Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern [Meeting #133]

Michael's Original Pizzeria & Tavern

4091 N. Broadway (Map)
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 929-4149

CPC invaded Michael's on a gorgeous sunny and shockingly warm Sunday afternoon, March 3, 2024.

Photo credit: Michael's on Yelp

You'll see Michael's pop up on some best in Chicago lists. It's on the current version of Eater's best tavern crust list and just a couple of days ago, the guy who started Check Please and a chef who was once on Top Chef had it in their list of the six best thin crust places in Chicago. It's easy to write off Eater, especially when it has nonsense like praising Michael's for it's "buttery crusts" when there's no butter of note (nor should there by in the style of pizzas they serve). But David Manilow and Richie Farina are reliable sources and when it comes to the four of the six places they have in their list that we've been to, all four - Jimmy's Pizza Cafe, Vito & Nick's, Bungalow by Middle Brow and Kim's Uncle - have all gotten strong Chicago Pizza Club stamps of approval. I don't have the energy to beat around the bush. Michael's is fine. But anyone who says it has some of the best pizza in Chicago is out of their minds.

For the thin crust, we went with the Daily Special, the signature pizza of Ryan and Kelly Daily, longtime CPC members who haven't shown up since the Zoom meeting early in the pandemic. Pepperoni, garlic and onion is a an excellent topping combo and they worked together once again at Michael's, The pizza looked fantastic but the crust wasn't nearly as crisp as it appears and was ultimately a flavorless cracker. It help up the toppings and the generous amount of cheese. Maybe Michael's is one of those places you need to ask for the pizza extra crisp if you want them to cook it right. Who knows. I don't think any of us will go back to find out.

They call this deep dish on the menu, but this is quite clearly a stuffed pizza. As was the case with the thin crust, it wasn't as good as it looks. The sausage was solid, as is expected at any Chicago pizzeria. The crust is what it is - nobody has ever gotten stuffed pizza for the crust. But the sauce was just way too sweet. It's never my preference but sweet sauce can work on a thin crust pie. On a stuffed pizza, where there's a lot of sauce by design, that kind of sugar has no place. If overwhelmed every bite.

I'd eat the thin crust again if I lived in the neighborhood. Maybe. It depends where. I lived five blocks north on Broadway for a few years and never went. That's because a block north of that is Gigio's, which is much better. Oh damn. CPC has never been to Gigio's. That needs to change.

Five Squared Pizza [Meeting #132]

Five Squared Pizza

1332 N Halsted Street (Map)
Chicago, IL 60642
(224) 595-5781

CPC invaded the Five Squared Pizza Pop-Up Residency at Off Color Brewing on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

The Chicago Pizza Club met at Off Color Brewing for the second time, which is strange because they don't serve pizza. But they do have excellent beer. The first time we went, we took advantage of their BYOF policy by bringing in some outstanding pizza from nearby Pizzeria Bebu (RIP) which was always too crowded for a decent sized CPC meeting and that meeting was a big one. This time, we were drawn back thanks to a pop-up from Five Squared Pizza, a carry-out and delivery only Detroit style pizzeria nearby. The pizzas were pre-cooked at Five Squared and then reheated to order at Off Color in a small oven. Thanks to the amount of oil in a Detroit pizza crust, this is a style suited particularly well to reheating so I don't think much was lost at all.

There were 6 pizzas on the menu that night and there were six CPC members in attendance. Pizzas were sold as slices rather than whole pies (though there was a discount if you ordered in multiples of 4 (the size of a full pizza). That was good and bad for us. The good news was that we didn't have to order 6 whole pies to try them all. The bad news is I decided we needed 3 of each of the 6 so everyone could have a half of every slice and then we added 2 extra slices because that got us to multiples of 4 and we like a deal. This wasn't bad because the pizza was bad (it wasn't); this was bad because Detroit pizza is really filling and we ended up with 8 full slices of extra pizza, 40% of our order.

Tie Dye (Vegetarian) - red sauce, vodka sauce, house basil pesto, pecorino romano. This was the unanimous best pizza of the night. Just kidding. I know I thought it was the best and I know Stander disagreed. I can't remember what anyone else thought but this was definitely the best.

Upside Down / Cheese (Vegetarian) - sliced grande mozz, Sclafani crushed tomatoes, pecorino, olive oil. This simple one was also really delicious. 

Prince St - sliced grande mozz, arrabbiata sauce, ezzo cup & char pepperoni, pecorino romano. Presumably named after the excellent pizzeria in New York that made the thick square cut charred pepperoni pizza popular. So good, in fact, that the place survived the owner being outed as a racist piece of shit. The pizza at Prince Street is better than the pizza at Five Squared, but the people at Five Squared are better people. And this was a very good slice of pizza so Five Squared gets the win.

Carnivore - bacon jam, crumbled hot italian sausage, ezzo pepperoni, parmigiano reggiano, red sauce. I would've thought this one would be the best bust something about the mix of meats piled on top of each other didn't work. Also, with all that meat, this one was screaming out for more of the very good sauce. The thick, oily crust could definitely handle it.

Spinach & Artichoke (Vegetarian) - creamy spinach & artichoke sauce. This was tasty but I prefer spinach and artichoke dip be left as a dip and not on a pizza. But Artichoke Basille's built a mini empire on a similar concept, so this is definitely going to be some people's jam.

Spacca - pistachio cream sauce, crumbled italian sausage, burrata, fresh basil, mike's hot honey. Tasted zero honey but I don't think that would have made a difference. This one wasn't for me. El Pres liked it a lot though.

Good crumb, bad picture

This is a good Detroit crust. Good crust with good toppings makes for good pizza. It was a good night.

There were leftovers

After more than 3 years, it looks like we may have another dog CPC member. Time will tell. This is Phranklin and, while he ate hit full bite (I didn't give him the full slice since I'm easing him into people food/testing the limits of his stomach), he didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it.

Bungalow by Middle Brow [Meeting #131]

Bungalow by Middle Brow

2840 W Armitage Ave (Map)
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 687-9076

CPC invaded Bungalow by Middle Brow on Saturday, September 16 and again on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.

Fresh off the first two meetings in one night move in Chicago Pizza Club History (Meeting #129 and #130), we pulled off another first in our 20-year history - one meeting spread over 2 nights. We didn't do this because of turnout issues. In fact, our 14-person showing on Saturday, September 16 was our biggest in ages and our 7-person turnout on Tuesday, September 26 was more than respectable (total of 16 different members participated). We did this because Bungalow by Middle Brow has a totally different pizza menu on Tuesdays and we believe in thoroughness. And we also believe in deliciousness.

For Part 1 of the meeting, we went to Middle Brow for their regular pizza menu. With a group of 14 people, ordering was easy. There are 10 pizzas on the menu (not including the kids' cheese one) so we ordered them all. But first, in a CPC rarity, we also got some appetizers. We'll take a quick look at those first.

Marinated olive mix with sherry soaked tart cherries. Verdict: Yummy.

Bread with eggplant dip, smoked grapes, and mint; pesto butter pistachio + herbs; sardines.

That's some excellent sourdough bread. Toppings were fine (pesto butter) to very good (eggplant dip with grapes). The key here is the bread. These guys are outstanding at it. So guess what happens when you take the kind of bread skills that result in a nice crusty exterior and soft slightly tangy interior and cover it up with a variety of quality toppings and some creative flavor combinations? You get some goddamned good pizza. Here's the rundown:

Honey roasted peaches, corn, aged gouda, nduja vinaigrette

This was a fantastic start to the night. Summer on a pizza. Maybe could've used a little swine. Perhaps some small bits of guianciale? I guess that's the hole the nduja vinaigrette was trying to fill. Too much nitpicking. Would eat this pizza once a week, which is high praise from someone who thinks that 95% of pizzas should be required to have tomato sauce.

Soppressata, tomato, fermented hot pepper honey

Now here we go. Just a magnificent pie. Eleven CPC members weighed in on the topic and five of us picked this as the pizza of the night. Not a particularly unique pie among trendy pizzerias, but quality ingredients on a phenomenal crust (more on that later) and well cooked and you have something special.

Buttermilk, tropea onions, sungold tomatoes, goat tomme

This one was also quite nice but it was third one delivered to the table and the 8th pizza (out of 10) to be finished. Actually it was the last one to be finished. That's not a knock against it, but the competition was fierce. Roasted sungold tomatoes should be used on pizza more often.

Mushroom, cream sauce, caramelized onions, fontina, oyster mushrooms, chives. 

Mushrooms, more mushrooms, fontina, parmesan, caramelized onions. That's a lot of umami, which is Japanese for delicious.

Adult's cheese. They call it "the best cheese pizza in the city." They might be right. 

Ordering all 10 pizzas on the menu was doable. But if there had been 12 pizzas on the menu, we probably only would have ordered 8 or 9 and there's a good chance this one would have been cut. Not sure what cheeses they're using, but this thing was great. Earthy and tangy.

Margherita

I'm a fan of toppings but for many pizza snobs, this is the baseline for judging a pizza. If that were the case, then Middle Brow has nothing to worry about. Great crust, great cheese, bright and vibrant sauce. Definitely a winner.

Tempesta pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, tarragon

Tempesta products should get used more. This was a great, great pepperoni pizza. I'd have liked more sauce but what can you do. Definitely one of the crowd favorites

Sausage + olive

Another crowd favorite. I've never had olives diced this finely but it really makes sense. You get all that good olive flavor but it doesn't overwhelm any bites. It goes without saying since it's a good pizzeria and it's in Chicago, but the sausage was top notch.

eggplant + shishito, shaved garlic, yuzu oil, thai basil, mint

This vegan pizza was the loser of the night. Just didn't work at all. I tried out of an obligation to completeness but just no. Too much vegetation for one pizza. Also didn't work texturally thanks to all the liquid from the veggies. There were 3 pieces left of this one at the end of the night and the people who took it home ended up composting it

Red sauce + yuzu oil, shaved garlic, fresh oregano.

I actually liked this cheeseless pizza a lot but I'm a sucker for good sauce. It seems that the yuzu oil was not evenly applied because some people had bites where it overwhelmed while others of us didn't notice it at all on our slices. Definitely the winner of the vegan pizzas.

Crackly crusted sourdough

Blurry crust bottom

As you can guess from my description of the sourdough, the crust on these pizzas is absolutely fantastic. Would happily each the crust with absolutely nothing on it. 

It was just a great pizza night overall. I thought the real standouts were the Corn + peach, the sopressata and hot honey, the pepperoni and the sausage and olive.

Here was everyone's #1 choice:

• Andrew: Soppressata
• Jessica: Soppressata
• Stelios: Soppressata
• Francisco: Sausage and olive
• Kate: Mushroom
• AJ: Pepperoni
• Estela: Mushroom
• Amanda: Peach and corn
• Hugo: Adult cheese
• Felix: Soppressata
• Dan: Soppressata

There was dessert. It was pretty good. Not great. Panna cotta peach compote, poppy seed streusel, Thai basil.

Unfortunately it wasn't all positive. They've switched their focus from beer to natural wine. Four of us tried some. We didn't like it. That it was $15 a glass for what the wine snob among us assured me was a small pour made us a little angry. Fortunately, that was very early in the meal and the pizza more than made up for it.

It was a fantastic night, but we weren't done with this meeting yet.

I'd been to Middle Brow previously so I knew we were in for something great. And I also knew about their tavern style pizzas served only on Tuesday nights. I hadn't had it yet but given their skills and the widespread praise, I was confident enough that I already had a reservation made for an upcoming Tuesday when we met up. But I was worried not many people would want to come back so soon so I only made it for 4 people. At the end of the night, I had to double the reservation to 8.

Salad wasn't my choice but it was good. Turned out to be extra important because it took an hour for our cracker thin crust pizzas to start arriving at our table. In their defense, the place was packed. When I was checking in at 6:45, I heard the hostess tell a walk-in that they'd be able to sit but there wouldn't be enough pizza dough for them. It's not normally this crowded on Tuesdays but Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports/One Bite Pizza Reviews gave Middle Brow's tavern crust an 8.1 a couple of weeks ago and any time he gives a score above 8, his fans flock to the place. He has a lot of fans. Back to the delay - no idea how it could possibly take that long despite the crowds given how thin the pizza is, but who knows. I wouldn't have cared much at all but one member, who moved to Indiana and has a shitty schedule that has made him miss multiple CPC meetings despite him being one of the most enthusiastic members, had to leave before the pizza got there.

Pepperoni

Sausage

Cacio e pepe (weekly special)

Veggie

Cheese

Sucks for Adam because these pizzas were absolutely delicious. Crispy crust that stood up to all but the veggies; bite size squares that were almost as fun to eat as they were delicious; top quality toppings and ingredients; and a little creativity with the cacio e pepe.

But that sauce. Sweet Lord that sauce. The best tavern cut places cook the hell out of their tomato sauce/and or add tomato paste to bring out more umami and this place is no exception. But these guys take it a step further. I mentioned how good and rich the sauce was to our server who revealed that there's cheese in the sauce. I'm guessing it's parmesan because a) this sauce was an umami bomb in the best way and b) there was a very liberal sprinkling of parm on all the pizzas. I drank a whole lot of water when I got home.

I've got nothing left to say. The pictures, even the ones that my phone overdid it on when I used the autocorrect function to combat the darkness (we sat outside), tell the whole story. This is some ultra top tier tavern pizza.

So there you have it - an incredibly thorough two day meeting of the Chicago Pizza Club. We ate 15 pizzas and, remarkably, we didn't get them all. The weekend brunch menu actually has a couple of pi

But just when you thought we did it all, it turns out there's a couple of pizzas on the brunch menu that aren't on the dinner menu. They seem to rotate at least a bit. The BLT pizza that was there last week has been replaced by a caramelized onion one with a whole lot of other things going on; but the chilaquiles pizza has been there a couple weeks in a row. Either way, looks like more research needs to be done.

I hate to end the review on a down note, but one detail worth mentioning is that there's an 8% charge added to all orders allegedly for the workers. Restaurants are doing this more and more now rather than increase prices, but 3% seems pretty standard. 8% is noticeable and annoying and leaves confusion about how much to tip since we don't know where the 8% goes (and we never know how tips are split). We, of course, added on a full 20% both times (might have been a little more), but it really would be better if they just raised the prices by 10% than add on an 8% fee which really just goes to the restaurant (how much it trickles down to employees is a mystery).