1612 Irving Park Road (inside The Long Room) (
Map)
Chicago, IL 60613
(773) 665-8210
CPC invaded Bad Johnny's on Wednesday, December 10, 2025.
The Chicago Pizza Club was supposed to meet at The Beer Temple to enjoy the delicious Detroit style pizzas from the pizza masters at Middlebrow. Sadly, turnout was super light so the truly committed among decided to save the heavier pies for another night. Instead, we headed to The Long Room, where Bad Johnny's has a permanent residency on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
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| Both of these pictures were found online. Thanks to whoever took them. |
Bad Johnny's is probably better known for the portable wood-fired oven that shows up at events around town, but the pizzas they're making with gas at The Long Room hit the spot.
We got a salad. It comes with Red Leaf Lettuce, Radicchio, Sweet Red Apple, Watermelon Radish, Herbs, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, and Honey-Cider Vinaigrette. It was tasty
.Up first was the Plain, which Johnny's says is an ode to the New York slice and its condiments. It has tomato sauce, fior di latte, fresh garlic, chili, fresh oregano, and 2-year aged Parmigiano Reggiano. This was a delicious pizza. The pepperoni was another really tasty pie despite it crossing the line from charred to burned in a couple of places. In addition to the swine, this one comes with tomato sauce, fior di latte, toasted arbol chiles and buckwheat honey.
The Brussels & 'Nduja comes with, you guessed it, Brussels sprouts and 'nduja (the latter made by Chicago Salumi) along with smoked gouda, ricotta, and lemon. It was pretty but it was also too salty and too smokey and woefully light on the 'nduja. We wouldn't recommend this one.So there you have it - an excellent cheese pizza; a would-have-been-excellent-if-not-burned-but-still-excellent-in-the-non-burned-parts pepperoni pizza; and a bad Brussels sprouts pizza. Like Meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Throw in the general vibe of The Long Room and Bad Johnny's is a winner overall.
We skipped the drinking at The Long Room because we had to make our way over to Half Acre to try a few variants of Catching Hell. They do a shitty job keeping their menu up to date and there were only two benthics available and one of them (Marabi Benthic) wasn't good. But the 2x4 Benthic was delicious and the Double Bourbon Barrel Generational was very good so a good end to the Chicago Pizza Club meeting #141. Will we get to #150 in 2026? Probably not but a boy can dream.
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