Gino's North [Meeting #79]

Gino's North [GoogleMaps]
1111 W. Granville Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
773-465-1616

CPC invaded Gino's North on 4/28/09.

Review submitted by Amanda

Gino's North is an Edgewater institution that does not look like much from the outside. The establishment has existed since the 1930s or 40s, but was a bar known as the "Snowdrop" back in those days. For years the bar existed as an Edgewater dive popular with locals. It's not clear when pizza became a feature, but around 30 years ago a woman named Peggy started working there and become known for her crust, lovingly featured on the restaurant's website as "Peggy's Famous Homemade Crust." The previous owners renamed the restaurant "Gino's North," and it is allegedly unconnected to the more famous "Gino's East." About three years ago the current owners bought the restaurant and invested in the interior, which features several half-moon booths and a long art deco style bar with a statue in the middle. Gino's North is not ideal for large groups, as CPC discovered when our gang of fourteen trickled in and waited for tables.

Because the restaurant is not set up in a way to accomodate large groups, we split into three tables and each table got to choose the toppings. Gino's North features deep dish and thin crust pies, each with Peggy's dough. My table ordered one deep dish with sausage, and one thin crust with pepperoni, artichoke, and sun-dried tomatoes. (I got a lot of ribbing for that last combination, but I was only trying to be creative). Our pizzas took over a half hour, perhaps even forty minutes before they came out. The Bulls/Celtics game provided some distraction, and we were concerned when a table that had ordered before us got there pizzas first. However, our pizzas arrived not long after that.

The deep dish arrived first. The deep dish is not like a traditional Chicago deep dish pizza. In my (albeit limited) experience, a real deep dish pizza has a thicker crust. This deep dish is almost like a pan pizza, but a very deep pan. Peggy deserves her local renown for the crust. Although the lighting was dark, we could tell the crust had a golden yellow hue indicative of corn flour, and perhaps olive oil. The crust was solid, with a nice crisp on the outer edges. Also noteworthy was the sauce, which was not very sweet, and nicely spiced. The distribution of sausage of evenly balanced, but not overpowering.

The thin crust was experimental in toppings. Artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and pepperonies, admittedly, do not go together intuitively. However, I liked it. They are all strong flavors, and there was something about the pepperoni that was really delightful -- it was almost like a salami. Like the deep dish, the thin crust had great flavor, and although I would have liked to see a little bit more of char to the edge, there was still a good crunch around the edges.

Overall, it's definitely worth a trip to Edgewater to try the pizza at Gino's North. If you see Peggy, a petite blonde in the back who looks like she knows what she's doing, tell her the CPC says, "Hey."

Overall, Gino's North is a solid neighborhood pizza place worth a visit if you're in the area, aren't with a big group, and aren't a stickler f0r extra-friendly service. If you meet those criteria, you're sure to enjoy it. 

Chicago Pizza Club gives Gino's North a 6.6.

I Monelli Trattoria Pizzeria [Meeting #78]

I Monelli Trattoria Pizzeria [GoogleMaps]
5019 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
773-561-8499

CPC invaded I Monelli Trattoria Pizzeria on 4/16/09.

Review submitted by Andrew

With another tax day safely behind us (and with hopefully all members in good standing with the IRS) the Chicago Pizza Club decided to hit up the North Side to try out I Monelli Trattoria Pizzeria. This neighborhood pizzeria is located in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood not too far from the Western Ave. Brown line stop.

Opened in April of 2008 by Marco Schiavoni (owner of the Pizza Metro restaurants in the East Village area) and chef Giovanni Carzedda (formerly of Pizza D.O.C. and Il Covo)—along with food importer Massimiliano Agostini—I Monelli (which roughly translates to "Those Rascals") serves up contemporary Roman-style pizza along with such other Italian fare as antipasti, salads, pasta, and paninis. But, as always, we came for the pizza... but oh, did I mention that the restaurant is BYOB? Fortunately some members of the CPC remembered to raid their liquor supplies before heading down.

The Roman-style pizza at I Monelli features a thick (thicker than a normal pie, but not as thick as a pan or a Sicillian-style pizza) hand-tossed crust, topped with olive oil before being cooked in a 400 degree pizza oven. Pizzas are square cut and topped with a sauce made from imported Italian tomatoes. There are are nine different topping combinations to choose from on the menu, and of course you can always build your own pie with the standard toppings.

The rectangular pies at I Monelli come in three sizes; 5", 9" (a half sheet) and 18" (a full sheet). On our trip the Chicago Pizza Club ordered five of their specialty pizzas and one custom pie:

• Potate é Rosmarino (Potato & Rosemary)
• Capricciosa (Artichoke, Ham & Black Olives)
• Margherita (Fresh Tomato & Basil)
• Rucola (Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula on White Pizza Dough)
• Romana (Ham, Onions & Oregano)
• Sausage, Garlic & Sauteed Mushrooms

All pizzas were ordered in the "half" size, which the waitress told us normally feeds about two people. The Pizza Club had 12 members tonight (with one late comer) and probably could've stood to order one more pie to share amongst us. Tthe pizzas came out promptly, I forget exactly how long, but I don't believe we waited more than 15 minutes after ordering.

The pizzas all shared the same signature crust along with a minimal amount of sauce with the Romana and Capricciosa pizzas having a little bit more. When the sauce did stand out though it made quite a difference. Toppings for the most part were all pretty generous (especially with the arugula), I felt that the Romana could've used more oregano since it was hardly noticeable on the pizza at all and since it was listed as one if the toppings it seemed like it should've stood out more.

Among the favorites were the Sausage, Mushroom and Garlic pizza, the Potato & Rosemary and the Margherita which had a bit more cheese than the others pizzas and was topped with very fresh basil. The mozzerella on the Margherita also stood out from the other pizzas tonight.

All in all, a solid outing. All of the pizzas were consistent. Unlike some other restaurants that the Chicago Pizza Club has been to lately, I Monelli knows what they do well and sticks to that style of pizza.

Chicago Pizza Club gives I Monelli a 5.62

[Chicago Pizza News] Chicago Pizza Club Joins The Bite Against ALS

The Les Turner ALS Foundation has joined with some local restaurants to raise money for the foundation via restaurant purchases. During the month of May, diners at these restaurants can order a "Culinary Crusade Special" and a portion of the cost of this dish goes to the foundation. The Les Turner ALS Foundation supports medical research, clinical and support services for ALS patients, and dessemination of ALS information. If you are unfamiliar with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), then here are a few links about the disease and the baseball player whose name is also attached to it.

Participating restaurants include:
- Adobo Grill ( Wicker Park in Chicago )
- Bluegrass ( Highland Park )
- Graziano’s Brick Oven Pizza ( Niles )
- Ina’s (West Loop in Chicago )
- Tuscany (Oak Brook)
- Tuscany (Wheeling)
- Unrefined Café ( Valparaiso , Ind. )
- Vinci (Chicago)
- Wishbone (West Loop in Chicago )
- Wishbone (Lakeview in Chicago )

CPC has not yet been to Graziano's Brick Oven Pizza, but it has been added to our long list of places to visit. They feature a wood-burning oven and have been given a score of over 20 by Zagat. They are known for having a variety of toppings and an extensive menu and have been in their current location for over a decade. I don't have information on which menu item is the special at Graziano's, but a little birdie tells me it will most likely be wine.

[Chicago Pizza News] Obama Officially Prefers St. Louis Pizzeria

Submitted by Marla Collins' Husband.

I previously wrote that the alleged Barack Obama love for Italian Fiesta Pizzeria was purely speculative and that only Obama known to actually like it is Michelle.

It turns out that the earlier story that Obama fell in love with a pizza he had in St. Louis during the campaign is definitely true. The White House has invited the owner and chef of Pi to come to Washington on Friday and cook some pizzas for President Obama and his staff.

[Chicago Pizza News] Giordano's Scion Takes Interesting Path to Destiny as Restauranteur

The Chicago Tribune recently ran an article about Basil Apostolou, 27, one of the two sons of Giordano's kingpin John Apostolou, then man who bought the restaurant chain from Boglio brothers who founded the company in 1974. Basil and his younger brother George are both on their way to taking over the family business, with each of them already owning a Giordano's location (Basil's is downtown in Prudential Plaza).

It turns out that Basil is a bit of a free spirit who spends a lot of time traipsing around the world. His most recent trip, which apparently inspired the article, involved a week-long trip to a "shamanic workshop" in the Amazon rainforest. He tried a bunch of new foods along the way but, according to Basil, nothing he would consider bringing into the restaurant.

John Apostolou refused to comment for the article.

Annual State of the Chicago Pizza Club Meeting / Frozen Pizza Extravaganza [Meeting #77]

Frozen pizzas invaded the CPC on 4/4/09.

Review submitted by El Presidente.

This meeting had a dual purpose. It was primarily a meeting to discuss the future of the Chicago Pizza Club and how to improve it for you, our devoted readers. But it also gave us a reason to trash Dan's house and cook 10 frozen pizzas. These were all bought at Dominick's except for the Lou Malnati's pizza which I picked up from one of their pizzerias (Malnati's is not available in supermarkets). The total cost for these pizzas came out to $71. We cooked all of the pizzas as close to their indicated temperatures as we could, but a few were off by 25 degrees due to time and oven space constraints.

Here is the lineup:

• DiGiorno mushroom medley, portabella and button mushrooms with creme fraiche and roasted red onions
  
• Lou Malnati's deep-dish to-go pizza with pepperoni
• Home Run Inn with sausage and uncured pepperoni
  
• Gino's East deep-dish sausage
• California Pizza Kitchen white pizza (spinach, garlic, fontina cheese, parmesan, romano, mozarella)
  
• Newman's Own with uncured pepperoni
  
• Freschetta 4-cheese
  
• Palermo Rustica 6-cheese (white cheddar, asiago, romano, provolone, mozzarella, parmesan)
• Tombstone Deluxe (onion, mushrooms, green pepper, and sausage)
• Reggio's cheese deep-dish
  

Let's begin with the deep-dish pizzas. Going into the evening, I thought that these pizzas would be easier to replicate at home than thin crust pizzas. Deep dish pizzas cook for longer periods of time and the crust isn't necessarily as prominent as in a thin crust. The ice crystals that gather on a thin crust would lead me to believe those crusts will be soggy and that a deep dish can better accommodate the extra moisture. The Lou Malnati's had a ton of cheese. In fact, that was pretty much all I could taste. The dough was kind of chewy, perhaps due to slight undercooking on our part. The sauce, which was essentially tomato chunks, was just boring. To be fair to Lou, I should note that the instructions recommend thawing the Lou's for a few hours prior to cooking, but we just baked it right out of the freezer.

I thought the Gino's East pizza was terrible. It was just bland, which is NOT the case at the restaurant. The sauce was comparatively good and was a good counterpoint to the cornmeal crust. The Reggio's was a cheese pizza and this was a good thing. I found it to be so salty that any meat would have made it inedible for me. Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, and Reggio's are local Chicago restaurants that offer frozen versions of their products. I have only been to Lou's and Gino's and their frozen pizzas pale in comparison to the offerings at the restaurants, and I think it's an easy assumption that the same holds true for Reggio's. I thought they were all disappointing. The cook times for these three were 40 minutes, 35 minutes, and 30 minutes respectively.

Perhaps my favorite pizza of the night was a new product from Newman's Own (12 minutes). They have recently entered the frozen pizza business and they seem to know what they're doing. The crust was crisp, the cheese and sauce had a strong garlic component and a good distribution of toppings, including some really sorry-looking pepperoni. Say what you will about what most places offer at their restaurant, but this pepperoni (and all the other ones we had tonight) was chewy, too salty, and should not be put on any pizza. Palermo's pizza (20 minutes) is put out by the Milwaukee chain of the same name. This six cheese pizza had a great flavor - I thought it was the best topping of the night. I'm used to seeing 4 cheese pizzas, but these guys are clearly going for the glory with 6 cheeses. I felt the crust was too thick and spongy, but this was still one of the better pizzas. The DiGiorno pizza (12 minutes) had excellent toppings as well. The mushrooms tasted better than a lot of mushrooms you get at good pizzerias. I really thought the creme fraiche was unnecessary and just added a layer of flavorless glob underneath the great mushrooms. This was in the flatbread style and the crust was appropriately thin and crisp.

The biggest disappointment of the night for me was the Home Run Inn pizza (20 minutes). I am a big fan of their restaurant product and had fond memories of a few frozen pizzas in my childhood. Those memories are dashed thanks to a sauce that is so artificial I could taste the metal can it came in, cheap, rubbery meats, and a bland crust. Tombstone (17 minutes) needs no introduction. We've all had it, either at kitchenless bars, dorm rooms, or on lonely Saturday nights. This Wisconsin product had a great set of commercials a few decades ago and is probably the best-known frozen pizza. The deluxe had the worst meat of the night. It was just gross. The only positive I can say is that the crust was crisp and didn't let the toppings spill all over me. I was able to salvage it with lots of Tabasco sauce, but that's because all I could taste was the hot sauce. I'll at least commend them for being consistent. This pizza hasn't changed.

Even before this meeting, I already knew that I would hate California Pizza Kitchen (11 minutes). I hate it from every angle: I hate their stupid toppings, I hate their attempts at making pizza healthy, I hate California, and I hate people who tell me it's the greatest pizza they have ever had. This white pizza had chunks of spinach that were visually unappetizing because they were clumped and soggy. It was also very salty, but not in a good way. I think Phred may have ended up with the last bite of my piece. Freschetta (19 minutes) was in a tough spot. The 6-cheese pizza from before set the bar high and this 4-cheese Freschetta pizza was no comparison. It had a lot of sauce, but this was actually terrible since it made it hard for me to get the cheese combination flavors. The crust was light and fluffy with some decent chew, but it was drowned in the sea of terrible sauce.

The lesson here? When possible, go to the restaurant to eat pizza or at least get delivery - the frozen product does not compare. There were a few that put more attention into the quality of ingredients and this was evident. I would be happy to have those as a late night snack, but they're still nowhere near as good as any decent restaurant.

Armand's Pizzeria [Meeting #76]

Armand's Pizzeria [GoogleMaps]
7400 W. Grand Avenue
Elmwood Park, IL 60707
708.456.5200

CPC invaded Armand's Pizzeria on 3/25/09.

So, after our plans for eating at Freddy's were foiled by their horribly early 7 PM closing time we made alternate plans to go to Armand's instead. Armand's is a family owned restaurant that has been in Elmwood Park for over 50 years now. You're quickly greeted by a friendly staff and handed menus to review. They can be chatty or business-like depending on your preference and they're not intrusive. It's clear that this staff has been working together for a while and that they have a solid base of returning customers. We saw multiple families having dinner and a few people on awkward dates.

On a trip to the bathroom, I took a detour into the kitchen and found it to be clean and orderly. They use gas ovens for their pizzas here and can clearly accommodate large orders with the number of ovens I saw.

We had a small group for this outing, but the hunger was strong. Along with three or four pitchers of reasonably priced beer, our order consisted of:

• Thin crust with sausage and garlic as toppings, with the arrabiata sauce in place of the traditional marinara
• Pizza Nova carbonara - mozzarella, basil, garlic and capicola
• Pizza Nova signature - artichoke hearts, fontinella, red roasted peppers, and basil
• Pizza Nova di gio - roast beef, giardiniera, and green peppers
  

We broke with the usual CPC tradition of ordering every style of pizza that a restaurant makes. We avoided the pan pizza here due to the reputation the restaurant has for good thin crust pizza. Whether that was a mistake or not is hard to say; we didn't see anyone else ordering it either. Hopefully some readers can chime in about this pizza.

The thin crust was a fine example of the Chicago tavern-style pizza. The sausage was really plentiful and the cheese was browned all over. Some people think this is burned cheese, but I find it to be perfect for this style of pizza. We decided to try the arrabiata sauce instead of the traditional sauce on this pizza and I'm glad we did. It truly was an arrabiata sauce worthy of the name and this pizza was likely the first one finished despite it being the largest one. The crust was crisp despite heavy toppings, plentiful cheese, and a lot of sauce. It had a particularly satisfying "bready" flavor to it that was a welcome change from some bland crusts that we've had recently. The Pizza Nova style is their modified Neapolitan-meets-Chicago take on traditional pizza. It is cooked in a gas oven like the rest of the pizza and has a thinner crust with more esoteric toppings. It lacks the char and pull of a hotter wood-burning oven crust, but it doesn't affect the toppings or cheese. I'll leave more specifics thoughts on the Nova pies to the comments, but I'd like to make a few points. The carbonara was delicious, largely due to the capicola. It didn't taste like any other capicola I have tried. It almost tasted smoked, which I don't believe is how capicola is traditionally made. I really enjoyed this pie. The signature was heavy on the artichoke and not particularly balanced. Depending on your esteem for artichokes this can be excellent or disappointing. The Di Gio had nice giardiniera, but the beef was like many beefs on pizzas in the city - dry, relatively flavorless, and forgettable.

I keep getting to these meetings so early because they're in the suburbs. Although it's true I live further west than most of my friends, I'm still surprised at how accessible some of these near-West suburban pizzerias are to city dwellers. From accounts I have found on the internet, we showed up on a relatively quiet night. I'm sure the rest of the Italian menu is above average and some of the pizzas were very good. They have three locations now, all in the West suburbs. For anyone living in these parts, I feel confident you have already heard of Armand's if not actually eaten here. For city dwellers looking for a good tavern pizza, it's not as far as you think.

Chicago Pizza Club gives Armand's Pizzeria a 7.1

Crust [Meeting #75]

Crust
2056 W. Division St. (Map)
(773) 235-5511

CPC invaded Crust on 2/26/09.

By now, most people have come to accept organic foods as generally better tasting than their steroid and pesticide dependent counterparts because they give you super powers and make you attractive to both sexes (alert: sarcasm is high). Creating a restaurant around only organic food and then receiving certification as the first USDA certified organic restaurant in the Midwest does not conjure visions of taste greatness; it instead brings to my Midwestern (and sensible) mind a cuisine for California types that focuses on quality everywhere except for the overall taste of the food. I've avoided eating here and taking the CPC here, but eventually I decided to give it a try. Thankfully, Chef Michael Altenberg pays attention to his ingredients and showcases them well in his pizza.

After going through the long and apparently annoying process of organic certification, the restaurant opened up to large crowds initially in 2007. Although it initially received some lukewarm reviews for its pizza and pasta inconsistencies, it appears this has leveled off and can be attributed to working out the kinks of a newly opened restaurant. Crust does not make the typical pizza, but instead calls it a flatbread. It is cooked in yet another wood-fired oven and therefore the crust is rather thin and the pizzas are all single-serving size.

We arrived and found that we had enough people to order every single pizza on the menu, plus the special, if we wanted to do so. And that's exactly what we did. We ordered:

• Wild herb and creamery cheese, with roasted garlic
• FlammKuchen, a pizza with bacon and bechamel
• Italian Sausage, homemade sausage in a tomato sauce
• Pepperonata, tomato sauce, roasted peppers, and mozzarella
• Shroom, featuring a salad with lemon dressing
• Shrimp Arrabiata, featuring mozzarella and basil
  
• Basilico, shredded basil with tomato sauce, bechamel and buffalo mozzarella
• Margherita, with ricotta
  
• Sausage Arrabiata (daily special), sliced sausage with roasted potatoes
• Eggplant, with capers, pesto, onions, and olives

The ingredients here were showcased as the highlight of the food. There were a few misses, but more hits, and there is some creativity in these pies. We were informed that the sausage was homemade and it was excellent. The right mix of fat and meat, crumbled, and well balance in its seasoning. The sliced sausage did not appear to be the same kind as the crumbled. The sliced variety had very little flavor, was dry, and generally forgettable. The crust had excellent texture when it was hot. It had a good amount of chew and the crust was crisp. We're all accustomed to the unfortunate practice of not putting enough sauce on these type of pizzas; some don't even have a sauce. A generally basic tomato sauce with good Italian seasoning was outshined by the other ingredients in the pies. The exception were the Arrabiata dishes, where the sauce was appropriately spicy and plentiful.

The eggplant pizza was best described by a member who called it a "salt-lick disguised as eggplant." I don't think the Buffalo mozzarella made it on our basilico pizza or it was in such small amounts we failed to notice it. Either way, this was disappointing. The pizzas also tasted drastically different when they were hot and cold. The window for enjoying these pizzas is narrow. The fancy, expensive drinks do not live up their billing. They didn't have a bartender available and our waiter had to mix the drinks - poorly. And finally, the tab came to $15 a person, which is higher than we've come to expect when ordering for 12 people. When we left, we really weren't as grossly full as we usually were due to the smaller sizes of these pizzas. We were brought an extra shrimp arrabiata pizza by mistake and we still ate this extra pie and had room to spare. In fact, some members went to the nearby Caffe Gelato in the pouring rain for dessert while I went home and ate some ice cream instead.

Overall, an uneven performance. Some of these pizzas were quite good, but some were terrible and remained uneaten. Be careful in your selection and plan on appetizers and dessert and you can certainly have a fine meal here. I'm not sure if the rumors of the economic trouble Crust is experiencing are true or not, but they have cut their hours for the winter season.

[Chicago Pizza News] Who Invented the Deep-Dish?

Who invented Chicago's greatest contribution to humanity?

It's a mystery as old as time, and the Chicago Tribune tries to get to the bottom of it with an article published online today.

Take a look at what the Trib has to say by clicking here.

[Meet the Members] Jennifer

Screen Name: Jen

Real Name: Jennifer

Came out of the Oven: Born in Grand Rapids, MI, but Wisconsin is tattooed on my head. That probably comes off like I'm joking.

Favorite toppings: Jalapeños, giardiniera, garlic. Pizza sauce. MEAT. Most of all, MEAT. Pepperoni (and not that tasteless wax paper that comes on Pizza Hut), sausage, cow. I hope to someday see lamb on a pizza, and that it's as amazing as it is in my dreams.

First Pizza Club Meeting: December 11th, 2008 at Palermo's

Favorite Deep Dish Pizza: Pequod's. So far.

Favorite Thin Crust Pizza: I'm not really sure, but I probably made it.

Favorite Pizza outside of Chicago: Fetalicious from Glass Nickel in Madison, WI. Dipped in ranch. Word on the street is that their pizza isn't as great now that they are franchising, so this might be null.

Had Pizza in the Motherland? I wish!

What Do You Do When Not Eating Pizza? Program computers and play with dolls.

Personal Pizza Statement: Eating pizza is an important extension to my ongoing celebration of food and all the amazing things it has done for me. After a 13 year hiatus, I have resumed eating meat, and the Pizza Club has helped along that process gloriously. Joining has also helped me sharpen my palate for fine sausages and stuff cooked in fire, along with learning how to judge, sometimes harshly, all things pizza.