Our guide
Starting at Pizano's downtown
Ready for pizza!
1. Pizano'sPizano's original location at Madison and Wabash is the brainchild of Rudy Malnati Jr. and Donna Marie Malnati, the son and widow of Rudy Malnati's Sr., co-founder of Pizzeria Uno and inventor of the deep dish pizza.
We tried 3 different pizzas: a veggie deep dish, a sausage thin crust, and a mushroom thin crust. The veggie deep dish had an excellent sauce which consisted entirely of tomatoes, salt, and basil. The crust is wonderfully buttery and crispy all the way through, a rare achievement. The secret to its crispiness is the use of vegetable oil and the fact that Donna Marie, age 90, comes in several nights a week and hand-makes the dough with a top secret recipe herself...in high heels, natch.
The thin crust pizzas were also delicious. The crust was wafer thin, cracker-like, and buttery. The sausage used comes from the actual sausage kings of Chicago. And the mozzarella is real, fresh, and straight from Wisconsin.
Pizano's is so good that Rudy Malnati Jr. personally delivered a pizza to President Clinton on Air Force One. President Clinton responded with a personal note of thanks that is framed and hangs in the restaurant.
Wes and Matthew: Number 1 for both of us for both thin and deep dish. The sauce was perfect. The butter on the thin crust made us sooooo happy! And the sausage was incredible. If it hadn't been for a great crust, Pizano's still would have won because of the sausage.
Michel: Top to bottom great! Both the deep dish and the thin crust had great crust. The deep dish crust had possibly the best sauce I've ever had on a pizza. Now my favorite pizza in the city of Chicago.
Elizabeth: I am willing to admit that I'm not really a deep dish girl, but this deep dish was amazing! The sauce is absolutely the best sauce I've had in my life. I really enjoyed the mushroom thin crust as well. Pizano's is now my place of choice for deep dish.
2. Flo and Santos
Flo and Santos, located in the South Loop, is a Polish-Italian pizza place that celebrates the original Chicago pizza, South Side Tavern Pizza. This pizza was created during Prohibition and given away free to entice patrons to purchase beverages. South Side Tavern style pizza is cut into small squares; has a thin, crispy, super salty crust (to increase the need for a drink); and is focused on toppings.
At Flo and Santos, we tried two different flavors of pizza. Flo's Polish pizza featured Polish kielbasa, sauerkraut, and applewood smoked bacon. Marco's Italian pizza contained Italian beef, giardiniera, caramelized onions, and fire roasted tomatoes.
Wes and Matthew: Flo and Santos had excellent toppings but no crust to speak of. We really loved the sauerkraut--interesting, unexpected, delicious.
Michel: Really great and interesting toppings. On paper, Marco's Italian beef pizza seemed like it would be the best, but in execution, Flo's Polish was better. The sauerkraut gave a nice vinegary tang that paired well with the Polish sausage. I agree with Wes and Matthew that the crust was a little on the soggy side.
Elizabeth: I didn't care for Flo and Santos as much. I agree that the sauerkraut was interesting and unexpectedly tasty, but overall this was not high on my list. Though it was a cool concept, I didn't like the Italian beef pizza at all.
3. Bacino's
Bacino's was started 30 years ago in Lincoln Park on the north side by a radio station owner who decided to make a shift to the restaurant industry. They are known for their spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza, the first pizza to be certified as heart healthy by the Chicago Heart Association due to the massive amounts of spinach in the pizza. Note that their pizza is stuffed not deep dish. This means that there is an extra layer of crust on top of of the sauce, cheese, and toppings, which is then topped with another layer of sauce and sometimes cheese.
Bacino's was a last minute addition when the planned restaurant suddenly couldn't take our group. As a result, we had to wait quite a long time for our pizza However, it was hot and tasty when it arrived!
Wes and Matthew: Tasty, like a lasagna pizza, but a bit too heavy.
Michel: This tour confirmed what I had already suspected: I prefer deep dish to stuffed pizza. That being said, this stuffed pizza is superior to that of its better known rival, Giordano's. This was good but my least favorite of the day.
Elizabeth: Generally in agreement with everyone. I enjoyed the spinach and mushroom filling, but it was really heavy. I definitely prefer deep dish to stuffed pizza. Also, we had to wait a really long time here, understandably due to our last minute itinerary change, so perhaps that affected my opinion of the pizza as well. It is the best stuffed pizza I've had, though, so if stuffed pizza is your thing, I recommend Bacino's.
4. Coalfire Pizza
Coalfire is located on the west side in Wicker Park. It is the only coal-fired pizza in Chicago and emphasizes a thin crust American-style Neapolitan pizza with a crispy, slightly charred crust and simple fresh toppings. It is American-style Neapolitan because while it fits all the requirements for a Neapolitan pizza, true Neapolitan pizza can only be made in Naples, much like true champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France and true bourbon only comes from Kentucky (and Chicago, if you believe Koval).
We tried two different kinds of pizza. The first was pepperoni and whipped ricotta, and the second was a white pizza with whipped ricotta and fresh basil. The whipped ricotta is the pizzeria's signature and adds a light, cool, and surprisingly delicious flavor to several of their pizzas.
Basil and ricotta
Pepperoni and ricotta
Wes and Matthew: Good crust but our least favorite overall. The whipped ricotta was a nice, light, welcome addition, but it was still completely unseasoned. Some lemon zest and salt would have made my day.
CORRECTION!!
Matthew: Coalfire was Wes's least favorite pizza but not mine. I like Coalfire more than Flo and Santos. Coalfire clearly cared a great deal about all of their ingredients from crust to toppings. I cannot comment on the sauce since the white pizza had no sauce and the pepperoni had so little sauce that it couldn't be tasted. I would still take that over the more generic Flo and Santos "Let's throw some crazy toppings on top." And the Coalfire pizzas were beautiful in presentation which gives it a couple of bonus points.
Michel: This was my second favorite of the day. I thought everything about it was good. I especially liked the whipped ricotta. This is a trend I would like to see catch on elsewhere.
Elizabeth: I LOVED Coalfire! It was definitely my favorite thin crust (really Neopolitan style) pizza of the day. I also love white/sauceless pizzas, and I thought this one was delicious. And the cool ricotta paired with the hot pizza was a delicious mix of taste and texture. While lemon zest would have been a lovely addition, I disagree with Wes that these were unseasoned and agree with Matthew that they were beautifully presented.
Understandably, we were stuffed by the end of the tour. However, we were introduced to amazing pizzas, several that we'd never heard of but would definitely like visit again. If you have a chance to do a pizza tour of Chicago, definitely go for it!
Note that Matthew appears not to be full at all.
So full...
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