[Special Report] Los Mano Pizzas

This post from abroad came to me this morning from our member Mark, currently vacationing and avoiding kidnappers in Brazil...

Hey, I am in Sao Paulo Brazil, and decided to have a pizza club meeting for one. I took a few pictures, though I do not have any of the restaurant. I have a few minutes so here is a review written off the cuff:

The food in brazil has presented me with numerous new flavors and combinations of old flavors I would not have thought appropriate prior to the trip. As the trip winds down, I decided to see what the Brazillian take on pizza was like. I am currently staying in a Jewish neighborhood in Sao Paulo with a friend. This is not a neighborhood where tourists are seen, so I believe that this sample of one is fairly representative of a normal Brazilian pizza. The pizza place chosen was one 2 blocks away that seemed to be doin a fair amount of business. Los Mano Pizzas located at 1333 rua Dr. Albuquerque Lins, Higienopolis. Ph # 3662-0000, and yes, they do deliver. The menu presented several options that appeared very strange, including a banana pizza, and pizza with the cheese replaced by a mousse squeezed out of a pastry bag. The sauce appears to be a basic, I think, marinara, which is spread very sparingly on a very neutral pizza dough. The topping of choice is placed on top of slices of buffalo mozzerella the outside of the crust is then sprinkled with sesame seeds, and the pie placed in a wood fired oven for 8-10 minutes.

The word to describe the pizza best is neutral, the crust had no real distinctive flavor other than the presence of the sesame seeds which I must admit did not suit my taste. The sauce was minimal and fairly sweet. The cheese was of an excellent quality despite its placement in sliced form. The toppings were of a high quality, however I must admit when I received the pizza I was a little shocked. As this is an establishment where people always speak Portugese there was obviously no menu in English. I, having spent the last 9 days mastering the language, assumed I would be fine. What I ended up with was a pizza with the finest olives on it I have ever tasted, and a whole pile of tuna. The tuna was of higher quality (possibly from one of those vacuum packets rather than the can) and the oil and seasonings actually made the pizza much more tolerable than I expected, but I really dont like tuna.

The pizza was quickly produced and the staff were very interested to talk with a gringo such as myself, even if I only speak a little spanoish. They were totally unaware of the existence of stuffed crust, and I wrote down the address of the pizza club so they can get their minds blown at what the technologically mighty U.S. can produce.

As I ended up with a pizza with toppings that confused the review I do not feel that a rating is appropriate, however I do feel that this remains an excellent lesson in eating while in a foreign land; that you frequently end up with a food that you would never eat. Sometimes this ends up exposing you to flavors you have never tasted before, and sometimes you get a pizza with tuna on top of it.

Pictures will follow once I reach the U.S. again.

[Chicago Pizza News] Let's All Mark Our Calendars!

2nd Annual Pizza Fest Chicago
Racine & Fullerton, Chicago (Google Maps)

If there two things we can say about the members of the Chicago Pizza Club it's that they love Pizza and they love Festivals. So news of the 2nd Annual Pizza Fest Chicago will know doubt resound in the ears of our readers and contributors as nothing less than spectacular news.

The Fest this year takes place on June 21 & 22, from noon to 10pm both days.

Further details (and there are many further details to behold) can be found here!

Chicago Pizza Club members let's all do our best to attend and cover this glorious event in detail!

[Special Report] Imo's Pizza

Imo's
742 S. 4th Street, St. Louis, MO (GoogleMaps)
(314) 421-4667

Stu and I had a lovely day yesterday, making the trek from Chicago to St. Louis to watch the Cubs spank the Cardinals 9-3. As there are some White Sox fans in the CPC, I will respectfully decline to elaborate on the game. But I will write about my return to Imo's Pizza for the first time since I lived in St. Louis in 1998-99.

Imo's, which has been around since 1964, is the most prominent St. Louis pizzeria. It's pies have a cracker-thin crisp crust, a tangy sauce, and provel cheese. What is provel cheese, you ask? It's a cheese that was developed in St. Louis more than fifty years ago and, despite massive globalization in the food industry, is still pretty much only available in St. Louis.

A food reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch did some research into Provel's origins:

It was originally developed to meet perceived demand for a pizza cheese with a "clean bite"—one that melts well but still breaks off nicely when you bite into it. Neither gentleman had a definitive answer for where the name comes from, although one popular theory is that it's a combination of the words provolone and mozzarella, two of the cheeses for which it is substituted.

What the local reporter left out is that provel is actually processed cheese a la American cheese or those lovely Laughing Cow cheese disks. Like other processed cheeses, provel has a wax-like quality that both retains heat and gives it a very chewy texture.

The original Imo's is no more, so Stu and I opted for convenience and went to the location closest to Busch Stadium. We picked up our sausage pie and headed over to the Arch to enjoy St. Louis' pizza under St. Louis' classic monument.

While I understand why provel has not caught on nationally, I enjoyed the pizza. We had to walk about 3/4 of a mile from Imo's to the Arch, but the pizza was still warm and the crust still had it's cracker-like crispness. The sausage was nothing special, but there was a decent amout of it on the pizza.

Imo's was a nice trip down memory lane for me and I'm glad I went. That said, if I don't eat it for another ten years, I'll be just fine.

A couple of Chicago-related notes. First, Hoffman's, the Milwaukee cheese manufacturer that developed provel with a St. Louis grocery store, is now owned by Northbrook-based Kraft Foods. Second, Feed the Beast, a bar and restaurant in Chicago, is owned by a St. Louis native and serves St. Louis style pizza, complete with provel cheese. Perhaps the CPC will visit someday.


Award Winning St. Louis Pizza... at least until 1999...


I wonder what's inside?


Oh yeah... Pizza!


Dan enjoys a square under the Arch...


Where it went down...

Pequod's [Meeting #57]

Latest meeting:

Pequod's
2207 N. Clybourn (GoogleMaps)
(773) 327-1512

CPC invaded Pequod's for the second time on 4/27/08 at 1:00 p.m.

Review Coming Soon!


Serving up some deep dish...


Thin crust Pineapple and Ham


The crowdpleasing Pepperonni, Onion & Garlic


The famous Carmelized Crust


What do you mean there's no more pizza?


El Presidente has a whale of a good time...


Where it went down...

[Meet the Members] Ryan

Screen Name: Ryan

Real Name: Ryan

Came out of the Oven: Wheaton IL

Favorite toppings: Pepperoni/sausage, onion, garlic

First Pizza Club Meeting: Sorry. That memory slipped out of my left ear a couple years ago when I fell asleep on the El. If you seen it at a local pawn shop let me know. My iPod is missing too. Thanks.

Favorite Deep Dish Pizza: Pequod's.

Favorite Stuffed Pizza: Still looking. I told myself I'd never do it but I'm one spinach ricotta mistake away from posting myself on StuffedPizzaMatch.com.

Favorite Thin Crust Pizza: Cafe Florian

Favorite Pizza outside of Chicago: Sam's Pizza - Iowa City IA

Had Pizza in the Motherland? I've had pizza on the mothership, man. It tasted like laser beams.

What Do You Do When Not Eating Pizza? After a lifetime in the Chicagoland area I recently moved to complete a Radiology residency in Miami; where they don't understand pizza, my beer gut, or my primary language. So I've been busy practicing my espanol, sitting in the dark, and sitting in the sun. I've also been eagerly waiting the release of my wife, Kelly, who is currently serving a sentence at Northwestern graduate school. If I'm not buried under a pile of requisitions in the Jackson ER you can find me on a kite board off the coast of Key Biscayne. Look for my reviews during my frequent returns to Chicago.

Personal Pizza Statement: There's no list of absolute criteria for a pizza to receive a good score from me. It just has to inspire me to use an expletive before an adjective. However, if you're looking for some Hot and Cold inspired insight into my spot-on pizza ratings here it is:
Warmer - tangy sauce, crispy crust, innumerable toppings (amount not types), squares on thin, triangles on thick, garlic
Colder - limp crust, play-doh cheese, end in -tarian, confusable with a 3-colored block of ice cream, cotton-mouth crust, heat lamps, eaten like a taco
And a word about 'Specials'...Don't cheapen the term. If sausage and green peppers are coming to mind think a little longer.

[Meet the Members] Amanda

Screen Name: Amanda

Real Name: Amanda

Came out of the Oven: Riverdale, Georgia

Favorite toppings: goat cheese, sausage, peppers

First Pizza Club Meeting: April 16, 2008

Favorite Deep Dish Pizza: Ranalli's

Favorite Stuffed Pizza: I don't know that I've had stuffed pizza yet!

Favorite Thin Crust Pizza: Coalfire

Favorite Pizza outside of Chicago: There's pizza outside of Chicago?

Had Pizza in the Motherland? Yes, but it was an underwhelming square of lukewarm cheese on forgetful bread. I'll make a better effort to get the real deal if I ever return.

What Do You Do When Not Eating Pizza? My non-pizza interests include; Puzzle Fighting, Wii Bowling, "The Law," Booty Dancing, Harold, Kumar, Cross-Stitching (Christmas Stockings Only), Lunch, A Good Hot Breakfast, Being a Non-Threatening Bad-Ass, Barbecue Nachos, Cheese Grits, and Being Alabama's Southern Bride of the Year 2009!

Personal Pizza Statement: I enjoy simple pleasures, and pizza is one of them. Give me a nice crust with a little tomato sauce and cheese, and I'm a happy girl. Everything is else is just details.

Chicago Pizza Club Favorite Pies

Twelve members of the Chicago Pizza Club submitted a list their five favorites pizzerias. Five points were assigned to a #1 choice, 4 to a #2 choice, etc. The votes have been tallied and the results are in.

5) Gino's East and Spacca Napoli (tied)
4) Vito & Nick's
3) Burt's Place
2) Lou Malnati's
1) Pequod's

[Chicago Pizza News] Homer Simpson's Wildest Dream Has Come True

If you read this blog, the chances are you love pizza. If you love pizza, the chances are you love beer. You probably even love pizza with beer. But what about pizza-flavored beer?

Too good to be true, your inner Homer says? Well, a suburban Chicago couple has developed Mamma Mia Pizza Beer. It's being brewed and bottled by Sprecher Brewing Company in Wisconsin.

If you are in Chicago, head over to Sam's and pick it up for $1.99/bottle. If you are not in Chicago, you can order it online.

[Chicago Pizza News] Pizza.com sells for $2.6 million

In 1994, Chris Clark registered the domain name pizza.com when he had a consulting company and was hoping to get some contracts with a pizza company. He sold his consulting company in 2000, but continued to spend $20 a year to keep the website. He just sold it for $2.6 million.

Perhaps someday, some fool will give the CPC $50 for our website. That would be awesome.

[Chicago Pizza News] Pennsylvania Town Has Delusions of Grandeur

Chicagoans have enough trouble dealing with self-important New Yorkers declaring their hometown to be the best place in the world for pizza. But now it appears there's another whose populace we're going to have to listen to. Old Valley Forge, PA, population 10,000, has
declared itself to the Pizza Capital of the World.

This is obviously silly, but the town, located 5 miles outside of Scranton, does seem to have an interesting pizza history and a high concentration of pizzerias. For one thing, the local places do not use mozzarella cheese. I'm not sure what cheese they actually use - it's apparently a secret. The pizzas there are rectangular and come in two varieties, red, which has sauce, and white, which has none. The white pizza is particularly unique as it has an equally-thick layer of crust on top and on the bottom.