Week 11: Chicago Street Pizza

Finally after 10 weeks of our pizza adventure we made it to an actual Chicago "deep dish" style restaurant.  Growing up in the Windy City I have had my fare share of the finest!  From Lou Malnati's, Giordano's to Gino's East there aren't many original Chicago pizzas that haven't crossed these lips.  Now living almost 1000 miles from where I grew up, it's hard to find good authentic stuffed pizza in DFW.  Or so I thought...

After a thorough search, we narrowed down our list to a handful of Chicago style pizzerias.  This week we decided that sitting dow for our meal was a requirement, which made our decision even easier.  Chicago Street Pizza (www.chicagostreetpizza.net) is located in a dingy strip mall in Plano squeezed in with an insurance office, donut shop, and a nail salon.  

Having plenty of deep dish pizza experience we made the critical phone ahead to place our order.  With a 30 minute drive from home, a pizza novice might find this to be unnecessary.  However, standard cook time for pizzas of this magnitude runs 30-40 minutes and with the entire family in tow this week, every minute counted.  While the line wasn't out the door, we were greeted immediately upon our arrival with pizzas hot out of the oven.  The seating area served it's purpose, but it wasn't anything worth writing about.

Thin Crust: Cheese

From the car we ordered one small of each: thin crust, deep dish, and stuffed.  We knew that this would be enough to feed the neighborhood, but wanted to check out all the options.  For the thin crust we went with just cheese and it was unmemorable.  Our toddlers loved it, but we couldn't find any reason to order it again.  It was certainly edible and not bad tasting, it just wasn't a life changer at $8 for a 12" cheese pizza.  Next on the list was the deep dish meat lover.  The small consists of 4 slices and will cost you about $16.  Keep in mind that any normal human would be stuffed after 2 slices.  The meat lover was loaded with protein, and exactly what I was hoping for.  At about $4 a slice, it was worth every penny. The crust and sauce were classic, and the flavors took me back 20 years to my youth.  Finally the stuffed pizza.  This one was hands down the best of the three.  I don't know if it is the nostalgia for me, but there is a pizza sliced hole in my heart and it can only be filled with a spinach stuffed pizza.  Sure, I love ALL pizza.  But for me if I was left on a deserted island and could eat only one type of pizza - this would be it.  

Deep Dish: Meat Lovers

Was Chicago Street Pizza's stuffed pizza the best I've ever had?  No.  But it was damn good, and I savored every bite.  If I hadn't put down 2 tasty meat lover slices first, I might have finished this one myself.  The spinach was fresh, and the crust, sauce, and cheese were once again quintessential Chicagoland.

The Final Report: 7.5 out of 10

Stuffed: Spinach

Chicago Street pizza hit a home run with the stuffed and deep dish, while the thin crust was disappointing.  I can't wait to compare other deep dish locations around the DFW area, but we'll need to hold off a couple weeks to recuperate from this feast.


**One final note - when you order stuffed Chicago pizza, expect leftovers... and expect those leftovers to be Delicious!

Week 10: Il Cane Rosso

From what we had heard, Il Cane Rosso started as a wood fire stove hitched to the back of a truck.  Apparently the pizza was so delicious that local foodies would follow the mobile pizza oven around Dallas.  Owner, Jay Jerrier, recently settled down after his two year search for the perfect location at 2612 Commerce Street.  We decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about, it turned out we weren't the only ones.

Burrata

After a late start on the evening, so by the time we arrived downtown, it was almost 8:30.  While the line wasn't out the door, the place was packed to the gills, and the host informed us the wait would be an hour and a half.  We were fully committed to our pizza escapade, and added our name to the waiting list.  Fortunately we were able to squeeze over to the bar area order some focaccia bread and drinks, to wait it out.  The pizza gods were watching over us this evening, because after only 5 minutes, the host was able to sneak us into 2 seats at the pizza bar.

Focaccia

Our friendly waitress appeared almost immediately from the sea of patrons, and provided us with a wealth of knowledge about the ins and outs of the menu.  At about the same time our focaccia hit the table, still steaming and sprinkled with sea salt and rosemary, our mouths were beginning to water. Due to the recent tomato shortage we opted for the Burrata salad, as opposed to the Caprese salad.  Not quite what we had expected, but tasty none the less.  On our next visit we will probably skip the Burrata and go straight for the pizza.  Speaking of pizza, the menu covers all bases with over 20  unique combinations, our decision was tough only picking 2.  Our waitress, Amy steered us in the right direction by suggesting the Luana, which includes mushrooms, sausage, and soppresata.  Not being a meat lover my wife selected the Vegetale, which was covered in seasonal vegetables.  I really don't think you could go wrong with any of the choices, every pizza that Jay pulled from the oven looked scrumptious.

Luana Pizza

The pizza definitely has an authentic Neapolitan flavor.  The crust is light and chewy, and the vegetable toppings tasted like they were picked from a garden behind the restaurant.  Most notably the meat toppings were especially memorable, and unlike anything we have experienced yet.  Overall, both pizzas were some of the best we have tasted in 2011.  Il Cane Rosso is definitely a new hot spot in Deep Ellum.  I'm certain that this pizza haven will be collecting the local awards for many years to come!

Vegetale Pizza

The Final Report: 8.5 out of 10

Don't miss out on an opportunity to enjoy this fantastic pizza, just plan on waiting once you get there.

Week 9: Crooked Crust

This week Denton, TX was in our crosshairs and we headed north on 35 to see what the University of North Texas students were being served this semester.  Our original  plan was to check out Hot Box Pizza, a franchise from the Midwest we had recently read about. We drove to 214 E Hickory and couldn't find it, and after making a quick phone call realized the name had changed to Gio's Pizza & Pasta.  Taking the name change as a bad omen, we opted out and started hunting for an alternative.  Which leads me to the moral of this weeks pizza story: Don't judge a pizza restaurant by it's name.  After a spin on Urban Spoon, we were intrigued by the name Crooked Crust, and thought it "sounded" tasty. 

No Thanks...

Location, location, location. Right on the corner of Avenue A and W Hickory sits what appeared to be a golden find in the heart of Denton's Frye Street district.  Feeling young and hip I marched in with the family of four ready for a relaxing evening meal with the local university scholars.  I felt like John Belushi in Animal House when we stepped in the front door. It seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing and thought, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"


There is little to say about the pizza offered at Crooked Crust.  It's a great deal for a broke college student after a night out drinking, but that's as good as it gets.  We ordered half Pepperoni and half Buffalo Chicken.  We couldn't decide who made a better pepperoni pizza, DiGiorno or Red Barron? Seriously, this place made Domino's Pizza taste like Grimaldi's.  From the pre-made crusts to the 6 pepperoni slices the pepperoni half couldn't have gotten much worse.  The Buffalo Chicken half was so hot that we couldn't even tell if there was in fact chicken on it.  The one positive feedback was that our three year old enjoyed it, and the college kids were lined up.

1/2 Buffalo Chicken & 1/2 Pepperoni

Alright.  When I put it into context, Crooked Crust would have been gourmet back when I was in college.  Any place open after 2AM was sacred and earned more of my business than I can remember.  So, if you are looking for a place to take the family on a Friday night, I would suggest you stay away or bring your own high-chair.  But if you plan on having a six pack of Shiner Bock on the roof of the Sigma Chi House... This is your place!

The Final Report: 4.0 out of 10 (Good for a GPA, bad for a Pizza)



I almost forgot to mention... If you ever find yourself at Crooked Crust, get 2 orders of their breadsticks and skip the pizza. 

Crooked Crust: Breadsticks