Ranalli's [Meeting #60]

Ranalli's on Clark
2301 N. Clark St. Map
(773) 244-2300

CPC invaded Ranalli's on 6/25/08.

Ranalli's is a family-owned Italian restaurant that first opened on Lincoln Avenue in the 1970s. In addition to the current Lincoln Park location on Clark that we visited, Ranalli's also has restaurants in Andersonville and on Montrose. Each location offers a variety of pizza styles in addition to standard Italian fare, with a few Mexicanish staples mixed in.

The indoor dining room of the Clark Street location seats about 100 and is set up as a typical Lincoln Park bar/restaurant. Because our visit took place on a lovely summer evening, we elected to dine on the outdoor patio facing Clark to accommodate member Fred. We were joined by enough others to order all five styles of pizza on Ranalli's menu. We also took advantage of a couple of notable offers. With respect to the pizza, you can order any number of toppings and all the toppings after the fourth are free. You can also get a bucket of six beers for the price of five, which were priced pretty reasonably even without the bucket.

We ordered the following pies:

• Super thin wheat crust pizza with mozzarella, cheddar, swiss, provolone
• Thin crust I Heart Mexico pizza
• Pan pizza with capicola, mortadella, genoa salami
• Stuffed pizza with basil and tomatoes
• Double Decker pizza with sausage, bacon, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, onions
  

Our server brought out all the pies at the same time, about 45 minutes after we placed our order. No one noticed a difference between the thin and the super thin, or between the regular crust and the wheat crust. The crust on the thin and the thicker varieties was crisp and very dry. It had very little flavor but did its job holding all the other elements together. The sauce was very basic tomato sauce. The mozzarella on the pan and stuffed pizzas was gooey and melty similar to fresh mozzarella, though not as flavorful.

Although the reviews reflect fairly divergent opinions among our members as to whether the pizza as a whole passed muster, most agreed that the toppings made Ranalli's stand out a bit. The variety was excellent, and most of the toppings themselves were pretty good. The various pork products we tried won't be mistaken for having come from your favorite Italian deli, but pork is pork, and pork tastes good.

The thin, pan, and stuffed pizzas are in line with what you typically find at a pedestrian Chicago pizza place, but I was not sure what to expect from the Double Decker. It is, in fact, exactly what it sounds like: a thin layer of crust topped with sauce/cheese/toppings, followed by another thin layer of crust topped with sauce/cheese/toppings. It also had a very thick circle of bread/crust around the edges. The crust was no more remarkable than with any of the other pizzas, but we were impressed that the layer of crust in the middle of the pizza stayed crispy. And the wild toppings party ordered up for the Double Decker made each bite more interesting than most of the other pies.

The Mexican pizza was different from taco pizzas we have tried in the past. This pizza seemed to have more beans than usual, and it had no tomatoes or lettuce. Or sauce, as far as I could tell. Also, don't order it if you're not willing to get three to four jalapenos in every bite.

The cost came out to $13/person for those abstaining from fun, I mean beverages, and $16/person for the rest of us. Note that Ranalli's will validate your parking in the adjacent pay lot for up to 90 minutes.

Overall, I'm not sure why some of our harsher judges were so disappointed. I did not think any aspect of any pizza stood out as bad, though the failure of the crust, sauce, and most of the cheese to stand out at all is why I found the pizza a bit humdrum. Kate-D. gives Ranalli's a 5.5.

Petey gives Ranalli's __ / 10.



Stuffed Pizza with Capicola, Genoa Salami, and Mortadella...


Double Decker Pizza with Sausage, Bacon, Garlic, Onion, Green Peppers, Tomatoes, and Mushrooms...


Pan Pizza with Basil and Tomatoes...


Mexican Thin Crust Pizza and a Four Cheese Thin Crust with Cheddar, Mozzerella, Provolone and Swiss...


Dan and Fred enjoying their post-pizza afterglow...


Where it went down...

[Special Report] 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...

La Villa Restaurant [Meeting #59]

La Villa Restaurant and Banquets
3632 N. Pulaski Map
(773) 283-7980

The Chicago Pizza Club invaded La Villa on 6/11/08.

It's not often that we venture West of Damen Ave., but the Pizza Club is a fearless bunch and we had no problems trekking out near Addison and Pulaski. I have to say, after reading the rave reviews on Yelp.com that I had high expectations for this place. But I guess this just goes to highlight the difference between Yelp and the Chicago Pizza Club.

Thanks to the ever punctual CTA bus service I showed up about 20 minutes late to the meeting to find that our order had already been placed and that we had several appetizing bread options at our table. I opted for some pizza bread which was really quite good, maybe the best thing I had all night? We had eight members attending the meeting and ordered a 14" pan pizza vegetarian special, a 14" stuffed pizza with pepperoni and mushroom, and a 16" shrimp and garlic thin crust pizza. Our order was placed at 7:45 and I don't think it took more than 30 minutes for our food to come, but maybe it should have...

The best of the bunch was the thin crust with garlic and shrimp... but yeah, that's not saying much. The garlic was overpowering and the shrimp was not very high quality, obviously we don't expect fresh shrimp yanked right from the ocean here in Chicago on our pizza, but you hope for something better than this. The crust was bland and the sauce didn't bring a whole lot to the table either. The pan vegetarian pizza was described by one of our Pizza Club members as as a salad with dough and cheese, and I don't think I can argue with that. The excess of vegetables made the whole pizza much too soggy. And the pepperoni and mushroom stuffed pizza? Well, the best comment I heard about this pizza was that at least the mushrooms weren't canned. I'm sure this pizza did have pepperoni on it, but I can't remember tasting any... I was probably too distracted by the half-cooked crust and the bad sauce. Also, kind of disappointing was the fact that there was no difference in crust between the pan and stuffed pizzas.

It's kinda rare that there is leftover pizza at a Chicago Pizza Club meeting, but tonight there was plenty, and it was even thrown up for debate whether if even Fred would want the leftovers. I'm honestly suprised that there were so many positive reviews of this place on Yelp.com. While it's hard to call any Chicago Pizza Club meeting a failure (dinner out with good friends is always cause for a smile) this meeting was definitely a let down. Not the worst pizza the CPC has ever had, but I don't think any of us will find a reason to head back to La Villa.

Petey Pizza Gives My Pie a 3.1/10.


The Pizza Bread!


An unsuspecting Chicago Pizza Club...


The Stuffed Pepperoni & Mushroom Pizza...


Thin Crust with Shrimp & Garlic...


The Vegetarian Pan Pizza...


Where it went down...

My Pie [Meeting #58]

My Pie
2417 N. Clark Map
773-929-3380

The Chicago Pizza Club invaded My Pie on 5/20/08.

All of the Pizza Clubbers in attendance tonight have walked by My Pie numerous times, but none of us had ever been there (at least not to this location - a couple had been to the much smaller place in Bucktown). The first thing we all noticed was how much bigger the restaurant is than we expected. From the outside, it seems like it would be primarily a take-out place with a few tables. But it's actually a nice, large restaurant with brick walls and heavy wood tables.

My Pie is a family-owned chain that has opened 23 locations in 9 states. They claim to be the first Chicago deep dish pizzeria to open outside of Illinois. It's unclear how many My Pies currently exist since the claim about other locations is in the past tense, but the only two mentioned on the website are both in Chicago. I shall try to solve this pizza mystery someday.

We ordered four pizzas: a deep dish sausage and mushroom; a deep dish pepperoni, onion and garlic; a thin crust roast beef; and a stuffed spinach soufflé. My Pie says that is makes its dough daily and that it uses different dough for the three different styles of pie. In fact, they say they use different cheese, spices, sausage and tomatoes for each of the three types. After about a 40 minute wait, our pies were all delivered to the table.

The thin crust with roast beef had no characteristics that really stood out. The crust drooped when one held up a piece, but there was some debate whether that was because of a flaw in the crust or because of the weight of the beef. There was definitely not a shortage of roast beef on the pizza, but the amount of cheese made it less than easy to taste the roast beef. Indeed another possibility for the lack of sturdiness in the crust may be that the oil that came out of the cheese during cooking softened it up. One thing to note about the crust is that it is thicker than a typical Chicago thin crust like the one at Pat's or Vito & Nicks.

The deep dish pizzas were noticeably different from typical deep dish pizzas in that their crust was not particularly thick. In fact, it seemed no thicker than the crust on the thin pizza. The crust seemed to have a garlic flavor to it and it definitely had a lot of butter, so it wasn't entirely unique for Chicago deep dish, but the crust/cheese breakdown was different. A couple of notes on the toppings: the sausage had a higher fat content than most sausage. Also, while My Pie is generous with the toppings, the chefs are not particularly careful about even distribution. On one slice of my pepperoni, onion and garlic pie, I counted six pieces of pepperoni on top of one another and I had a couple of bites with no pepperoni at all.

The stuffed spinach soufflé was definitely the most unique pizza of the night. Like a traditional stuffed pizza, the cheese and toppings sit between two layers of crust. But while the top layer of crust is normally paper thin, here it was about as thick as the bottom layer. Furthermore, while traditional stuffed pizza has only sauce on top of the top layer of crust, this one seemed to have a little more cheese on top of the crust and under the sauce. It's hard to say what the cause is, but the result is that the stuffed pizza at My Pie does not feel nearly as heavy as a traditional stuffed pizza.

Finally, a word about the sauce. This may have been the chunkiest sauce that I've ever had and there was not even a hint of acidity to it. I could not tell a difference between the sauces on the different pizza, but one reason for the lack of acidity could be, as My Pie claims, that their tomatoes are vine-ripened and only single-cooked, while most canned tomatoes are double or triple-cooked.

For those who are planning on driving, My Pie is on a busy street in a busy neighborhood - parking is sparse. My Pie offers discounted parking just two blocks north at Children's Memorial Hospital for $3.

Petey Pizza Gives My Pie a 6.2/10.


Serving up some deep dish...


The Roast Beef thin crust pizza...


Limp crust makes El Presidente sad...


The Spinache Soufflé


Who knew it was so big?


Where it went down...

Pequod's [Meeting #57]

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

CPC invaded Pequod's for the second time on 4/27/08.

Da club came together on a mild spring day to take a bite out of Pequod’s signature caramelized crust pan pizza in Lincoln Park. This was one of our largest meetings to date, with a group of about fifteen folks including regulars, new members, out-of-town visitors, and a couple of tykes.

Pequod’s, named for Captain Ahab’s whaling ship in Melville’s Moby Dick, is one of several establishments started by the legendary Burt Katz. These days, Burt spends his time making pizzas at the appropriately named Burt’s Place in Morton Grove, but his signature pizza can be found at various other establishments he owned at different points in the past going back to the 1960's, including Pequod’s and Gulliver’s. Don’t expect to see Burt at any of his former haunts, though. When TimeOut Chicago asked Burt for his thoughts on his former pizza places, he replied, “When you sell your car, do you check on it every six months? Nope.” Nevertheless, the CPC has visited Burt’s Place in the past, and there is no mistaking his lingering influence on Pequod’s.

The restaurant itself is a long, rectangular room with a bar along the left side. We had to string four or five square tables together to accommodate our large group. It is a casual spot with dim lighting, where you can hang out with family and friends or just stop in for beer and pizza while you watch a sports game. The image of the whale is prominent throughout, as you can see in the photos below.

At Pequod’s, you can expect charred outer crusts, a nice tangy sauce, and abundant fresh toppings. The crust itself is thick and more bread-like than the typical pan pizza. It is soft other than the charred outer edges. The cheese is good enough, but it comes in a pretty thin layer and it’s not terribly remarkable until it joins the caramelized goodness of the charred crust. The sauce is delicious and probably one of the best around town in my opinion. It is sweet, tangy, and altogether the flavors are very well-balanced. Because of the thickness of the bready crust, El Presidente and I often request extra sauce and/or cheese when we order Pequod’s for delivery.

We enjoyed the following pizzas at our meeting:

• Pan Pizza with Sausage and Pepperoni - the sausage comes in big, flavorful chunks and the pepperoni is appropriately spicy.

• Pan Pizza with Pepperoni, Onion, and Garlic - this is a great combination. some spicy pepperoni, the crunch of the onion, and the garlic is probably my favorite topping here because it goes so well with the sauce.
  

• Pan Pizza with Garlic and Basil - perhaps because of the daintiness of the ingredients, this pie didn't seem to get as much sauce as the others, so it was a lot of bread, but still tasty.
  

• Pan Pizza with Spinach and Mushroom - the combination of these two waterlogged vegetables resulted in a wet mess, but the ingredients themselves were good.
  

• Pan Pizza with Mushroom and Garlic - fresh, perfectly cooked mushrooms and garlic. a good combination when not partaking in the meat options.
  

• Thin Crust with Canadian Bacon and Pineapple - the pineapple was cut into rings, so it didn't appear on every slice, but the juices still added the flavor throughout. the Canadian bacon was cut into small, thin slices. generous amounts of cheese. this pizza was okay, and we tried it to get a feel for the thin crust, but I wouldn't order it again. go for the pan pizza.
  

The pizzas came out in a timely fashion and we ended up with a bill of $15/adult. Overall, a delicious and successful outing that has me itching to get back to Burt's again soon.

kate-d. gives Pequod's an 8.2

The CPC gives Pequod's 8.15/10.



Serving up some deep dish...


Thin crust Pineapple and Ham


The crowd-pleasing Pepperoni, 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...

Pat's Pizza [Meeting #56]

Pat's Pizza
2679 N. Lincoln Ave. (GoogleMaps)
(773) 271-7725

CPC invaded Pat's Pizza on 4/16/08.

The Chicago Pizza Club is growing. 8 people showed up tonight, including two new members. The venue, Pat's Pizza, has been in Lakeview since 1950. For most of that time, it was at 3114 N. Sheffield, a location that was recently replaced with a rather unattractive condo development across the street from the Vic Theater. Pat's moved about six blocks away to its current location. Fortunately, they remembered to bring their award-winning pizza recipes with them.

Pat's was recently named by Time Out Chicago as having the best bar style pizza in the city, suspiciously placing it one slot ahead of south side institution, Vito and Nick's. The CPC had to investigate.

The eight of us ordered five pies: A large thin quatro formagi, a large thin goat cheese and artichoke, a medium thin pesto and a medium thin taco pizza. In CPC-order-some-of-everything style, we also got a large pan sausage pizza. I am pleased to report that every pie was an unqualified success.

The quatro formagi was a spectacular blend of ricotta, gorgonzola, mozzarella, and parmesan. And garlic, a good amount of garlic. Sauce is optional of the four cheese pizza and we opted to have it. There wasn't much of it and with the heavy cheese flavor and the garlic, I didn't even notice it. The crust on the quatro formagi, like all of the thin crusts, was outstanding. It was cracker thin, not too oily to the touch, but with enough oil or butter to give it a lot more flavor than I expected from a crust so thin.

The taco pizza was topped with seasoned ground beef, refried beans, salsa, cheddar, mozzarella, lettuce, carrot, tomato and black olives. This was my introduction to taco pizza, though it has been ordered at a couple previous CPC meetings I did not attend, so I don't have a basis to compare it to. But those toppings, complemented by the perfect crunchy thin crust, made one excellent pizza.

The pesto pizza and the goat cheese and artichoke pizza were also both delicious. Particularly nice about the latter was the amount of goat cheese. Often, pizzerias put a couple of dollops of goat cheese on. Not so here - I think there was an entire layer. I would have preferred season artichoke hearts rather than the ones on this pie, that's a minor quibble.

I was initially hesitant to order the pan pizza as Pat's is so well known for it's thin crust pies. But I was quickly reminded that the CPC tries it all and I acquiesced. I'm glad I did. We got a simple pan pizza - nothing but Pat's homemade sausage. First, a word about the crust. I've never had a crust like this. It was about three times as thick as the thin crust (maybe 1/4 inch), but it was crunchy - like a well toasted piece of very good lightly-seasoned focaccia. The homemade sausage was delicious, though it was in such small bits that it was impossible to isolate a piece and eat it without the sauce. Speaking of the sauce, it was very noticeable on the pan pizza and that was a good thing. While not my favorite - I like a chunkier sauce and this one was chunk-free, the flavor was good - well-seasoned and not too sweet.

The food came quickly (less than 20 minutes), the service was good, the Cubs were beating the Reds on the big screen television, and the ambiance was fine, though a bit sterile (but the tablecloths and crayons were an unexpected nice touch). I was a little surprised that we had the restaurant to ourselves most of the night, but I think they do a big take-out business. Unlike the original location, this one is not BYOB.

As far as comparing Pat's to Vito & Nick's, I'm still torn. I definitely like the crust at Pat's, but I'm not sure about the toppings. The ambiance at Vito & Nick's is vastly superior, but since Pat's is five blocks from my house and Vito and Nick's is far away, my days of going to Vito & Nick's will be few and far between.

Petey gives Pat's Pizza an 8.0375/10.


The Sausage Pan Pizza


Taco Pizza!

Artichoke and Goat Cheese

Quatoro Formagi

The Pesto Pizza

The Chicago Pizza Club in action

Where it went down...

Calo Ristorante [Meeting #55]

Calo Ristorante
5343 N. Clark St. (GoogleMaps)
(773) 271-7725

CPC invaded Calo Ristorante on 3/27/08.

Calo is a well-regarded Italian restaurant in Andersonville that has been around for 45 years. It is better known for its regular Italian fare, but the pizza has been embraced by many. According to the restaurant's website, in 2005, the Sun-Times identified Calo's as the place to go for Chicago pizza. The CPC had to do some fact-checking.

Eight members of the Chicago Pizza Club arrived at Calo on a sleet-filled evening, including three new members who are sure to debut on this site soon (or else they may quickly be former members). Calo has two large dining rooms, both of which had dimmed lights supplemented by candles on each table. The heavy wood tables, cloth napkins, painted murals on the wall, and framed photographs and sketches of Italy were all nice and made it clear that we were not in a typical pizzeria. Still, none of us were tempted by such menu items as Calo's famous gnocchi; we were there to try the pizza.

Calo offers three types of pie: thin, pan and stuffed pizza. We tried all three. At 7:58, we placed our order: a thin medium with goat cheese and onions, a thin medium with giardiniera, a large pan with canadian bacon and garlic, and a large stuffed with sausage. At 8:13, the stands to hold the pizzas were delivered. About 20 minutes later, four very attractive pizzas were placed before us.

The thin crust with goat cheese was very good. There was an ample supply of both toppings. The onions were particularly noteworthy as they were long thin strips of onion that had a slight sweetness to them that played well with the rich goat cheese. The sauce, which seemed a bit too sweet on the stuffed pizza, was fine on the goat cheese and onion pie. The crust was very thin, almost cracker-like. The taste of the crust was fine, though nothing special, but the texture of it held up well.

The thin pizza with giardiniera had the same sturdy, well-textured crust. The sauce and mozzarella were fine - there was plenty of both. But the crust, sauce and cheese were no match, flavor-wise, for the giardiniera. For those unfamiliar with Chicago-style giardiniera, know that it's not the same as the Italian antipasto. This is a much spicier local treat that is commonly put on Italian beef (another Chicago specialty), and occasionally offered as a pizza topping. I don't know if Calo makes there's or who they buy it from, but this was some spicy stuff. It was good, but it overwhelmed the pizza, which is probably not a good thing. However, the goat cheese on the other thin crust proved to be a very good follow-up to the giardiniera pie as it restored sensitivity to the taste buds.

The pan pizza, which came with garlic and canadian bacon, was another example of too much of a good thing. I love garlic. There was so much garlic on this pizza that I could not taste the canadian bacon. This was not garlic powder or minced garlic. This was a lot of coursely shopped garlic cloves on the pizza. The taste was very good - but I couldn't taste the bacon or the sauce - so basically this seemed like outstanding cheesy garlic bread. I would have been perfectly happy with that except the bread part, so essential to a pan pizza, was pretty much flavorless and fairly dry. It seems they use the exact same dough for the thin and thick crust, and that particular mixture of flower, egg, yeast and water works much better for the thin version.

The stuffed sausage pizza was very good. It has the same dry crust as the pan pizza, but that was less of a hindrance due to the amount of sauce. Speaking of the sauce, it was noticeably sweeter here than normal. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just different. The sausage, of which there was plenty, was very good. And while, as is always the case with stuffed pizza, there was a significant amount of cheese, this was definitely a very thin pizza by stuffed pizza standard - I'd guess about 3/4 of an inch thick.

Overall, I thought Calo's offered better than average pizzas. If I were to go back, I might get a thin crust pie to share as an appetizer, but I'd prefer to get something other than pizza as a main course. But if someone really wanted to just have Calo's pizza for dinner, I wouldn't complain.

Petey gives Calo Ristorante a 6.2/10.


Chicago Pizza Club and newbies...


Garlic and Canadian Bacon pan pizza...


Goat Cheese and Onions thin crust...


Sausage stuffed pizza...


Giardiniera thin crust...


Where it went down...

Special Report: Chain Pizza Extravagana [Meeting #54]

Little Caesar's (pickup)
Domino's (delivery)
Pizza Hut (delivery)

Bad Chain Pizzas invaded CPC on 3/21/08.

Ok, so we finally went and got Little Caesar's, Pizza Hut, and Domino's at the home of Stu for this pizza club meeting. This will be a brief review of it because I'm doing what so many of my elementary school teachers reminded me to do regarding not saying anything if it's not nice.

I don't remember what pizzas we ordered and I never meant to after having a bite of each. They were all bad. I do think we had a meat lover's and a veggie pizza from pizza hut. Domino's was so horrible it wouldn't matter what was on it. At least on the Little Caesar's pizzas had bacon on it. That's pretty much all I care to discuss regarding the pizzas.

In the end, the pictures and our expressions will have to speak for themselves. If there is anything redeeming said about any of these by our members it's because we were gasping for air and perhaps making relative comparisons only. If one was better than the other, it's only because we got philosophical and determined no two things can be equal. Weep not for pizza club nor for Chicago. We have good pizza and we know where to get it. Instead, direct your pity towards Kansas and Alabama and even Arizona. Sure, there may be a Pizzeria Bianco lurking, but I bet you most of the pizza in these places is horrible. So, if the best choice for pizza in your town is Papa John's, I weep for you and, more importantly, I eat for you. Small town America can get on our backs and vicariously enjoy the pizza through our reviews as we continue our crusade for pizza excellence.

Fred may have liked the pizza - he ate more than anyone else. However, Fred is Dan's hound so he probably has a slightly less discriminating palate than everyone else present that night.

- El Presidente


Bacon pizza from Little Caesar's...


Domino's Sausage pizza...


Pepperoni from Domino's...


"Holy Crap, this is bad..."


The State of the Pizza Club Annual Report


Fred doesn't seem to mind the bad pizza...


Meat Lover's pizza from Pizza Hut...


Veggie Lover's pizza from Pizza Hut

Albano's Pizzeria [Meeting #53]

Albano's Pizzeria
5913 W. Roosevelt Rd (GoogleMaps)
Cicero
(708) 863-0060

CPC invaded Albano's on 3/4/08.

This Cicero establishment on Roosevelt Road is well known for it's giant pizza puffs!

CPC arrived at Albano's Pizzeria at 8PM on a Tuesday night. Parking was easy as there is a lot adjacent to the restaurant off of Roosevelt Road. Albano's is set up more like a carry out establishment but has a dining room that is simple and clean with 6-8 red booths and 3-4 round tables. Orders can be placed at the window though the friendly staff provided us service at the tables and brought out soda, cups, ice, and plates. Pizza was served as it came out of the oven. Clientèle includes Chicago's Finest so plan your next heist at home before you come in to eat.

The menu is extensive but pizza is featured prominently on the first page. Also drawing attention on the menu is the claim "Chicagoland's Largest Homemade Pizza Puff". Nobody at our table was prepared to dispute this designation. Be aware that no alcohol is served at Albano's and it's not a BYOB.

Pizza sizes range from 10" - 18". Types include Regular, Pan, Stuffed, and Pizza Puff. There is also the option for thin or thick crust on request though thick crust will cost you an extra $1 to $1.50. There is an Albano's Special which is a bargain price for a pizza with 4 or 8( ! ) toppings. Topping choices are numerous and include shrimp, meatball, broccoli, bacon and tomato in addition to the standards you expect.

We had 7 members in attendance and ordered:
1) 16" Regular crust: bacon, sausage, onion, and tomato
2) 16" Pan crust: meatball, mushroom
3) Pizza puff: pepperoni
4) Pizza puff: sausage
5) Pizza puff: spinach and olives
Two 2 liter bottles of pop included with the order. (There is a coupon on the menu but they were included without us asking.)
Total price - $65 without tax.

The regular crust came in about 20 min and the three puffs followed 10 min later. The pan pizza took approximately 40 min.

The crust on the square-cut 16" bacon, sausage, onion, and tomato pizza was crisp and tasty throughout. No soggy middle pieces on this pie. Toppings were plentiful except for the tomatoes. Bacon was tasty with good sizes pieces and sausage had a nice amount of spice. The sauce was flavorful without being particularly sweet. Sauce fiends may be disappointed as it doesn't ooze out the sides of the square slices but there's enough to get a good taste. Onions were thin cut.

The pan crust was thick and crisp but on the dry side. The meatball topping was very tasty and well-liked though several CPC members commented the flavor was "steaky". Mushrooms were likely canned but well portioned. Overall, this was a popular choice for the group.

Now for the famous puffs! Basically it's an 8 inch pizza folded in half with a golden brown outer crust. They've been described as football-sized and this a pretty good literal estimate. We had underestimated the size and had plenty to box up and take home. If anyone out there was planning to knock one out solo they can do me a favor and to say hi to Kobayashi on the circuit. The fried browned crust is crispy and rich. Plenty of cheese and toppings pour out once the cutting begins. The only significant neg was the pepperoni slices that seemed a bit bland. The sausage and spinach/olive combinations were preferred at our table.

In summary, Albano's was a hit! The pizza puffs were huge and tasty. The table consensus was that a meatball puff would be a killer combination. Crust on the regular pizza was nice and crisp and toppings were generally tasty and plentiful. Minor complaints were the amount of sauce and the blandness of the pepperoni.

8/10

Ryan


A delicious Pizza Puff... from the inside...


The Meatball Pan Pizza... mm... steaky...


The Bacon Pizza goes fast... as it should...


The CPC and the CPD...


Where it went down...


Fred enjoys Pizza Club leftovers...

Pizza Rustica [Meeting #52]

Pizza Rustica
3913 N. Sheridan Rd (GoogleMaps)
(773) 404-8955

CPC invaded Pizza Rustica on 2/21/08.

Pizza Rustica is a BYOB spot on Sheridan Road just south of Irving Park, mere steps from the Sheridan Red Line stop. We arrived on a bitterly cold evening to find that we were not the only ones brave enough to face the elements in order to go to out for these pies.

We began with two of the finest bottles of red wine, which the waitress immediately opened for us. She then brought glasses to those who wanted them (though she neglected to tell us that each glass came with a $1.50 corkage fee - no biggy). The pizza clubbers were hungry and set to the task of selecting pizzas. Pizza Rustica offers 8 different specialty pizzas, so we did not even consider coming up with our own combinations. There were only five of us, but we decided to go for three pizzas. We quickly settled on Tutta Pizza ~ Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, Onion, Black Olives & Bleu Cheese, as well as the Quattro Stagioni ~ Tomatoes, Artichoke, Mushrooms & Ham. The woman suggested Verdure Grigliate ~ Roasted Peppers, Zucchini & Mushrooms. The men initially humored her before suggesting Patate Rosmarino ~ Thinly Sliced Potatoes Seasoned with Rosemary, which is what we ultimately went with, a decision some would come to regret.

The ambience at Pizza Rustica is fairly cozy. There is a second room, but it was empty the night we visited. The tables were somewhat packed in, but they didn't seem to close together. Of course, we were outside of the main dining area so it's hard to be sure. Anyhow, there was nothing particularly memorable about the place other than the rather nifty oven which is out for all to see (pictured below).

About thirty minutes after we ordered, three hot pizzas were delivered to our table. The crust on the pies was a new one for me. It was almost like a thin (about 1/3 inch), slightly compressed focaccia. Very tasty, but with a mild enough flavor that it served its purpose of complementing the toppings. None of the pizzas had much sauce. Normally, that would be a big strike against it. In this case, it really didn't detract from the pizza. The crust, cheese and toppings were all so flavorful, that sauce wasn't necessary.

About the toppings. The Tutta Pizza was my personal favorite. I would have liked a little more bleu cheese as many bites had none, but I can understand why they skimp on it as that's such a strong flavor and nobody wants it to overwhelm the rest of the pie. The Quattro Stagioni was also excellent. Of particular note were the tomatoes. How Pizza Rustica got such flavorful tomatoes in Chicago in February is a testament to either some impressive connections, recent developments in hot house gardening technology, or dumb luck. In any event, everyone at the table seemed to love both of those pizzas.

The potato and rosemary pizza got a mixed review. Some actively disliked both the flavor and the undercooked potatoes on their pieces. My pizzas had only well-cooked potatoes and I really liked the simplicity of the potato and the rosemary (a lot of rosemary).

All in all, I was very happy with Pizza Rustica and I will definitely return there again, particularly in the summer when outdoor seating is available.

In other news, it has come to my attention that Big Cheese Pizza, home of Chicago Pizza Club meeting #36, has gone out of business. A moment of silence for the best chocolate calzones any of us have ever had.


Ambience to spare...


The oven!


Half and half...


Tutta Pizza ~ Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushroom, Onion, Black Olives & Bleu Cheese


Better grab that pizza fast...


Where it went down...

Pizza Capri [Meeting #51]

Pizza Capri
1733 N. Halsted St. (GoogleMaps)
(312) 280-5700

CPC invaded Pizza Capri on 2/04/08.

In college I basically tried every thing on Pizza Capri's menu multiple times. In Hyde Park, I was limited to a few restaurants that delivered to me when I didn't feel like losing my parking spot or walking in the ubiquitous Arctic wind blast. Looking back, I had Caffe Florian available to me as well, but when I wanted thin crust I usually went with my old standby.

So here I am, driving past a Pizza Capri every day on my way to and from work. I definitely had enough of it in college to last me a few lifetimes, but I decided that there must have been a reason I ate it so much in the first place.

• small rosemary, potato, and chicken pizza
  
• small shroom pizza, portabella, crimini, and shiitake mushrooms
  
• 4 cheese pizza with tomato and basil
  
• deep dish with spinach, Canadian bacon

The order took 31 minutes to present itself to us. We had plenty of time to admire the nice, empty restaurant that we had all to ourselves except for a steady stream of take-out customers. Additionally, the restaurant is BYOB - a bonus for those of us who desire to not drink macrocrap with our pizza. The bill came out to $14 apiece; very affordable. I must say that I was happy with the pizza overall. True, I really don't care for these designer pizzas which try to present a whole meal on a crust, but they weren't horrible. Their basic pizzas such as the four cheese were actually quite good. The deep dish here was a little soggy for my tastes and has an underwhelming flavor profile, but its passable.



The Four Cheese Pizza


"Shroom"


Rosemary, Potato and Chicken


Stuffed Spinach and Canadian Bacon


Mmm... Pizza...


Where it went down...

Bacino's Pizzeria [Meeting #50]

Bacino's
2204 N. Lincoln Ave (GoogleMaps)
(773) 472-7400

CPC invaded Bacino's on 1/15/08.

I owe my discovery of Bacino's to an envelope full of coupons I got from Money Mailer. Intrigued by the quote on the coupon from Crain's Chicago Business declaring Bacino's to have the best stuffed spinach in town, I checked out the website. Once there I found more high praise from respected voices like Charlie Trotter and Pat Bruno. I was sold - Bacino's would have to be tasted.

7 1/2 members of the Chicago Pizza Club descended on Bacino's on a cool Tuesday evening. The restaurant itself is fairly nondescript (as would be expected of a restaurant that occupies the ground floor of a building full of chiropractors' offices). The only detail that stood out was a small section of one wall decorated with portions of wood from wine cases. There is a tv in the main dining room, which is always a good thing.

At 7:40 p.m., we placed the following order with our attractive waitress of an indeterminate age (potentially young enough that both Stu and I risked feeling dirty): a Prosciutto Pizze (only offered in one size), a large stuffed spinach, a large thin crust brocoli, and a medium "special."

The prosciutto pizze was not in the pizza section of the menu. And on the online menu, it is only listed as a lunch item. Pizze is apparently Italian for really thin and delicious. The crust was almost like a cracker, and it was topped with mozzarella, arugula, and, of course, prosciutto. All of the ingredients seemed to be high quality and they worked well together.

The special, which like seemingly every special at every pizza place in Chicago, consisted of sausage, green peppers, onions and mushroom. The thin crust at Bacino's is a little thicker than most places, which I found to be a good thing as the pizza never became too soggy. I would have liked more sausage and less onion and green pepper, but that may be because I really like sausage and don't care for crunchy vegetables on my pizza. I think even if I weren't biased, I'd still think there was still insufficient sausage on the pie as, after eating a couple of pieces, I could not reach a conclusion as to the quality of the sausage one way or the other. Come to think of it, as one who thinks sausage is the signature pizza ingredient, I would propose that a simple sausage pizza always be ordered at Pizza Club meetings.

The thin crust broccoli, which had the same quality crust as the Special, was excellent. I had never had broccoli pizza before, but the fresh broccoli along with Bacino's "special blend of cheeses and spices" was a very pleasant surprise. And, I am happy to report, was just as good when I had it cold the following morning. The one drawback of the broccoli pizza was that it could have used some more sauce.

The stuffed spinach was outstanding. A couple of Pizza Clubbers claim they've had better, but I say it is the best stuffed spinach pizza I have ever had. The aforementioned "special blend" was outstanding. There is definitely some ricotta mixed in with the mozzarella. I have a feeling there was other cheese as well, but I couldn't tell you what they were. Thanks to a crust also a little thicker than the typical variety, the pizza held it's form well. The spinach special includes, if desired, fresh mushrooms. We opted for the addition, but I thought there wasn't enough mushroom to really impact the taste.

We ordered the pizza at 7:40. Our thin crust pies started rolling out at 8:09 and the stuffed spinach came to the table at 8:18. Service was attentive and friendly. And the bill (after our $10 off thanks to Money Mailer) was a mere $87.

Bacino's was a Pizza Club success.

Petey gives Bacino's a 7.93/10.


Our fearless leader serves up some broccoli...


The newest Pizza Clubber gets ready to dive in...


The prosciutto pizze...


Stuffed!


Where it went down...

Fornello's [Meeting #49]

Fornello
1011 W. Irving Park Rd (GoogleMaps)
(773) 404-2210

CPC invaded Fornello's on 12/18/2007.

Don't listen to what Rachel Ray might tell you about this place. The pizza is mediocre and the service is poor. The high prices reflect that either the proprietors don't know this, or they thought we would not notice. We noticed. We are the Chicago Freaking Pizza Club! Didn't they see our t-shirts?

We ventured out to Fornello's on a very cold night for the last meeting of 2007. Fornello's is an Italian restaurant that offers a variety of pizzas in addition to standard Italian fare. It is situated along Irving Park Road in a good-sized space with big open windows facing the street. Above the front entrance is an enormous banner quoting Rachel Ray's proclamation that they have the best pizza in Chicago. Inside, the restaurant is occupied by white furniture, and features light-colored murals along the walls. The main restaurant was mostly empty, and they seated us in a private nook in the back of the restaurant.

Fornello's offers a few kinds of pizza, and we decided to try their pizza specialty - the thin crust pizzas from their brick oven. We ordered three different gourmet pizzas:

• Capricciosa: artichokes, black olives, capers, mushrooms, and mozzarella
• Quattro Stagioni: mozzarella, prosciutto ham, artichokes, mushrooms
• Quattro Formaggi: mozzarella, asiago, provolone, romano

The standard size of the gourmet pizzas is 10 inches, and they were mostly $12.95 at that size. You can make each pizza 12, 14, or 16 inches for an additional cost.

The ingredients on all the pizzas were fresh, but the capricciosa and the quattro stagioni tasted pretty much the same aside from the capers. The main reason for this is that the "prosciutto ham" was not prosciutto by any stretch of the imagination. Prosciutto is a dried, cured ham that is sliced thin for serving. The ham on our pizza consisted of bland chunks of light pink meat that resembled the packs of styrovac Canadian Bacon sold at big grocery stores next to the string cheese. It was almost unnoticeable amidst the other ingredients. This was such an egregious misrepresentation (and a mistake for a place that tries to present authentic Italian ingredients) that I have to wonder if they just ran out of prosciutto and made a substitution without telling us.

Nevertheless, the four-cheese pizza was well-received. The texture and flavor of the cheese combination was very good, and it would probably lead to a return visit if I lived in the neighborhood.

The crust is not as thin as the Neopolitan-type pizza we thought we might be getting. It was pretty bland, but stayed firm during dinner and with leftovers the next day. The pizzas did not have much sauce, and they did have a generous amount of cheese, but (aside from the four-cheese pizza) there was nothing special about the mozzarella on the pizzas. Overall, nothing aside from the prosciutto was bad, but we were disappointed with the pizza.

Although we are here to judge the pizza, I must note that the service let us down. First, we were not sure how thin these thin crust pizzas were, and so we asked for a recommendation as to the sizes we should get to feed five moderately hungry people. Our server told us to get all three pizzas in their extra large size for an additional cost of $9 per pizza. We followed his suggestion, and we had more than twice as much pizza as we needed. As a result, we ended up with what I believe was the largest per person bill in pizza club history, though we had not even ordered drinks. We did, however, get leftovers.

Also, though after 30 minutes they brought pizza stands out and told us the pizza would be out shortly, it actually took them nearly an hour from the time of our order to bring our pizzas to the table. We were not given an explanation for the delay, though we ordered thin crust pizzas and there was only one other occupied table in the restaurant.

Petey gives Fornello's 5.325/10.


Looks promising inside...


Serve it up...


Four Cheeses will never let you down...


Tardy, but happy to eat!


"Prosciutto"


Where it went down...

Vito & Nick's Pizzeria [Meeting #48; Meeting #1 Revisited]

Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
8433 S. Pulaski Rd. (Google Maps)
(773) 735-2050

Pizza Club was found in 2003 when my then-roommate and I had a chat about pizza in Chicago. We are both essentially life-long Chicagoans and have enjoyed many a fine pizza, but we understood we had probably missed so many great places along the way as well. He pulled out an article from one of the local papers where someone had submitted a top ten list of pizzerias. We had already tried most of them, but Nick and Vito’s caught our eye because we hadn’t heard of it and because it was on the South Side. We figured that like most things, anything on the South Side was bound to be better than its North Side counterpart and we headed off to battle rush hour traffic. In retrospect, this was one of the best things I’ve ever done because we formed the Chicago Pizza Club on our drive home, stuffed with heavenly pizza and eager to regularly start sampling pizza around the city.

Much has changed since that time. For starters, many of the original crew have come and gone due to graduations and jobs leading them elsewhere. Additionally, this former roommate of mine is now married and has a baby – the smallest pizza club member. Since we have so many new faces, we have decided to break a long standing pizza club rule and start re-visiting pizzerias to allow new members to experience some of our greatest finds.

Enough sentimentality. Let’s get to the pizzas. Sadly, I have lost my piece of paper detailing our meal, but I can remember some of the pizzas. I also remember nothing was left of them.

• Shrimp and garlic
  
• Roast Beef
  
• Tomato and basil

The pizzas start arriving within 20 minutes because they’re thin and this place is actually efficient. Additionally, the price was right. The bill for each member was less than $15, including whatever drinks we may have ordered. In general, this place was extremely well received. The crust was thin and firm, but still with that classic cracker-like character. The sauce was well seasoned enough that I could taste it despite it being present in small amounts so as to not overwhelm the crust. The cheese was the most inauspicious part, but the toppings were fabulous. Fresh vegetables and meats are thinly sliced to cook at the same time as the rest of the pizza. One word for this pizzeria’s product is balance.

On this visit, Petey gives Nick and Vito's a 9.

CPC invaded Vito & Nick's on 11/13/08.


The Chicago Pizza Club digs in...


Tomatoe & Basil!


Shrimp & Garlic!!


Francisco has a mouthful...


Italian Beef!


Leave your plastic at home...


A truly sad sight...


What do you mean it's all gone?


People with glasses like pizza too...


A very happy (and full) Chicago Pizza Club


Where it went down...

Exchequer Restaurant & Pub [Meeting #47]

Exchequer Restaurant & Pub
226 S. Wabash Avenue (Google Maps)
Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 939-5633

CPC invaded Exchequer on 11/01/07.

Searching the plastic tubes of the internet for new pizza locations, I came across Exchequer Restaurant & Pub, located in the heart of the loop. Initially, I was surprised that I had not heard of a downtown pizza location that resident extra large movie expert Roger Ebert identified as one of the four best pies in Chicago. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the portly cowriter of such cinematic masterpieces as Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens endorsed this place in 1984. Additionally, most of the rest of the endorsements came from Brits. Brits don't know shit about pizza. Still, the Chicago Tribune allegedly identified Exchequer as the best deep dish pizza in the loop in 2001. I say allegedly because the link to the article was conveniently broken.

I was intrigued enough to suggest the locale as the next Pizza Club destination. My first thought upon entering was that I can't wait for the smoking ban to go into effect in Chicago. My second thought as we walked to the back of the restaurant and passed walls completely covered in Chicago sports decor, movie posters and various photos of quasi-famous people, was that I was surprised how crowded the place was. My third thought was that I noticed I did not see anyone eating pizza.

I began to have serious doubts about the place when the waiter was shocked that we were there for the pizza. Despite the optimism his reaction instilled, we proceeded. Exchequer offers three different types of pizza, deep dish, thin crust and crispy crust. Of course, the club sampled one of each. We ordered a sausage and garlic deep dish, a spinach and feta thin crust, and a Meat Eaters crispy crust. For good measure, and in honor of the restaurant's Greek roots, we got the Aegean pizza as an appetizer.

The Aegean came first. Served on a crispy crust, it came with Artichoke, Plum Tomato, Red Onion, and Feta Cheese. It seemed as if they made a cheese pizza and then put the ingredients on. I liked the artichokes. That was about it.

Next up was the sausage and garlic. I tasted the garlic and I definitely saw the sausage, but this pizza was pretty much a pile of rapidly congealing cheese that overwhelmed the crust - a knife and fork was required. I finished my slice and it was fine. But I like cheese. However, I also like sauce and this pie had very little. In its favor, this particular pizza was just as tasty when I ate it cold the following morning.

The spinach on the thin crust was interesting. It tasted like creamed spinach. Seriously, I think the spinach was cooked with cheese before it was put on the pizza. That said, I like creamed spinach and this pie was interesting. The crust held up, but it was nothing special. Not bad, but not great.

The Meat Eaters pie had a lot of meat - Cheese, Sausage, Pepperoni, Ground Beef, Canadian Bacon. Honestly, I don't remember much about it other than it was a lot of meat, some cheese, and as was apparently the style at Exchequer, very little sauce. Meat and cheese is always good. The crust was virtually the same as the thin crust. In fact, I don't think there was a difference between the thin crust and the crispy one.

The pizza at Exchequer was edible, but with all the dining choices in the vicinity, I am confident I will never eat it again.

Petey gives Exchequer a 4/10.


Happy Pizza Clubbers... (and what awesome shirts they have...)


Thin crust & spinache


the Aegean appetizer pizza


The Meat Eaters crispy crust


Where it went down...

Louisa's Gourmet Pizza and Pasta [Meeting #46]

Louisa's Gourmet Pizza
14025 Cicero Avenue (GoogleMaps)
Crestwood, IL 60445
(708) 371-0950

CPC invaded Louisa's on 10/20/07.

Nothing like fighting Dan Ryan traffic on a Saturday night. As our Suburban Excursion began, we crawled along the expressway feeling like the tires of our cars were stuck in the congealed cheese that topped the pizza at some of our less auspicious prior outings. Our stomachs began to rumble with the hope that the folks at Metromix were right about this pizza recommendation. Thankfully, Louisa's did not disappoint.

Louisa's is located on a busy road dotted with chain stores and gas stations. The restaurant is divided into two rooms, one of which contains a bar. The decor is typical of an Italian family restaurant in the suburbs--low lighting and somewhat dated decor. It was busy when we arrived, but the service was efficient and friendly. Some of our fellow diners were also surprisingly chummy, in particular the dippy old guy who stopped at our table on his way out and suggested we play "Honest Farmer" when it came time to divvy up the check. He leaned over the table with his hands on our shoulders and suggested we play a game of chance that would result in one person picking up the entire tab. We thanked him for his suggestion, but Petey and friends pull their own weight.

Louisa's offers Chicago-style deep dish pizza with an array of fresh ingredients, including some very enjoyable house-made sausage. The pizza itself consists of a buttery cornmeal crust, full-flavored stewed tomato sauce, and a moderate amount of cheese. We found that it was best to eat the pizza right away, as one of the pies got a bit soggy in the middle almost immediately.

We ordered the following pies:

• spinach and mushroom
• sausage and onion
• pepperoni, garlic, and mushroom
  

Our pizzas came to the table about 35 minutes after we placed the order, which is pretty efficient for three deep dish pizzas on a busy Saturday night. All of the ingredients were fresh and tasty, but the sausage was amazing.

Thankfully, the traffic dissipated over the course of our dinner and post-pizza drinks at the nearby Flossmoor Station Brewery, so we were back in the familiar, concrete confines of Chicago in good time.

Petey gives Louisa's a 7.55/10.



Man, just looking at this makes me want to go back there...

Another delicious pie...

Pizza Clubbers digging in...

What has 3 thumbs and loves pizza?

Where it went down...

Pete's Pizza [Meeting #45]

Pete's Pizza
3737 N. Western Ave. (Google Maps)
(773) 463-8809

CPC invaded Pete's Pizza on Tuesday 8/21/07.

Pete's has been a feature on the northwest side for a reported 50 years. They are best known for thin crust square cut pizza although they offer a stuffed crust as well. This is the CPC's first review of the spot that features Petey Pizza's shortened moniker and most attending members had yet to try it. Apparently, management has changed in the past few years and may explain some less than favorable recent reviews on the message boards. However, the CPC went to Pete's with open minds and empty stomachs.

Pete's is recently remodeled and has ample seating. Parking wasn't a problem as there is an adjacent lot. The dining room wasn't crowded on a Tuesday night and we had no wait for a group of five. Service was reasonable and the wait for the pizza was roughly what the menu promised at about 45 min for the stuffed. Pete's also offered a full drink menu of liquor, mixed drinks, bottled/tap/pitcher beer and wine.

Pizza sizes on the menu are from a 10" small to an 18" family size and pricing is average.

The specials on the menu for thin crust are a motley crew of:
1) Party: sausage, green pepper and onion
2) Taco: lettuce, tomato, ground beef, cheddar, taco sauce
3) BBQ Chicken
The stuffed is also offered with Party and Spinach/Ricotta toppings.

Our group of five went with the specials.
- Thin crust: Party, Taco
- Stuffed: spinach/ricotta

Overall, the thin crust pizza was average. The sauce, crust and cheese are fairly similar to what you'll find at many other thin crust joints around Chicago. No complaints at the table but no real excitement. Toppings were plentiful enough to avoid grumblings but not exceptional enough to elicit much praise. The taco pizza, which my wife craves in an effort to recreate her Happy Joe's experience, was tasty but somewhat uninspired. Her search for the best taco pizza in Chicago won't end here but I wouldn't advise against ordering it if your pizza lizard brain wanders south of the border from time to time. The spinach/ricotta stuffed pizza was again average. The main knock on the stuffed crust that was it was dry. If your Giordano's box typically has 8 uneaten "breadsticks" at the end of the night I'd recommend sticking with the thin crust at Pete's.

If you're in the neighborhood consider giving it a try but I wouldn't recommend any pilgrimages. Pizza is decent, parking is easy and the remodeled dining room is nice. Order what you like as the specials aren't that special. The service for our dine in experience on a Tuesday was ok but there's enough negative reviews floating around to raise some flags.

6.5/10

Ryan




Mood lighting...


What a spread!


The classic pizza...


Taco Pizza


Where it went down...

Trattoria Roma [Meeting #44]

Trattoria Roma
1535 N. Wells St. (GoogleMaps)
(312) 664-7907

CPC invaded Trattoria Roma on 8/06/07.

The Pizza Club had gone dark for nearly a month when an email went out on August 5, 2007 announcing a meeting the very next night at Trattoria Roma. Pizza Clubbers responded well and an official meeting convened on a rainy Monday evening in Old Town.

Trattoria Roma came highly recommended by the website, 10best.com, which listed it among the top 10 pizza restaurants in Chicago. After the Pizza Club meeting was over, I cannot disagree with that assessment – the place definitely did not disappoint.

Trattoria Roma is a small, crowded restaurant that would probably bring back memories of a neighborhood restaurant in Rome if I had ever been to such a place. The one time I was in Rome, I spent most of my limited budget on gelato and museums/ruins, and I visited no residential neighborhoods aside from the one where the youth hostel was located. I digress.

The restaurant had our table waiting and upon being seated, we noticed pizzas on a nearby table and decided we would have to get one pizza per person as each pie is about 9 inches across. We got a Margherita, a Quattro Formaggi (blue, swiss, mascarpone and mozzarella), a Pizza della Casa (sausage, onion and mascarpone), and 2 Quattro Stagione (prosciutto, artichoke, mushroom, olive and egg). We also had a couple of bottles of tasty red wine (all wine is half price on Mondays and Tuesdays).

All pizzas are on a delicious thin crust. As cooky-monster states in the notes, the crust is thicker than traditional gourmet pizzas. Given the flavorful toppings, the extra dough in the crust creates a nice balance.

The Margherita was unlike any margherita pizza that any of the members had ever had. It tasted like a cheese pizza. It was good; it just wasn’t a margherita – too much cheese. As we would soon find out, the pizza chef loves cheese.

We ordered two Quattro Stagiones because we wanted to make sure that people got to try more than one topping. A quattro stagione, Italian for four seasons, typically is divided into quarters with each quarter having a single different topping. Trattoria Roma’s version had five toppings and they were all mixed together. That the egg was raw was a pit of a surprise, but good ingredients, good cheese, and a good crust made a delicious pizza.

I thought the Quattro Formaggi was excellent, but the combination of the chef’s love of quantities of cheese and the fact that two of the four cheeses (blue and mascarpone) are particularly heavy, made the pizza a challenge for some to enjoy. Personally, I share the chef’s apparent belief that there really is no such thing as too much cheese.

The Pizza della Casa was Trattoria Roma at its peak. The dollops of moscarpone balanced the delicious sausage and an outstanding crust ably supported the flavorful combination. I really liked all of the pizzas, but I thought this one was unquestionably the best.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of pizza at Trattoria Roma. I am predisposed to assuming the worst about Old Town restaurants, but since this place predates the Disnefication of the neighborhood, I should have held no such bias. Regardless, the service was good, the pizza was excellent (a new addition to my personal list of top pies in the city), and the prices were right (about $10 each). I will return again soon and hopefully get to taste some of the ricotta cheesecake made by the owner's grandmother (in very limited quantities).

Petey gives Trattoria Roma a 7.7/10.


Quattro Stagione


Pizza della Casa


Some stragglers...


A sad sight...


Where it went down...

Gino's East [Meeting #43]

Gino's East
162 E. Superior St. (GoogleMaps)
(312) 266-3337

CPC invaded Gino's East on 7/11/07.

We made our way to this Chicago Pizza Establishment on a balmy July day and found a line that stretched out to the street. We chuckled at the suggest