Gruppo di Amici [Meeting #99]

Gruppo di Amici
1508 W Jarvis (map)
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 508-5565

CPC invaded Gruppo di Amici on 7/21/2010

As with any arbitrary ranking, there is debate and skepticism. Chicago Magazine recently ranked the top 25 pizzas in town. So, naturally, CPC decided to do some reconnaissance on some places we have not tried. Our second consecutive trip to a ranked pie shop took us way north to Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood and #19, Gruppo di Amici. Located twenty paces from the Jarvis Red Line stop and nestled on a quiet block that boasts a neighborhood pub and fine foods store, Gruppo immediately sticks out of the crowd with its classic white stone Uptown Chicago façade and spacious al fresco dining patio. Lori Alderete and Phaedra Divras opened Gruppo in June of 2006 and have since been offering, among other things, their own unique variety of “Roman-style” pizzas.

The restaurant space is lofty, clean, and modern. Prominently anchored in the rear of the space is the wood-burning brick oven. According to the bartender, the oven holds approximately 5-6 pies and burns wood at a relatively cool 500 degrees Fahrenheit. As such, the pies take about 2.5 to 4 minutes to cook (as opposed to 90 seconds in the typical hotter brick ovens). This is done to minimize the burnt crust that is endemic to this type of pizza. For the most part, Gruppo succeeded in that objective.

We ordered the following:

• Mare: Italian tuna in extra virgin olive oil with capers, olives, diced tomatoes and fresh parsley
• Funghi e Prosciutto: Fresh bufala mozzarella, mushrooms, prosciutto di parma and tomato sauce
• 4-Formaggi: Gorgonzola, Swiss, Fontina and Holland
• Salsiccia: Red bell pepper and mild Italian sausage and tomato sauce.

First, I had mixed feelings about the seafood pie. The thing about the tuna is that you get the seafood flavor, without the seafood salt. As I believe that the salt is the point of having fish on pizza, I prefer anchovies. In this respect, the tuna did not satisfy, despite its quality. In contrast, the cracker crust was good. What it lacked in flavor, it made up in texture, which was crackery and firm. For the most part, Gruppo pies do not limp. The sauce was good, but not memorable. It had a safe balance of acidity and sweetness, but lacked a noticeable bouquet.

The mushroom and prosciutto pie was my choice and I was disappointed. I think the problem was a matter of proportion, as there were simply too many mushrooms. The mountains of mushrooms oversaturated the crust, which made it limp. Once the crust lost its texture, it lost its strength. The mushrooms also changed the character of the prosciutto, which became wet and lost its essential dry elasticity. Things got much better with the four-cheese pie, a white pie that had great contrast, which covered the entire flavor spectrum. The crust merely served as a mode of delivery for this delicious amalgam of fat, salt, and sharpness. As far as cheese pies go, this was pretty good.

However, my favorite of the evening was the sausage pie. This pie had all of the right stuff. The sauce had a noticeable tang, which was buttressed by the fresh red bell pepper. The mozzarella lumps were fluffy. The crust had great texture: firm and crispy, but not dry. The sausage was good, yet a little bland, as I would have preferred a little more spice. Why go with “mild” sausage, when you can have “spicy?”

In fact, I believe the sausage pie is the perfect summary of what Gruppo pies are all about: high quality, but safe. Even the temperature Gruppo bakes their pie is safe. The problem with offering brick oven pies in Chicago is that there are so many choices and unless your pie has a certain memorable quality, it will be forgotten. Risks must be taken!

Of all the pie shops CPC have tried in its over seven years of pizza gorging, this one falls somewhere in the middle. Gruppo may be a bit overrated at #19, but they certainly earned the spot by providing, for the most part, a well-balanced pie. Besides, every ranked team is going to have its critics.

Castel Gandolfo Pizzeria [Meeting #98]

Castel Gandolfo Pizzeria
800 N Dearborn St (map)
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 787-2211

The CPC invaded Castel Gandolfo on 7/1/2010

The sign on the sidewalk in front of Castel Gandolfo proudly proclaims their recent third place ranking by Chicago Magazine. On July 1^st the Chicago Pizza Club decided to see if their pies stood up to the prior 97 spots reviewed.

Castel Gandolfo has one of two coal fired pizza ovens in the city. Their cooking technique does not produce a char like the pizzas from Coalfire but that's not to say they don't do the oven justice. With a pizza menu consisting of just 2 sizes, 14" and 16" and the specialty option of a white pizza for $1 extra, the only debate is on the toppings. Considering there was only a $2 difference between the two pie sizes available (and no increased topping charges) the CPC ordered 4 pizzas for the review.

• Sausage and Garlic
• Margherita
• White Pizza with Prosciutto
• Roasted Grapes and Taleggio Cheese

The first round of pizzas delivered to the table were a sausage and garlic pie along with a traditional Margherita. Both pizzas had a generous amount of fresh mozzarella that extended closer to the edge of the crust than the slightly acidic sauce did. The crust was thin with a slight snap under the toppings and a soft wide rim. The second round brought out a white pizza topped with prosciutto along with an unlisted special pie containing roasted grapes and taleggio cheese.

The same Margherita pizza ranked highly by Chicago Magazine also seemed to be the favorite of the pizza club. Even with a crust that could have stood another minute in the oven, it's easy to see why this pizza is highly regarded. If Castel Gandolfo wasn't so close to the pizza I make at home, this would be a very frequent destination.

[Meet the Members] Adrock

Screen Name: Adam Young

Real Name: Adam

Came out of the Oven: Hinsdale, IL

Favorite toppings: I am very much a fan of sausage and mushroom. For less traditional pizza, I enjoy plum and Roma tomatoes, pesto sauce, and some of the harder cheese varieties (Romano, Parmesan, and Asiago). Garlic!

First Pizza Club Meeting: July 9, 2009 at Union Pizzeria.

Favorite Deep Dish Pizza: Malnati's, no doubt. I remember the first time I had their pizza, which was my first deep dish, ever, and thinking how amazing the copious amounts of cheese and the chunky sauce on top was. They're consistently good and have yet to disappoint.

Favorite Thin Crust Pizza: Pizano's "thin" crust is not quite as thin as convention would have it, but man, it is ethereally good. When ordering it, the "butter crust" option is mandatory for this guy (they just add yet more butter to a crust that may not really need it). Another thin crust pizza worth mentioning here that vies for champion is the four-cheese plum tomato pizza from Marcello's. It is the lobster of pizza - very, very rich in flavor, and yet not without nuance and delicateness. So good.

Favorite Pizza outside of Chicago: I'm going with Monical's (they are a chain existing mostly south of Interstate 80 in Illinois) - they do a beautiful thin crust, and their french dressing made in-house is an odd but delicious accoutrement on each slice. Also worthy of honorable mention is Quatro's in Carbondale, Illinois. It is just all-around tasty pizza! I especially crave the caramelized pan crunchiness/chewiness their pizzas generally all have, and which is perfectly complimented by the more acidic sauce.

Had Pizza in the Motherland? I will make my way there, but as of yet, no.

What Do You Do When Not Eating Pizza? A strange amalgam of playing bass in rock situations, fishing/hunting, golfing, watching 'period' films, riding my vespa, and camping. Under obligation to manage luxury condos during the week.

Personal Pizza Statement: Great pizza is what makes you happy at the precise moment you eat it - some pizzerias just seem better at achieving this goal with consistency than others.

Edwardo's Natural Pizza [Meeting #97]

Edwardo's Natural Pizza
1212 N. Dearborn Street (Map)
Chicago, IL
(312) 337-4490‎

CPC invaded Edwardo's Natural Pizza on 6/14/10.

According to the information I've gathered from Marla Collin's Husband's review on Slice, Edward Jacobson founded Edwardo's Natural Pizza in 1978 after he split from the Broglio brothers (then the owners of Giordano's). The first Edwardo's Natural Pizza Restaurant opened on the far northern border of Chicago in Rogers Park and a year later, this time on the south side in Hyde Park, he opened his second location. Edwardo's early on sought to carve out a niche wtih a healthier version of stuffed pizza and they introduced a spinach-soufflé-stuffed pizza. They also had hydroponic basil and oregano grown in each of their pizzerias. In the early 1980's Edwardo's tried out a whole-wheat crust (available on pizza orders for an extra dollar) and were also known to make use of San Marzano tomatoes in their sauce.

By 1984, when Jacobson then entered into a relationship with Chicago real estate investors Ivan and Jeffrey Himmel, there were six locations. Soon thereafter, Edwardo's expanded to Minneapolis and Milwaukee. In the meantime, the Himmels's company took over Edwardo's entirely and expanded its food empire to include Gino's East. Edwardo's has suffered some setbacks in recent years, but today there are still nine locations, seven of which are in the Chicago area, with one on the outskirts of Milwaukee and another in Muncie, Indiana.

The Chicago Pizza Club decided to go to the Gold Coast location in Chicago due to its central location for our members. Tonight we ordered the following pizzas:

• Fresh Spinach stuffed pizza
• Edwardo's All Meat Combo stuffed pizza
• BBQ Beef thin crust special pizza

There's been talk that the quality of Edwardo's has been dropping in recent years and this visit leads me to believe this is true. I'd have to say it is definitely the weakest of the major Stuffed Pizza chains in Chicago. The crust on the deep dishes were generally crisp but also pretty bland. The sauce was overly sweet and the cheese didn't really stand out at all. The meat toppings on the stuffed (sausage, pepperoni, bacon and Canadian bacon) were middling at best, and in the case of the sausage, downright embarrassing. The Spinach stuffed pizza was definitely the highlight of the evening, but that's not saying much. The BBQ Beef special (with sliced Italian beef, Monterrey Jack cheese, red onions, green peppers and BBQ sauce) was ordered on a whim and was entirely missable.

Whether our pizza tonight was a reflection on the state of Edwardo's pizza in general or on the location we chose to go to remains to be seen. But honestly, I don't think we'll be making too much of an effort to find out.

Petey Pizza gives Edwardo's a 3.77.

Pizano's Pizza & Pasta [Meeting #96; Meeting #22 revisited]

Pizano's Pizza & Pasta
864 N. State Street (Map)
Chicago, IL
(312) 751-1766

CPC invaded Pizano's Pizza & Pasta on 5/11/10.

Oh what a difference 4 years makes. In February 2006, with 21 meetings already under its belt, the Chicago Pizza Club hit the interwebs with a review of Pizano's. The shitty pictures and complete absence of any description of the pizza in that post show how far the pizza club has come. Back then, CPC was a group of friends who liked to go out for pizza. Today, we are a sophisticated pizza eating and reporting operation.

Pizano's is the child of Rudy Malnati, Jr., who is the child of Rudy Malnati, Sr. Rudy Malnati Sr. was the early manager at the original Uno's and later became a partner in the business. Working with him at Uno's was his son from his first marriage, Lou, who would eventually go on to open his eponymous pizzeria. Rudy Sr. eventually married another lady and had another son, Rudy Jr., who was substantially younger than his half-brother Lou. It seems that Rudy Jr. and his father's first family are not besties so rather than go into the family business, he simply went into the family industry instead, founding Pizano's in 1991.

I routinely identify Lou Malnati's as my favorite deep dish pizza in Chicago. But I've had a few misfires there, especially at the Lakeview location. I have never had anything but delicious deep dish pizzas from Pizano's and the 96th Meeting of the Chicago Pizza Club kept my streak alive.

The 7 members came hungry so we ordered three pizzas. Up first was a deep dish "Hey Hey" Jack Brickhouse Special, which comes with sausage and mushrooms. Like every deep dish pie at Pizano's this one featured a killer crisp butter crust and a tangy sauce of chunky tomatoes. The sausage outstanding and the mushrooms were there in sufficient quantity to announce their presence even while paired up with the sausage.

The second pizza was a deep dish Mark's Special, which comes with sliced tomatoes, basil, and fresh garlic. Again, this one had a potent and delicious flavor combination on a perfect butter crust. Personally, I would have liked a little more basil, but I know others in the group disagreed and thought the proportions were spot on.

The last pizza was a thin crust with pepperoni. A few years ago Oprah and her special friend Gayle anointed Pizano's maker of the best thin crust in Chicago. Pizza love is certainly subjective, but I fail to see what criterion they were using that could possibly have had them reach that conclusion. That's not to say the thin crust is bad; it's actually pretty good. But while the deep dish pies are cooked in pans that may well have been used on opening night at Uno's nearly 60 years ago, the thin crust pizzas are not cooked in such character-building cookware. The result was a soft crust that was disappointing. Another knock on the thin crust is that the spectacular sauce from the deep dish pies is nowhere to be found, replaced by a thin sauce that doesn't have much of an impact.

Hiccups with the thin crust aside, this was a night of outstanding pizza. We had two medium deep dish pies and one large thin and a few of us would have gladly eaten more. While the CPC has improved immensely since its last visit to Pizano's, I am happy to report that the pizzeria is still putting out some insanely good pies.

Petey Pizza gives Pizano's a 9.17.

[Pizza News] Nella Pizzeria Napoletana sans Nella

Nella Pizzeria Napoletana (review) is still up and running and packed as ever. However, there might be a little bit more room now that they've lost the services of their namesake pizzaiolo.

Per this Chicago Reader article, Nella has been booted (or left, whatever). They are still open for business, but we have no word yet on how good the pizza is without the main talent there to steer it. Also, it appears the second location on Taylor street is a no-go. I have always suspected I didn't like Spacca Napoli as much because I never had her make my pizza. I suppose I will find out if I still like Nella Pizzeria Napoletana as much without her.

Uncle Tykie’s Prairie Fire Grill and Pizzeria (Chicago Preview)

Uncle Tykie’s Prairie Fire Grill & Pizzeria
213 N. Main Street (GoogleMaps)
Athens, IL 62613

Neil from the pizza club has found a vehicle to sell his years –in-the-making pie recipe (note: the only problem being that it is located 191 miles south of Chicago in Athens, IL.) For this CPC meeting we met at Neil’s apartment in Old Town for a facsimile of the pizzas soon to be served in Athens. As the commercial scaling of the pizzas may result in a slightly different preparation method, this review will focus strictly on the preview pies served to the CPC.

The hand-stretched, irregularly shaped crust is transferred from a cornmeal dusted peel and cooked directly on a stone. Much like the recently previewed Pizzeria Serio, these pizzas don’t fit squarely into any one of the traditional styles. The pizzas served were a hybrid of New York, Neapolitan with perhaps even a bit of New Haven style thrown in. The thin crust has a crisp, substantial base with slight bit of chew between the actual crust bottom and the toppings. The edge of the pie had a firm outer rim with a soft, airy inside.

As mentioned, these are not the actual pizzas served at Uncle Tykie’s in Athens so it is worth pointing out the similarities between the two. The dough and sauce recipe are the same, as is the asiago and pecorino romano hard cheese combination. This evening Neil prepared the following five pizzas for the CPC.

• Margherita – garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, asiago, pecorino romano and tomato sauce
• Baseline Special – sausage, garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, asiago, pecorino romano and tomato sauce
• Chicken Doesn’t Belong on a Pizza? – roasted chicken, artichoke, garlic, fresh mozzarella, asiago, pecorino romano and tomato sauce
• Pancetta – pancetta, onion, mushroom, fresh mozzarella, asiago, pecorino romano and tomato sauce
• What’s Left – pancetta, onion, mushroom, red pepper, fresh mozzarella, asiago, pecorino romano and tomato sauce

Observations:

Shuffling multiple pizzas out of a small non-pizza oven resulted in some inconsistencies in the finished product. This night the oven held up well for the first three pizzas, while numbers four and five suffered from a lack of crisp on the crust’s bottom, as the stone lost some of its temperature.

The pancetta was by far the stand-out topping of the night with a hearty amount of salty, fatty goodness. This was Neil’s first foray into using chicken as a pizza topping and although the texture was spot-on, the heavy poultry taste and lack of saltiness shows that he still needs some refining in the preparation. As his search for the perfect sausage continues, Bob Evans breakfast sausage was used as a substitute with surprisingly palatable results.

Viewing these pizzas as the proof of concept, they displayed Neil’s passion for pie as well as some serious potential for a future in the pizza business.

[Special Report] Pizzeria Serio

Scott Toth, the chef and a co-owner in the soon-to-be open Pizzeria Serio, emailed CPC a few months back inviting us to come check out his new restaurant. Because these things alway take longer than anticipated, it was only yesterday that he was able to show me around and let me sample some of his food.

Toth is a former technology employee who, like many others, decided he wasn't finding the exact pizza he wanted and started making it at home. After trial and error, he had hit upon a recipe that produced consistently good pizza and then decided to open a restaurant. He grew up in Michigan and New York and he was craving the sort of pizzas he grew up eating. His pizza isn't exactly a Neapolitan pizza; it's the evolution of it that you can find in New York that has a lot of similarities, but focuses on making the crust more sturdy and is more generous with the toppings. The particular pizza he served me was oblong, like a New Haven pizza, but I think that was more accidental than intentional.

His new oven is an EarthStone and he likes to cook his pizzas at high heat for a brief period. Although the oven is gas fueled, he does have wood which he will add to it if some issues with the hood can be sorted out. The space itself is very large with seating for 75 in the downstairs and an extra 50 upstairs. Toth is hoping to be able to provide some craft beers on the 6 taps and create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable having a few drinks after the pizza is eaten.

Pizzeria Serio will have some salads, appetizers, and deserts, but the main focus here is on pizza. There will be two sizes (12 and 16 inch) and his goal is to make a pizza that has a more substantial crust while still maintaining some bubbling. Although his stated goal is to get rid of the "floppy" corner seen in just about every pizza cooked in this style, I'm not sure that's actually possible. Still, this crust was impressive in both texture and flavor. I ate a pizza that was half sopressata/red onion and half pepperoni/mushroom. My pizza was perfectly cooked and as we dug in, I really enjoyed the familiar sopressata from Graziano's and an excellent spicy pepperoni. The mushrooms were fresh and although Scott loves red pepper flakes on his pizza, he served me this one without any additional toppings. We also tried a few slices of his cheese pizza and it was similarly impressive. I should also mention how perfectly my pizza was complimented by my bottle of Mexican Coca-Cola. He plans on serving the pure cane sugar variety of a few sodas, including Fanta.

The plan now is to be open this weekend and await a liquor license. We'll be back to review Pizzeria Serio in a few months, but from this preliminary visit we are impressed with the quality of their product and expect that their neighbors will start flowing in to dine here. If you're looking for a new place to try on Saturday, Serio will satisfy your cravings for a well-made pie.

Annual State of The Pizza Club / Chuck E. Cheese [Meeting #95]

Chuck E. Cheese
1730 W Fullerton [GoogleMaps]
(773) 871-2484

CPC invaded Chuck E. Cheese on 4/17/10.

Another year, another State of The Chicago Pizza Club meeting. This time, in order to revel in our pizza proficiency, we decided to go to Showbiz Pizza (where a kid can be a kid). Shocked and saddened to find that our favorite childhood pizzeria/arcade/bacteria pool was bought out by Chuck E. Cheese, we instead chose this venue for our annual meeting. However, a little research shows that Showbiz Pizza was actually the one that bought Chuck E. Cheese and then decided to brand all their restaurants under the Chuck E. Cheese name. Bizarre.

Of course, there has to be a reason to gather all your close friends at such a place, right? Well, we decided it would be my (2nd) 30th birthday! This got me a crown, with extra tokens stuffed in it, a cool balloon with tokens weighing it down to the table (thanks for stealing those, everyone), 3 pizzas, 20 tokens for everyone that came, and unlimited pop all for $14 apiece. I also got to participate in the birthday show with all the little kids. At first, Chuck E. was a little standoffish with me. I tried to high-five him and he left me hanging. However, after seeing my enthusiasm for the birthday celebrations he warmed up to me and made it a memorable (fake) birthday. He's not so bad (for a rat) after all! Of the on-stage characters, I think Pasqually the singing chef got my vote as favorite because he's the only human on the stage.

I was kind of disappointed in the arcade game selection. There were some serious ticket-winners, such as Shoot The Moon, but they weren't very exciting. There were a few pop-a-shots and football games that were a lot of fun as well as the classic skee ball, but no good video game racers, fighters, or shooters. Perhaps the worst omission is that there was no whack-a-mole game anywhere to be found. I noticed a Bozo Grand Prize Game in the corner, but only after I had burned all my crown tokens attempting to shoot the aforementioned moon for mad tickets. After pooling all of our tokens (and purchasing additional ones thanks to MCH's coupon), we had 2500 tickets. This went towards the purchase of 3 foam rocket launchers and a Nerf football. Awesome.

The pizza...well...you know, it disappointingly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I only had one slice, pepperoni pizza. The best part was that the sauce was mildly spicy; I wasn't expecting any strong flavors for a pizza that is marketed and sold to over-sugared children. The crust was sturdy, though flavorless. We also got a sausage pizza and a cheese pizza.

As for Chicago Pizza Club, although I failed to give a speech I would like to note that we remain the best Chicago pizza blog ever and that our blog continues to have increasing readership. Fiscally, we had a rough year in that our revenue was exactly zero dollars. However, like all Americans living in this difficult time, we tightened our belts and are happy to report we only spent zero dollars this year. Therefore, we are able to continue the club into the 2011 fiscal year.

[Pizza News] Fare Thee Well Orvieto, We Hardly Knew Ye

And so, just like that, we bid adieu to Orvieto.

Due to a terrible location and not at all to the quality of the food served, Orvieto has closed. We recently reviewed it and thought it was a good pizza. Apparently, we don't have the sway we used to have.

The full story is here.