Professor Pizza [Meeting #123]

Professor Pizza 

3724 N Clark Street (Map)

Chicago, IL 60613

(224) 307-4820

Online ordering only

CPC invaded El Pres and Kate's back deck to eat pizza from Professor Pizza while socially distancing most of the time on Saturday, November 7, 2020.

For the first time since the Chain Pizza Extravaganza back in 2008, the members of the Chicago Pizza Club gathered for delivery pizza. We did so because 1) pickup at the right time was impossible for some logistical reasons and 2) we trusted that a guy who calls himself Professor Pizza wouldn't let delivery screw with quality too much. I won't bury the lede: this pizza was fantastic and the Professor has a flawless system in place.

Each week, pies are available for preorder for Friday and Saturday only. That's it. If you want pizza from the Professor on any other day, you're out of luck. Or you can go to Dough Bros, which he ran for a couple of years. Note: Haven't been in ages; no idea if it's still good. He's also done stints at Coalfire, and Chicago's location of Paulie Gee's. Anyhow, when ordering ahead from Professor Pizza, you have your choice of three grandma style pies that don't seem to change: pepperoni, sausage, and cheese. And each week, he has a pizza listed as "Extra Credit," which can be any number of styles or toppings combinations.

The pepperoni pizza is fantastic. A massive supply of quality pepperoni along with some decorative splotches of ricotta and some Mike's Hot Honey on the side, this thing is loaded with a flavorful kick.

Of course, for anyone who spends as much time thinking about pizza as the Professor, the crust is going to be where he wants you to focus. And for good reason, it's exceptional. Clearly fermented for a while and cooked with a nice dose of some kind of fat (probably olive oil), this bread has a whole lot of chew (but not too much) and a nice crunch on the exterior. Would happily eat the crust with nothing on top. 

The sausage pizza is even more straightforward (old school toppings done right) than the pepperoni one (no newfangled hot honey here) and every bit as satisfying. The sausage was really well seasoned and, as was the case with the pepperoni, the sauce and cheese were both really good.

As mentioned above, while the grandma pizzas don't change from week to week, the Extra Credit pies do. Sometimes they're a bit wacky (there was a Detroit style Monte Cristo pizza, complete with cinnamon, sugar and maple syrup) and sometimes they're pretty straightforward. We were definitely on the straightforward side with this 20-inch four cheese New Jersey bar pizza. The extra thin and crispy crust was topped with Grande aged mozzarella, Fontina béchamel, tallegio, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Along with the olive oil, this was one rich and very good pizza. I didn't think it was on par with the grandma slices but they had the unfair advantage of sauce and meat.

Attendance was low at this Pizza Club meeting, but with the return of Stander after years away, we were a mighty crowd. There was not much pizza left at the end of the meal.

For the third time this year, we enjoyed some Hoosier Mama pie with our pizza. This time, thanks to some late season raspberries and particularly exceptional crust even by their standards, we got an all time great dessert. We talked about going back for one more pie. We didn't do it. That was a mistake.

Pizza Friendly Pizza [Meeting #122]

Pizza Friendly Pizza

1039 N. Western Ave. (Map)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 395-2483

CPC invaded El Pres and Kate's back deck to eat pizza from Pizza Friendly Pizza while pretty much socially distancing on Thursday, August 6, 2020.

My two favorite Sandovals. Noah is one of Chicago's the country's best chefs and has quickly proven that a fine dining master can rock the pizza world; World Series MVP Pablo has made over $115 million in his career and has proven that weight ain't nothing but a number. (Photo credits: Noah, Chicago Tribune; Pablo, Boston Herald)

When a Michelin-starred chef opens a pizzeria, the world is going to take notice and expectations are going to be high. Noah Sandoval, the man behind two-Michelin-starred Oriole, opened Pizza Friendly Pizza two weeks ago. With Oriole closed due to the pandemic, Sandoval was clearly able to focus on this place and hit the ground running. Pizza Friendly Pizza is primarily intended as a slice shop, but limited whole pies are available for pre-order on Tock up to two weeks ahead of time. How limited? When we went to order 3 pizzas on Sunday for Thursday, nothing between 6:00 and 8:00 was available. I ordered two (the max per order) for the 8:00 pick-up and when Kate went to order one for the same time, that time slot was filled so she had to choose 6:00. Availability has only gotten worse since then as word has gotten out.

Let's start with the stellar, because I don't want it to get lost in the less glowing parts that follow. The crust, from the Sicilian/bakery pizza style family, is absolutely spectacular. I don't know a whole lot of words to describe bread. But this crust, reportedly the result of a 4-5 day fermentation and a 12-hour rise is crisp, chewy, sourdough-y and filling without being heavy. Anyone who tells you anything negative about this crust should be ignored. It's flawless. The pictures tell the story on this one so I'll add some more.  

Are you drooling? You should be drooling. And side note: how great is it that a chef who made his name crafting gorgeous (and I'm sure spectacular) bites like these, eschewed Neapolitan in favor of the thick stuff when entering the pizza game? But unfortunately Sandoval doesn't follow all the way through. One nice thing about thick slabs of super-flavorful bread is that they have the capacity to serve as delivery vessels for some face-slapping levels of flavor. And to be sure, a few of the toppings definitely brought that. But too many of the toppings, while quite good, ranged from love taps all the way down to butterfly kisses. That variety is great in a fixed-price multi-course tasting menu, but on a thick pizza, you've got to bring the thunder. Read on about the individual pizzas and you'll see what I mean.

We tried three of the four pizza options on the menu. Up first was the Pepperoni & Basil. This one suffered from the apparent disadvantage of having been picked up at 6:00 for an 8:00 dinner. Stored with the top off to prevent steaming and then reheated in an oven, that it was still so good is a real testament to this place. The crust lost virtually nothing in the process. Honestly, I don't think a reheating was even necessary. The life force in this this dough is strong; I suspect it can survive a lot.

The pepperoni, from Ezzo, is fantastic. There's a reason this Columbus-based pepperoni specialist has taken over New York and it's not just because that town has such shitty sausage. These small, crisp, chewy, fatty, spicyish cups of cured meat look like they're designed for Instragram but taste like they were designed for my belly.

Reheated and still fantastic

In addition to the pepperoni, mozzarella (presumably that's the cheese) and sauce, this one also came with a little basil and a hefty dose of Parmesan. I have no complaints at all about this pizza whatsoever. Could the crust have handled more pepperoni a la Prince Street's beloved Spicy Spring in New York? Absolutely, and I probably would have liked this even more. But I'm a glutton and this pizza is a rock star as is. That said, given Sandoval's skill, I know he can do a whole lot better in the toppings department, and that's where he fell short on the other pies.

I actually liked the mushroom and Calabrian chili pizza even more than the pepperoni. But the room for improvement on this one jumps out on the first bite. First, the excellent: The mushrooms were about as good as mushrooms get and this pie delivered a massive punch of mushroom flavor. There was some burrata on there as well and that certainly never made a pizza worse. But if you're going to advertise the chili in the name of the pizza, you've got to bring some heat especially when the crust and pile of mushrooms are begging for it. Calabrian chilis aren't especially spicy but they do have some kick and, other than a mildly warm aftertaste, this pie didn't deliver on spice at all. To be clear, I loved this pizza. The crust was phenomenal and the mushrooms were amazing. But with some noticeable heat and maybe some tangy cheese added, this might have had me in line the next night risking COVID to get a slice or two. 

In a stunning turn of events, I think the sausage pizza was universally the least-liked pizza of the evening. We didn't actually discuss it, but I'm writing the review and I say definitely that this was the worst pizza of the night. This pizza is called Ruben's Special. I don't know who Ruben and I have nothing against him, but the dude clearly doesn't like strong flavors.Again, thanks to a phenomenal crust, there was no way this was going to be a bad pizza. But man were the toppings on this one weak sauce.

Speaking of sauce, I haven't mentioned how good the sauce is. The depth of flavor is tremendous; definitely some Michelin-starred cheffiness in play there. The pepperoni pizza had a decent amount of it. Honestly, I'm not positive the other two even had tomato sauce. The mushroom pizza had a little bit of red sauce on it, but due to a recent menu change (Calabrian chili is not Calabrian chili relish), I wonder if that was not actually pepper sauce. Flavor profiles of cooked down versions of both sauces isn't crazy different, so 1) it doesn't really matter; 2) the sauce that was on the mushroom pie was some umami-laden goodness; and 3) there wasn't enough of it.

Looking at the various pics I have of the sausage pizza, it's just as likely that some sauce splattered onto it accidentally as it is that it was intentionally added. But the idea of a sausage and giardiniera not having sauce on it is so wacky, I can't imagine that's the plan. Check that, given the delicateness of the sausage and giardiniera and fennel pollen (the butterfly kisses referenced above), an appreciable amount of the great sauce would have thoroughly dominated this pizza.

Lack of sauce was flavor strike #1. Flavor strike #2 is that there wasn't enough fennel in the fennel sausage and there was no heat whatsoever. It was perfectly good sausage, just not what is expected in this town, especially when you're going to highlight the fennelliness (definitely a word) on the menu. Also, bonus points for the nice chewy texture and well-crisped crust on the top of the sausage.

Flavor strike #3 was the biggest one of all. I get that there's mild giardiniera out there in the world. That being said, at least in Chicago, I think it's safe to say that the default is that it's a spicy condiment. If you're going to list giardiniera on the menu and not deliver even a modicum of heat, you need to set expectations accordingly. In fairness, these were excellent pickled veggies and I'm always a fan of cauliflower in giardiniera. The fennel pollen added an element of sweetness that was kind of weird without the spice to balance it, but not a big deal. 

On a dainty Neapolitan crust, these toppings would have been fine, perhaps fantastic. But when you have a crust that offers this strong of a base to add flavors to, this I can't understand why the decision was made to go so mild on the sausage and giardiniera and light on the sauce. 

I fear this write-up comes across as more negative than intended, but the critiques come from a place of pizza love. Thanks to the crust and the commitment to quality ingredients, there's no question this place has best-pizza-in-Chicago potential. Hell, if you took the sausage and giardiniera from a place like Roseangela's and put it on this crust, I think you'd be there. Let a chef like Sandoval take inspiration from an old-school Chicago joint and chef it up or even put 50% as much effort into toppings as he did into developing this incredible crust, and you're looking at international destination-worthy type pizza. 

Two random notes:

1) Of the four pizzas on menu, three have been already changed significantly; only the pepperoni pizza remains the same. The mushroom and Calabrian chili is now listed as having soppressata, castelvetrano Olives and maitake mushrooms with Calabrian chili relish. On the Rubens Special, it seems that fennel pollen is out and provolone is in. And the rapini, chevre, lemon and garlic pie we passed on has seen the garlic and chevre replaced by argumato and smoked black pepper.

2) This stuff is not cheap. When we ordered, they were $26.50 apiece plus tax and tip. Prices have since gone up to $33 plus tax and tip. While they're not very big, one pizza is definitely enough for two people smaller than Pablo Sandoval. Good ingredients cost good money. Not complaining about the prices, but they're high enough that it won't be a super regular thing for me given the other pizza options out there. Well, at least until I get word they've turned up the dial on flavor potency, at which time they can have all of my money.

Pizza.

Pizza Pie.

Pie

With the freedom of carry-out comes the freedom to mix and match food from different places. That delectable thing right there is a peach strawberry pie from Hoosier Mama. It's spectacular.

RIP Phred

For the first time in its 17-year history, the Chicago Pizza Club has been visited by Death. There was no good time for Phred to die, but it seems especially unfair that his last CPC meeting was Fat Chris's when Pizza Friendly Pizza was there for the eating if he'd made it just one more month. Here's to a pizza life well lived:

Welcome Emma

One life ends, another one begins. Emma Rose Panagiota Mantis made her CPC debut at less than two months old. We can only hope than in the years between her getting teeth and wanting nothing to do with her father, she will come to many meetings of the Chicago Pizza Club. And that along with the rest of the second generation of members, she will continue this tradition long after the 40+ crowd among us join Phred wherever ashes from incinerators are distributed.

Fat Chris's [Meeting #121]

Fat Chris's
1706 W Foster Ave. (Map)
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 944-5444

CPC invaded Winnemac Park to eat pizza from Fat Chris's Pizza while socially distanced on Saturday, May 2, 2020.

It filled up a bit later, but everyone seemed committed to social distancing

With a very promising weather report on the horizon, the Chicago Pizza Club decided enough of the videoconferencing; it was time to meet in person. The key was to find a pizzeria that 1) the CPC hadn't visited as a group, 2) was near a public space where we could properly socially distance ourselves, and 3) was open for lunch. With those criteria in mind, we got carry-out from Fat Chris's and met under a bright sun in beautiful Winnemac Park. 

Several of us had actually eaten Fat Chris's together before. At the 2018 baseball summit, we (baseball fans not the CPC, but there's a lot of overlap) gathered at Empirical Brewing and engaged in a Detroit style taste tests featuring both Jet's and Fat Chris's. El Presidente declared Fat Chris's the winner but I think he might've been alone on that one.


The turnout at this CPC meeting was smaller than usual, which is probably to be expected in these virus-ridden times. It was a treat to see the return of Neil, last seen at a CPC meeting almost six years ago to the day - Bartoli's on May 10, 2014. Joining Neil were Kate, her two children who are almost deserving of their own member pages by now, Andrew, Jen, and yours truly. El Presidente bailed because apparently someone needed a gall bladder removed and even though I'm sure they could've waited a few more hours, the patient wanted it out right away. 

In a CPC first, a couple of members, Andrew and Jen, refused to share pizza with the rest of us. Ordinarily that would be unacceptable but these are different times and I'm told you can't insult people for being extra cautious. 

Social Distancing guide to sharing pizza: Put the boxes in the middle and form a large circle around them

And then you take turns going to get your pizza

Fat Chris's is known for Detroit style pizza and that's where we focused our ordering with the 3 members and two next generation members splitting two Detroit style pizzas and one regular pie, and Andrew and Jen sharing a Detroit style pie. We at the CPC strive for completeness, which is why we added the regular thin crust pizza. Under normal circumstances, we'd have tried a stromboli as well, but sharing that under quarantine seemed like a bad idea.

Garlic, onion and jalapeno on the whole thing and pepperoni on half

Sausage

Sausage and onion

The Detroit style pizzas at Fat Chris's are beautiful specimens. The crisp, greasy crust and rich sauce are drool-inducing. 








The toppings at Fat Chris's are fine; not bad by any stretch but not noteworthy in any way. The crust sure is beautiful. If you've never had Detroit style pizza before, I think you'd love Fat Chris's. If you've had it at any number of places in Detroit or even at Jet's, I think you'll like Fat Chris's but realize there are better options out there.






This is an incredibly tough time for restaurants so I feel bad about what I'm about to write, but the Chicago Pizza Club has an obligation to speak the truth. The thin crust pizza at Fat Chris's is garbage. This pizza basically tasted like undercooked dough. That said, one CPC member absolutely loved it:

BYOP Emergency Coronavirus Meeting [Meeting #120]

This is not what Lincoln Avenue is supposed to look like at 6:00 on a Saturday night

CPC invaded our own homes on Saturday, March 28, 2020.

In the US of A, pizza is a communal food, typically served in sizes way too big to eaten alone and served pre-cut so that groups of people can easily dive in and spend some time with one another over a shared plate of food.

The enthusiastically rejuvenated Chicago Pizza Club has had two wildly successful meetings in the last couple months after taking a nearly 4-year break and we were all eager to get back together. But thanks to the virus that has been ravaging the world, that seemed impossible. Undeterred, we decided that if couldn't break bread while physically together, we could do it virtually.



We ended up having our best attended meeting in years, with members joining in from throughout Chicagoland as well as Indiana, Michigan, and New Jersey. It was also the longest meeting in CPC history, clocking in at around 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Hilarious WebEx shenanigans

Because we were on our own, we obviously got pizzas from a variety of locations. Here's how it went down:



Adam was the only member to bring a new pizzeria into the fold during the Quarantine Meeting. In Crown Point, Indiana, the options are limited and he went with Rosati's.

Adam was the only member who provided a detailed write-up of his pie.

I, and the 5- and 7- year old fellas ate the 18"-ish pizza.  I will echo what Christian said about the sauce and expound a bit...most pizza around us here in Crown Point seems to be slightly to significantly sweet...Gelsosomo's, Aurelio's, Pizza Cellar...all fairly sweet to some degree.  I prefer what Rosati's does and leaves the sweetness behind in favor of more tomato/acidity/salt/etc.  Also, I agree that the sausage was decent quality...no Pequod's or Pizano's, but did the trick.  Cheese was fine...nothing particularly remarkable to me there.  Crust was nice - seemed as thick as they needed to make it possible to eat by hand and stay together...nice and bready with typical cracker flavor and light char here and there...a tad extra char might've made me happier.  Overall, it's been my favorite offering here in NW Indiana where I've been sentenced to live out the foreseeable remainder of my existence (just kidding NWI peeps...we'll work on turning our misguided neighbors around).

I'd say we can give Rosati's a 6.75 out of 10.







The family of Adam also got a gluten free Rosati's and here's some info on that one: I did not eat the gluten-free one, but my wife, Christian, and 3-year-old did, and her response was such: "The crust was good!  It wasn't gummy or limp like other crusts can be.  The sausage had great flavor and wasn't "gristley," and the sauce was savory.  The cheese also seemed pretty high-quality with a high fat content."  I can't remember how much the 10" pizza was, but heads up if you're unfamiliar: usually GF pizza is, like, 3 times the cost per square foot than standard, more-delicious-gluten-containing pizza.











I went to Pat's which was it's usual magnificent self. I'm not sure why this place isn't talked about more. For my money, they're making the best Midwestern thin crust pizza in city limits. Here's the review from our meeting at Pat's 12 years ago.



Phred usually makes his appearance at the end of these posts since he doesn't get to attend the meetings and just weighs in on leftovers. Because he's quarantined with me, he got to participate this time. He loved Pat's but was kind of useless as an attendee, spending most of the meeting sleeping and whining for more pizza when awake.





Those of us who joined the CPC in the blogging era have never shared pizza with Conor before. She left Chicago long before I joined CPC, but as one of the oldest members, she has more street cred than I do. Well, she did before she showed up with Domino's. I kid. We've done Domino's at CPC before and the fact is that while some of our favorite pizzerias probably won't survive Corona, Domino's absolutely will. Conor's daughter also joined us as a first-time Pizza Club participant. Hopefully this virtual meeting will inspire Conor to come to her first physical CPC meeting in 17+ years once this pandemic is over.





The Kims cooked up a few frozen Home Run Inn pizzas (previously CPC'd 11 years ago) and doctored them up with a collection of condiments.













Andrew and Jen opted for a garlic, sausage and feta pizza from Roots, which we went to 10 years ago.





Not often I see someone get a toppings combo I've never even thought about before, but that's what happened here. Andrew says it was good.



But they also ordered toasted ravioli, so who knows what to think.

Jess didn't participate in the meeting but her food baby did

Stelios and Jess went with a spinach deep dish from D'Agostino's (one of the few twice visited CPC pizzerias, once before records were kept and once 14 years ago).





The fine people at D'Agostino's threw in a giant thin crust slice for free because Stelios, as is appropriate for at least as long as the quarantine lasts, tipped extra generously.



Stander fully embraced the quarantined CPC spirit by ordering Little Caesar's (same meeting as Domino's) and making her own dessert pizzas.















El Pres was late to the meeting but made up for it by coming in strong with his pizza game. The Quinteros/Donahoe family brought home two pizzas from Pequod's (previously reviewed here). The adults had pepperoni, garlic, onion, mushroom, and extra sauce (plus Italian beef on half) and the kids had meatball, mushroom and onion.











The Daily family checked in from Michigan with frozen pizza from Costco (never reviewed by the CPC!) and a homemade flatbread pizza of some sort for the kids. No pics of any of them, but what are you going to do. It was a joy to welcome them back for their first CPC meeting in years.

All in all, this was a fantastic meeting of the Chicago Pizza Club. We're all bored out of our minds these days and this was a great excuse to hang out together for the first time in what feels like years. We might have to do it again real soon.