A Chicago Pizza Tour

BowlingWidow and I are just back from a 5-day vacation to Chicago, a place neither of us had ever been to.  We’ve heard so many good things about this metropolis and it certainly didn’t disappoint.  I’ll have a few topical blog posts coming up about the place but I thought I’d jump right in with a subject that will prove to be extremely popular:  pizza.

Prior to our trip we asked several experienced Chicago travelers and ex-residents what their favorite pizza place in the city is.  And we got several different answers (Gino’s, Pizzeria Uno, etc.); with each individual claiming that they were right.  Maybe they all are?  Maybe we just ought to turn our question over to the experts?  So that’s what we did.

In Chicago, there are local companies that will drive groups of people around town on an organized tour and sample a variety of some of the best pizza around.  We did this with Chicago Pizzatours.
 

Dough Force One:  Our Pizza Party Vehicle

The tour, which numbered around 17 of us,  originated at a restaurant in the downtown “Loop” area of Chicago called Pizano’s Pizza and Pasta.  There we sampled both deep dish and thin crust styles.  The deep dish featured fresh plum tomatoes with a bit of salt as the sauce (traditionally served on the top of the pizza) as well as fresh mozzarella slices. 

The topping I chose was sausage, which they’ve been obtaining from Anichini Brothers since 1925.  In fact, most reputable pizza joints get their sausage from there as well and mix their own unique blend of spices with it.  But don’t bother asking the Pizano’s people how they mix their sausage.  It’s a secret.  In fact, so is their dough recipe which only three people on the planet are privy to knowing.  I can tell you, though, that it’s cooked in the deep dish pan at a high temperature with a bit of corn oil, giving it a crispy bottom and a soft, tasty crust interior.  A hearty thumbs up from us.
 

Pizano's Deep Dish and Thin Crust Side by Side

Pizano’s thin crust pepperoni pizza didn’t get quite as high of a rating as the deep dish, as we didn’t think there was a whole lot that distinguished it from decent pizza we can get in the Seattle area.  But, as it was pointed out to us, it is Oprah Winfrey’s favorite.  Then again, I’m often puzzled over Oprah’s book-of-the-month choices as well.

Finished at Pizano’s it was time to board the van, also known as “Dough Force One”, with Jim at the wheel and Mike as our informative and entertaining tour guide.  We drove north.  Many miles north in fact, to a place called Spacca Napoli which churns out one style and one style only:  certified authentic Neapolitan style pizza.  Very few restaurants are allowed to call it this, as very few adhere to the simple but strict standards that are required.

Making Pizzas at Spacca Napoli

This includes using only salt, flour, water and yeast for the dough.  The sauce must consist of San Marzano tomatoes.  The mozzarella slices have to be produced using the milk of water buffalo (not native to Italy, but present there in large numbers).  The pizza is baked in a 900-degree oven for less than a minute.  Our pizza was topped only with fresh basil leaves and olive oil.  It was amazing as the simple flavors came together for an amazing pizza eating experience.

A Perfect Neapolitan Pizza at Spacca Napoli

Next it was time to head south to Pequod’s Pizza.  This is heavy duty deep dish pizza and is probably what most people think of when “pizza” and “Chicago” are in the same sentence.  In reality though, far more thin crust pizza is sold in the city than deep dish.  

At Pequod’s, in traditional deep dish fashion, the ingredients extend to the edge of the pie.  In fact, they make a point of laying a bit of cheese on the inside perimeter of the pan to give it a slightly burnt, caramelized crispy cheese edge.  We sampled a slice with pepperoni and a slice with fresh spinach.  The sauce was sweet and ample on top.  BowlingWidow thought it was a bit much and it was her least favorite, while I thought it was pretty darned good, albeit really filling.
 

A Small Slice of Saucy Deep Dish from Pequod's:  Note the Crispy Cheese Edge

Fans of the novel “Moby Dick” will also be glad to know that across the street from Pequod’s is…..yes…..a Starbucks Coffee house.

Our final stop was Coalfire.  And yes, the do in fact use a coal fired stove to cook their pizza at around 770-degrees for 2 ½ minutes.  At Coalfire we had a thin crust American-style Neapolitan pizza.  Much less strict than the ingredients we saw at Spacca Napoli, as the mozzarella was from Wisconsin, the flour from Vermont, and the tomatoes used were from California.

The simple toppings built what is called a Margherita pizza (Queen Margherita was apparently a fan of this back in the day) and consists of sauce, mozzarella cheese slices, and tomato being supported by a thin and crispy crust.  Coalfire’s version of the Margherita was in fact judged to be number one in its class by Chicago Magazine recently.

The Margherita from Coalfire Pizza

When it was all over, we were really satisfied with what we tried yet happy that there wasn’t a fifth restaurant on the tour.  We couldn’t possibly have eaten any more.  Our favorites?  BowlingWidow went with the deep dish at Pizano’s.  I liked it, too, but will give a slight edge to the high-quality, spare and simple ingredients of the authentic Neapolitan pizza of Spacca Napoli.  Everything else finished second by the narrowest of margins.

Now that we’re home, here’s the REAL problem though:  now that I’ve been exposed to the best pizza in the world, I’ve got to (a) increase my Friday night pizza budget and (b) actually find decent pizza within driving distance of our condo in Everett, WA.

Papa Murphy’s  pizza will somehow no longer taste as good after last week.