Week 38: Celio's Chicago Style Pizza

All year, one of our goals has been to find real authentic Chicago style pizza.  We continued our search this week after Google informed us there was a Chicago pizza place called Celio's in Keller (www.celioschicagopizza.com).  We have been to a few impostors and a couple that really hit the Chicago mark.  Like any style, we have found many variations - so we thought this week we would measure Celio's and catch some Rangers baseball while we're at it...

First of all, the location is not very easy to find.  Tucked back away from Keller Parkway behind the Lions Club, we passed right by and had to make a u-turn.  The bar area looked packed with baseball fans and we were greeted by what appeared to be the owners sitting outside enjoying the cool fall evening.  We headed over to the dining area  away from the bar where we had the entire place to ourselves.  The walls were decorated with Chicagoland maps where patrons had placed a sticker to show where they were from.  A little "hole-in-the-wallish," this place definitely had a Chicago feel  almost 1000 miles from the Windy City.

We came for one reason and one reason only: to try the deep dish pizza.  The owner stopped by to introduce herself and explain that the pizza was a mix between Giordano's and Lou Malnoti's (if that doesn't mean anything to you, Google it).  So with our hopes and expectations sky high we placed our order and began our wait.  True Chicago Pizza will take quite a bit longer than your standard cook time, but we came prepared to wait.  After about 30 minutes and a tasty $3 draft, our pizza was hot and on the table.  Our first impression was slight disappointment.  Chicago Pizza should be covered with a beautiful red sauce with a crust handle peaking high above the toppings.  Celio's had tomatoes sprinkled on towards the middle, but was far from a red sauce covered pie.  One half of the pizza was covered with veggies and the other half was a meat lover (Large Deluxe Pizza cost $18) .  The taste of the pizza was good but nowhere near the Giordano's/Lou Malnoti's mentioned during our order.  The crust was average and was thick on one side and much thinner on the other.  Another true test was that we almost finished the entire pie, which is near impossible with authentic Chicago Style pizza.

The Final Report: 6.0 out of 10


The staff at Celio's was very accommodating and filled with Chicago pride.  They certainly earned extra credit for keeping the Chicago Style theme alive in DFW.  The menu also included Chicago Hot Dogs and Italian Beef sandwiches.  Our guess is that Celio's gets packed when the Bears/Cubs/Blackhawks/Bulls are playing.  The hunt for delicious Chicago Pizza in Dallas/Ft. Worth will continue, Celio's didn't quite measure up to Chicago's Street Pizza (Week 11) or Chicago's Pizza Cafe (Week 24) but was WAY better than Chicago's Gourmet Pizza (Week 20).