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.