Coalfire

Located in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago at 1321 W. Grand Ave is a nice little joint called Coalfire.  This is a pizzeria in Chicago that serves pizza far from what most would call "Chicago Style".  They serve a traditional neapolitan style pizza cooked in an 800 degree coal burning oven.  THE ONLY COAL BURNING OVEN IN CHICAGO... for now at least.

J Spillane (pizza chef & owner) is extremely passionate about the way Coalfire's pizzas are made.  When you are using a coal oven that is that hot, it is a quick process... but much care is needed as well.  They will only put in 3 pizzas at a time (don't worry they only take about 5 mins to cook) and they have to be tended to and carefully rotated to achieve the perfect result.  Not to worry, I consider Spillane a master when it comes to that!

Some of my favorites there include the White Pizza (mozzarella, ricotta & romano cheeses, fresh basil, garlic infused oil, oregano & fresh ground pepper), the Margherita Pizza (tomato sauce topped with fresh mozzarella, grated romano, olive oil and fresh basil), and the Meat Pizza (mozzarella topped with tomato sauce, layered with hot calabrese salami, Italian sausage & pepperoni).  Pizzas are inexpensive and are paired well with wine or beer.  Also, they get their salami from Molinari's in San Fran and if you are unfamiliar with them, may I suggest getting salami on your pizza!

Cheat sheet

• White - Hast the salty taste with fresh cheeses and EVOO
• Margherita - Their take on a cheese pizza with tomato sauce (when I test a pizzeria I go for the cheese pizza, if they can't do that right, then I don't care what else they have to offer)
• Meat - almost an overload of meat but in Chicago that is expected, the part that sticks out to me most is the salami which if I'm not mistaken comes from an extra special supplier in San Fran, sausage is local (as it should be!!!)

The best part of Coalfire is that their pizzas are inexpensive, cooked quickly and on your table seconds out of the oven, and they're not too filling so if you want to try more than 1 with your group feel free to have a couple of pies and dig on some slices from each.

Check them out at http://www.coalfirechicago.com/