Dante's Tavern [Meeting #135]

Dante's Tavern

1936 W Chicago Ave (Map)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 697-4172

CPC invaded Dante's on November 6, 2024.

For the second time, CPC held two meetings in one night. Dante's, our second stop, was more for the the Wednesday night trivia than for the pizza.

Short version: The trivia was good, the beer selection wasn't great, the pizza was, well, the pictures tell the story.

Trivia was fun. We did much better than expected

Back in my Serious Eats writing days, I visited Dante's in 2012. I hadn't been back since. 

This floppy mess is why. This is what my pizza looked like in 2012 and it's what it looked like in 2024. Neapolitan pizza can flop like this. Giant greasy slices with pedestrian toppings cannot. The pizza wasn't bad - we ate two pizzas on our second stop of the night - but there's just no reason to go out of your way to eat there. 

That's the Inferno ($39 for a 20" pie), which comes with poblano, pepperoni, giardiniera, bacon, fresh garlic, jalapeno, sausage, red onion, and banana pepper. So many toppings but you can't taste half of them.

We also got a much more straightforward pie: Pepperoni and nothing else ($28.50 for 20"). It wasn't any better.

Dante's doesn't put much effort into their pizza so I'm not putting much effort into this review. Recommended for trivia. Eat before you get there. That's all I've got. 

Dicey's Pizza & Tavern [Meeting #134]

Dicey's Pizza & Tavern

2109 W Chicago Ave (Map)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 929-4149

CPC invaded Dicey's on November 6, 2024.

Land & Sea Dept. is a bit of an oddity among restaurant groups. While they always deliver well run restaurants, it seems that they have different goals when it comes to food. Sometimes they hit home runs, like Longman & Eagle and everything in the Chicago Athletic Association building. And sometimes they're happy with pretty good food like Parson's. Their newest restaurant is a Chicago outpost of Dicey's Pizza & Tavern, their Chicago/Midwestern thin crust/tavern style/party cut pizza restaurant that first showed up in Nashville. Perhaps this is the Midwestern thin crust in Nashville. But in Chicago, it's merely pretty good and overpriced.

We started out with the Garlic Parmesan Tots which weren't crispy and they were served with a Calabrian chili aioli that was completely devoid of heat. We're the Chicago Pizza Club so we won't hold these tots against Dicey's. If we were the Chicago Tater Tot Club, we'd make it our mission to shut Dicey's down until they learn how to fry a tot.

Fortunately, as is to be expected of a pizzeria, the pizza is better than the tater tots.

The Peppy Boy ($15 for a 9-inch pizza) comes with "Old World Pepperoni, Hot Honey, Mozzarella, Oregano, Tomato Sauce, Calabrian Chili Oil." The flavors on this one was very good.




The Cacio e Pepe ($15 for a 9-inch pizza), another house specialty, comes with "Fresh Mozzarella, Parmesan Cream, Pecorino Romano, Cracked Black Pepper."  Other than not having enough pepper to bring home the cacio e pepe-ness, the flavors on this one were good.

The sausage ($14 for a 9-inch pie) was good. If the sausage isn't housemade, it's well-sourced. 

The crust on all of the pizzas were good, not great. These guys have clearly bought into the new thin crust craze that's sweeping the country and the crust is a big step above 90+% of any pizzerias more than 20 years old that are serving this style.

Would I eat Dicey's again? Sure and I'd have no problem with it. Will I? I doubt it. What's the point? There are too many other options that are better and cheaper.

Leftovers from a sad election night party

In Dicey's defense, this meeting of the Chicago Pizza Club took place the night after the election. While we in the CPC knew what to expect going into election night, it's possible people working in the kitchen were more hopeful and therefore weren't on their A game. Maybe this place serves elite pies on other nights. Seems unlikely though.

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.