91–100 of 247 posts
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It’s a story about Chicago’s much lesser known (and superior) style of pizza.
Detroit style doesn't get enough love. I feel like it's the perfect balance of pillowy thick but not filling you up. Laying stripes of sauce on top gives you a different flavor in every bite too.
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Pages about pizza, especially crap like "top 10 pizza joints in Chicago!" are a guaranteed way to generate clicks in the midwest. People will argue about that shit for days. I've had Fox's, I've had a lot of Vito and Nicks (or Nick and Vitos, they listed in the phone book both ways), when really the best pizza is whatever is local and your parents bought you all the time as a kid. Which means Pinocchio's in Niles IL…
In the 80's in Arlington Heights the pizza of choice was either Dondi's or Wayne's. Sadly, Dondi's changed ownership about 15 years ago and went seriously downhill. They finally went out of business last year. I have heard that Wayne's is still in business and is still great.
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Have you ever tried a Chicago neighborhood-style pizza? Or are you just dismissing it on spec?
I lived in Chicago for 15 years. Tavern-style pizza in Chicago can be good, but Piece's pizza (New Haven style) is better than most Chicago-style pizza. My go-to before I left the city was Crushed Pizzeria, which is Neapolitan-influenced. The only place I can ever remember eating decent tavern-style pizza is at dive bars. The thin crust from places like Giordano's and Rosati's is a soggy disgusting mess.
It upsets me this is called "Chicago" when clearly it came from further east - these "working class pizza taverns" being common across Indiana, Ohio, and PA as well. There are plenty of examples of these types of "no I started thin crust and square cut" pizza tavern places everywhere. And even worse is that I am no historian and I'm probably wrong. But my direct experience contradicts a lot of the Chicago-washing of…
I actually talked with Jim Ellison who is a historian of Columbus style pizza. He also confirmed the style started in taverns on the south side of Chicago and spread from there, including to Columbus where it took on its own regional differences (particularly swapping sausage for a ton of pepperoni, and using a different style of pan). We had to cut some bits from the article for length.
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A couple years ago, when I was on a pizza kick, the thing that worked best for me was to start cooking the dough on the stovetop on a very hot cast iron skillet. I would cook it long enough for the dough to start to change color and bubble a bit (45-60 seconds), and then make sure it was releasing from the pan. Then, I would sprinkle on oil, tomato sauce and toppings and move it from the skillet to the preheated ston…
Kenji has a recipe [0] for this method but using a tortilla instead of pizza dough. At first glance I was skeptical it would be any good, but it's turned out to be a fantastic low-effort way to make a "pizza" when you are craving it! [0] https://www.seriouseats.com/extra-crispy-bar-style-tortilla-...
It upsets me this is called "Chicago" when clearly it came from further east - these "working class pizza taverns" being common across Indiana, Ohio, and PA as well. There are plenty of examples of these types of "no I started thin crust and square cut" pizza tavern places everywhere. And even worse is that I am no historian and I'm probably wrong. But my direct experience contradicts a lot of the Chicago-washing of…
I actually talked with Jim Ellison who is a historian of Columbus style pizza. He also confirmed the style started in taverns on the south side of Chicago and spread from there, including to Columbus where it took on its own regional differences (particularly swapping sausage for a ton of pepperoni, and using a different style of pan). We had to cut some bits from the article for length.
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Well put. That being said, the Chicago version is still better. NYC pizza is a bad joke. As long as you're only paying $1 it's not that bad for the price. That price point and the places that offered it are going extinct unfortunately. The "slice" is dead. Imagine having to fold your "pizza" because it's just a nasty mess of sauce and cheese.
The secret of course is the best pizza in the NYC area is in Northern New Jersey.
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Well put. That being said, the Chicago version is still better. NYC pizza is a bad joke. As long as you're only paying $1 it's not that bad for the price. That price point and the places that offered it are going extinct unfortunately. The "slice" is dead. Imagine having to fold your "pizza" because it's just a nasty mess of sauce and cheese.
The secret of course is the best pizza in the NYC area is in Northern New Jersey.