[Special Event] Bacci Pizza Fest Vol. 7

On Saturday, Bacci Pizzeria, the 13-year-old, 19-restaurant jumbo slice purveyor, held its 7th Annual Pizza Fest, an eating competition where the contestants wolf down as many Bacci cheese slices as they can in 20 minutes. A couple of CPC members headed down to Taylor Street to view the competition.

While the event was not sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, the cash prizes were actually more generous that some of that organization's events. The winner of the Pizza Fest was due $1,500, while the second and third place finishers would claim $750 and $250 respectively.

In order to qualify for the competition, all one had to do was go to a Bacci Pizzeria, buy two jumbo slices and get one free, and then eat all three slices in less than 20 minutes. Approximately 30 people made the cut and showed up for the competition.

With obnoxiously loud dance music being played in the background, the contestants all began the competition with a vengeance, stuffing as much in their mouths as fast as they could. It seemed that there were as many strategies as there were eaters; some folded, some stacked, some ripped their pizzas into bite sized chunks, and one guy even dipped his slices into a large cup of what looked like Kool-Aid, but may have been water colored by tomato sauce. An EMT stood by to make sure none of the overly exuberant eaters hurt themselves.

After just a few minutes of competition, it was clear that a majority of people had no change as they slowed considerably before getting through their first slice. But to my eyes, about 10 people were keeping up with one another for at least the first half of the competition. As the eating continued, the chewing slowed but people continued to give their all.

At the end, there was a clear winner - a guy named Peter, the man who dipped his slices in liquid, had polished off 5 1/2 slices, blowing away the competition. Surprisingly, he was not one of the particularly large contestants. However, there were three very big men who had each eaten exactly four slices, so a one-minute eat-off was called. Those three struggled mightily but at the end of the minute, the final two winners were set, each having gotten through less than half of a slice.

[Special Event] Chef's Table at La Madia

The CPC will make an official visit to La Madia soon to review its pizza offerings, but 4 members recently attended the first of a new monthly Chef's Table series. It ended up being such a nice time that I almost hesitate to share the details of future meetings with you given the space limitations, but alas CPC is bigger than me.

La Madia
59 W. Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 329-0400

Members of the CPC visited the Chef's Table at La Madia on 8/06/08.

At La Madia, Chef Jonathan Fox has quickly become known for serving wood-fired pizza in a stylish setting. On August 6, 2008, he kicked off a monthly Chef's Table series that will take place at 7:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month for the very reasonable cost of $25 per person. The Chef's Table showcases La Madia's pizza and non-pizza offerings in a series of fixed courses, paired with wines and explained by the Chef himself.

The 12 lucky people with reservations for the Chef's Table seat themselves at the Pizza Bar towards the back of the restaurant, where they can look through the glass divider to observe the prep work and watch the pizzas as they bubble in the oven. The August Chef's Table offered 7 courses, some of which were on the current menu and some of which were not. After Chef Fox introduced himself and served some sparkling white wine, we enjoyed the following courses:

• Locally grown cantelope melon and prosciutto di Parma, served with Pisoni, Lucy, Rosé of Pinot Noir '07
• Toasted bruschetta of wild mushrooms & sweet onions (recipe)
  
• Heirloom Beet Salad, with watercress, salt-roasted almonds, & Gorgonzola, served with Cambria, Chardonnay '05
• Shaved artichoke pizza with Reggiano Parmesan & garlic
  
• Diver Sea Scallops with fingerling potatoes & sweet corn, served with Roco, Pinot Noir '05
• Triple pepperoni pizza
• Chocolate Tortino, served with Lindemans Framboise Lambic Ale
  

This was a lot of quality food and drink for $25. It is clear that care is taken to seek out fresh, high-quality ingredients and put them together in a way that reveals the depth of their flavors. La Madia serves only the best when it comes to Italian staples such as prosciutto and Parmesan. The mushrooms and onions on the bruschetta were great, sitting on a thin layer of whipped ricotta cheese. My favorite dish was the scallop, which was cooked perfectly and went really well with the sweetness of the cooked cherry tomatoes, balanced out with the potatoes and corn.

Obviously, our main overall focus was the pizza. We'll do an official review soon, but the artichoke and pepperoni pizzas included in the chef's menu were great. The shaved artichoke went really well with the shaved Parmesan, and the pepperoni heaped on the pizza was nice and spicy. After dinner, when Fox talked to us about his pizza and noticed us salivating at his description of the house-made fennel sausage, he very generously whipped up a sausage pizza for us on the house. Readers, we can be bought, but when I say the sausage pizza was fantastic, it is not just a reflection of the chef's generosity.

I'm glad we had a chance to try the sausage pizza because I think it gave us a better sense of what La Madia pizza is all about, since the artichoke pizza does not have tomato sauce, and the triple pepperoni is so dominated by the pepperoni. As you can see in the photos, the pizza dough is covered with a very thin layer of sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes. The cheese is spread out very generously, and then the toppings are added evenly before it all goes into the oven for about 3 minutes. We noticed that the pie-makers would lift each pepperoni-topped pizza up and hold it close to the top of the oven before removing it, giving it a nice crispness without burning it. The crust is evenly cooked and it is soft rather than stiff, but it does not get soggy. Or at least we we did not leave it on the plate long enough for that to happen.

Chef Fox and his business partner, Tony, were very friendly and took time to explain how they came up with the concept for their restaurant. They met while they were both involved in the business side of the restaurant industry, and Fox's background as a chef and long-standing passion for Neapolitan-style thin crust pizza led to the creation of La Madia. Fox shared that his favorite pizza outside Chicago is Da Michele in Naples, and La Madia is clearly inspired by the Neopolitan basics, though with less sauce and more toppings.

Overall, we enjoyed the Chef's Table and left the restaurant thinking about making reservations for the September event. But for now, we're looking forward to returning and trying the rest of the pizza.


The Chef's Table with a view of the kitchen


Chef Jonathan Fox prepares the first course: Cantelope and Prosciutto di Parma


Toasted Bruschetta of Wild Mushrooms


Shaved Artichoke Pizza with Shaved Parmesan


Diver Sea Scallop with Fingerling Potatoes and Sweet Corn


The dough is covered in a thin layer of sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes


Triple Pepperoni Pizza


Chocolate Tortino and Framboise Lambic Ale


Bonus Pizza! with House-Made Fennel Sausage


Pizzas are prepared for other diners in the restaurant


The oven

[Chicago Pizza News] 2nd Annual Pizza Fest Contest Winners

Contest Winners

Somehow, without the critical guidance of CPC members, the Chicago Pizza Fest judges managed to decide on the winners of their contest.

Best Chicago Style Deep Dish: Nonna's
Best Thin Style: My Pie
Best Gourmet/Unique: Nonna's

We've already been to My Pie, so looks like we definitely need to hit up Nonna's! If you missed it, check out Stu's review below.

[Special Event] The 2nd Annual Pizza Fest Chicago

The 2nd Annual Pizza Fest Chicago
Racine & Fullerton Map

The Chicago Pizza Club invaded the 2nd Annual Pizza Fest Chicago on 6/21/08.

It was very hard to tear myself away from the television on Saturday afternoon (with the crosstown, Cubs/Sox rivalry in full swing), but with a pitching change in the 4th inning I headed out the door and hopped on the CTA towards the DePaul campus and this year's Pizza Fest Chicago. Upon meeting up with Dan and Fred (who muddied my Pizza Club t-shirt with a very enthusiastic greeting) we paid our $5 "donation" to enter and proceeded to purchase the tickets that are standard food and beverage currency for Chicago street festivals. After walking the grounds briefly we entered the area that housed the music stage and pizza vendors, and using the logic that the longest line must correlate to the best pizza we queued up and waited for Pizza Club member Kate to join us while we waited.

First off, let me say that I loved the idea of a Chicago Pizza Fest. Not just because any street festival in Chicago is going to be a good time when the weather is good (and the weather is seldom better than it was on Saturday afternoon), but also for the opportunities that a Chicago Pizza Fest would present to sample a variety of Chicago pizza at once.

A few things stood in the way of such a Pizza Fest realizing its full potential. Mainly, none of the pizzas served were freshly cooked. All of the vendors had opted to serve their wares from under heat lamps and warming trays. This was a huge letdown to all of the Chicago Pizza Club members in attendance. The heat lamps seemed have a detrimental effect on the cheeses and crusts of all the pizzas we sampled. We understand that using heat lamps and serving "warmed" pizza is the most cost-effective measure for this situation, but we also know that there are other alternatives that would've allowed the vendors present to offer up freshly cooked pizzas on the premises.

Another downer was that of all the numerous and varied pizzerias in Chicago they only managed six pizza vendors at the festival. I realize that the Pizza Fest is only in its second year, but six options at a festival celebrating Chicago Pizza seems to me like a slap in the face. Especially when one of those vendors was a frozen pizza company. Seriously, frozen pizza?

One of the upsides though was that most of the vendors offered sample slices for only $1, which was a nice way to get a variety of pizzas at the festival.

Fortunately, the Chicago's Best Pizza judging featured a more diverse range of entrants (and we certainly wished some of them would have been vendors), we didn't get the chance to witness the judging (nor to take part in the judging for that matter as the CPC sent in their applications a tad late) as the judges seemed to be set off to the side.

For the reasons I listed above I don't really feel that it is fair to rate any of the pizzas we sampled at the festival, but we did make note of a few places for the Chicago Pizza Club to visit in the future.

Also, none of this is to say that I didn't enjoy myself at the festival (though, the weather was the main contributor to that), but without a more diverse offering of pizza vendors, and freshly cooked pizza I can't recommend this festival to anyone who's looking for anything more than spending some time outdoors on a beautiful day at an average Chicago street festival.

***UPDATE: And the winners of the pizza contest are:

Best Chicago Style Deep Dish: Nonna's
Best Thin Style: My Pie
Best Gourmet/Unique: Nonna's


Waiting in line for some samples and enjoying some music...


Frozen? Pizza?? Frozen Pizza???






Some of the various pies we sampled...


Fred cares nothing about heat lamps...