearances seems to have opened somewhat recently. They serve vera pizza napoletana, cooked in an imported wood-burning oven, decorated with a tile mosaic by the owner's, Jonathan Goldsmith, wife, Ginny Sykes (some of her art also graces the walls). Some internet research tells me that the oven is made of 13,000 pounds of brick, sand, and tufo imported from Italy and was built by three craftsmen from Naples. In addition to what we would all agree is a very serious oven, this Neapolitan-style pizza place takes their ingredients very seriously, using (among things) fresh whole-milk mozzarella (fior di latte mozzarella), imported Italian flour and olive oil.

The atmosphere of the restaurant had a nice contemporary feel to it, with touches of the Old Country, mainly the paintings on the wall, and the tile mosaic of the pizza oven. We went on a Wednesday night and the place was packed to the gills, with several people (besides us) waiting to be seated. The service was top notch, the owner was very accommodating to our large group, and was also very apologetic about us having to wait for our tables despite having a reservation... the fact that they gave us free champagne and bread while we waited also tends to help. Also, the waiters were very helpful in translating the menu and explaining the differences in the three Italian beers that they serve.

Spacca Napoli serves individually sized pizza's, about 10 inches in diameter. So rather than ordering a few pizzas for the group to share (as we usually do), the Chicago Pizza Club let each member fend for themselves. Everyone's meal averaged out to about $23 per person, and this included a beer and a tip for our server. Orders came pretty quickly, in about 20 minutes (no surprise, considering the size of the oven), and once everyone had tried what they ordered members then started to trade slices in order to sample the variety that this restaurant offers.

We ordered the following:

Marinara tomato, oregano, garlic, basil, olive oil
Margherita tomatoes, oregano, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, olive oil
Funghi tomatoes, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, mushroom, olive oil
Salsiccia tomatoes, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, italian sausage, olive oil
Funghi E Salsiccia tomatoes, fior di latte mozzarella, basil, mushrooms, italian sausage, olive oil
Bufalina tomatoes, basil, mozzarella di bufala, olive oil
Prosciutto E Arucola pizza bianca with provola, prosciutto di parma, arugula shaved parmesan olive oil
Salsiccia E Broccoletti pizza bianca with italian sausage, rapini, fior di latte, olive oil
Bianca Con Bufala pizza bianca with mozzarella di bufala, basil, olive oil
Quattro Formaggi pizza bianca with fior di lette, gorgonzola, ementhal, fontina

Petey gives Spacca Napoli a score of 7.25/10


Ooooh! Exterior Lighting!


The oven, in all her glory


Anti-pasto, the opening act for the main event


Look at that fresh basil!


Man, that looks good... wish I had one right now


Time for your close up Mr. Pizza...


Ryan goes to town


The Chicago Pizza Club in action


Where it went down

Caffe Florian [Meeting #28]

Caffe Florian
1450 E. 57th Street (Google Maps)
773-752-4100

CPC invaded Caffe Florian on 3/29/06

Caffe Florian is one of many restaurants in Hyde Park that make pizza. During orientation at the U of C you quickly become familiar with The Medici, Caffe Florian, Pizza Capri, and Edwardo's since every function you attend has pizza from all of these places. Surprisingly, the university neglects to provide its students with Cholie's Pizza, but that's a different story. There are three reactions to the pizza offerings at these meetings. You can be (1) a rube and declare how delicious it all was compared to the standards (Pizza Hut and Domino's), (2) from Chicago and feel disheartened that Hyde Park doesn't contain good pizza, or (3) an East Coast snob and hate the pizza because it wasn't made in New York and OMFG, did you realize we're not in New York anymore???

Eventually you come to realize a few things

• Cholie's is bad in a good way; the adjacent Falcon Inn is just bad
  
• The pizza wasn't so bad, it was just laying in cardboard boxes for half an hour before anyone touched it
  
• On second thought, the Medici really is that bad. Just because they let you carve your name anywhere you want doesn't mean the overpriced pizza is any good.
  

Though Hyde Park residents are split on their favorite pizza, Caffe Florian always has supporters that endorse its crust as the only one in Hyde Park worth a damn. Plus, it is BYOB, a handy touch for the cheap, the discerning, and the underaged. We sat down at the big booth in the back and ordered the following pies:

• Thin Crust, Pepperoni, Garlic, Onion
• Pan (regular), Ham, Basil
• Pan (wheat), the special Artichoke Pesto pizza

It was pretty empty on this Wednesday evening and the pizza came very quickly, in 22 minutes. Our waiter was quick and unobtrusive, a refreshing change from our recent experiences and I didn't mind giving him his 18% gratuity for parties of 6 or more. All the ingredients that were sliced (ham, garlic, onion) were finely diced. I appreciated this because it ensured a better flavor distribution even if there is less texture. The artichoke pesto pizza was still covered in tomato sauce and not just pesto. As I said earlier, Florian is BYOB and good thing. For 3 pizzas and 7 people, it came to $9.50 per person. For anyone in their delivery area, I remember that they include little packets of cheese, oregano, and red pepper flakes in their orders. Now that's service. It's also right next to the 57th street Electric Metra line if anyone is going home to the south suburbs and wants some pizza.

Petey gives Caffe Florian a score of 8.6


The pepperoni & garlic goes fast...


Ham & Basil


The last slice...


"Do you like Pizza? Yeah, me too"


Where it went down

D'Agostino's Pizza and Pub [Meeting #27]

D'Agostino's Pizza and Pub
1351 W. Addison St. (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL
(773) 477-1821

CPC invaded D'Agostino's Pizza and Pub on 3/23/06

I don't know the history of D'Agostino's, but I like to let my imagination test its legs in cases like this. I imagine some dude, Mr. D'Agostino, opens his restaurant in 1968 (this is actually true) and watches as throngs of Cubs fans walk by on their way home after yet another loss and wonders why they don't come into his restaurant. So he labours in the kitchen, trying to improve his recipe, and dies. At this point, his wife and sons continue his life's work and they finally realize that the fans haven't stopped in because they're too full of Old Style to want to eat anything. In this rather unrewarding process, the pizza has gotten pretty good and now that the original hard scrabble Cubs fans have been displaced by the young, the upwardly mobile, the urban professionals who pride themselves on good taste, business finally flourishes.

Ok, it's a lame story, but my job stifles creativity and the story does underscore how I feel about the food and the Cubs, both of which are important. To me.

I don't remember the sizes, but who really cares? We ordered:

• Sundried Tomato Pizza, a special with goat cheese, basil, and sundried tomatoes
• Thin Crust, Pepperoni, Mushroom
• Pan Pizza, Sausage, Onion
• Stuffed, Spinach
  

So after negotiating the false entrance, we were given a large table by the very same false entrance that fooled most of us as we tried to enter the restaurant. It provided considerable amusement throughout the night to observe people pulling and tugging on a door that won't open only to finally read the sign posted directing you to another door for entrance. Our waitress was atrocious. It took her forever to come to our table and when we told her we weren't quite ready, it was a kiss of death. She decided that we since we were unable to order 2 minutes after sitting down, we surely must need half an hour or more. So after finally tracking her down, we placed our order and 35 minutes later our pizzas started emerging.

Let's begin with the sundried tomato pizza. The goat cheese was mild and I almost forgot the basil was on the pizza, but the sundried tomatoes were excellent. The pepperoni pizza featured D'Agostino's sweet sauce, and I mean that in a positive way. The have ample amounts of sauce under the cheese without making the crust soggy. The mushrooms imparted a stronger flavor than one would expect and I enjoyed it. The pan and stuffed pizzas were both good stabs at Chicago classics. The crust held up well under the weight of the ingredients. Another affordable night out; pizza was about $10 per person.

A few more things of note regarding D'Agostino's:

• I've ordered takeout from their River North location many times. It's pretty good, but not as good as Dine-In
• Wednesday diners get a large pizza with one topping for half price
• They had Goose Island Honker's Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap
• I once saw my friend's band play in their basement, also known as the Monkey Room. Don't expect touring bands to play here, it's likely all local, but they have beer down there and it's a fun space
• The Chicago Bar Project reviews the bar side of the restaurant here
  

Petey gives D'Agostino's a score of 6.8


Delicious stuffed crust


Their Pan Pizza


The two thin crust pizzas


The lay of the land


Where it went down