You Say Tomato, and I Say Gelato

Ever see the SNL skit in whcih Christopher Walken is dancing and singing in front of the camera reading the teleprompter as such?

You say Tah-May-Toe & I say Tah-May-Toe
You say Pah-Tay-Toe & I say Pah-Tay-Toe
Tah-May-Toe, Tah-May-Toe, Pah-Tay-Toe Pah-Tay-Toe

Cut

What was wrong with that? 
It is supposed to be Tah-May-Toe, Tah-Mah-Toe

Anyways that was a long intro but made me think of one of the quicker but certainly funnier skits on SNL involving the great Christopher Walken (who is quite the dancer as well)

Well I have incorporated that little song/saying into this blog post all about a local restaurant that is what I would consider a MUST visit for anyone looking for true Chicago Thin Crust Pizza

SALERNO'S

Started in 1966, the original location was in Berwyn.  They have however a dynamite location near the intersection of Grand & Ogden with parking (this is Chicago and that doesn't happen).  The owner's name is Pete and he is a soft spoken guy with a great attitude towards his pizzas.  I sat down and had lunch with him the other day and went through my usual schpeal of what does this pizza go through before it ends up on my table?

Of course it doesn't just get cooked and brought out by the waitress, there is a story behind it and for that I'm sorry but I am not disclosing too much on a blog, you'll have to take the tour!  What I can tell you is that Pete's philosophy doesn't dive into all the tricky physics of how a pizza needs to be specially treated in order for it to turn out right.  GAS OVENS... that was the big one he said.  "People talk about stone bottom this and clay encased that... give me my ingredients, my perfected recipe, and a stainless gas oven I can set to a certain temperature and slide that pizza in for set time.

Ok so the real secret here isn't in the technique so much as it is in the ingredients... I will need to get to the bottom of that but for now all you need to know is that the cheese gives off that nice burnt white and yellow look to it, the crust is EXTREMELY crispy with a bit of flakyness to it, almost like a pastry would have and the sauce... oh yeah the sauce, nice and sweet but not too liquidy.

Salerno's is churning out amazing thin crust Chicago style pizzas in the West Town neighborhood which makes it close to the United Center (Hawks/Bulls/Concerts) and a wonderful sit down meal.  But what about my title to this post you ask... oh yeah Gelato!

In order to exit Salerno's, you are forced to walk past this freezer housing fresh home made Gelato with flavors like Banana Split, Raspberry, Etc.  Good luck getting out in the summertime (or anytime really) without demanding a couple of scoops.

Salerno's Pizza
1201 W. Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60093
312-666-3444 (do I spy a 666 in their phone number?)

Pucks, Parades, and Pizza

This was certainly the most anticlimactic overtime, sudden death, Stanley Cup with the winning shot coming from Patrick Kane's (Kaner) on the left wing but no one in Chicago cares how it happened because

IT HAPPENED!!!

49 years later, and the Chicago Blackhawks raise Lord Stanley's Cup in celebration.  Long overdue and for my compadres and I, it was more of a relief than a celebration at first.  Of course there is the jump up and scream, ITS IN ----- ITS OVER ----- STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS ----- but we needed to see that replay before the nerves settled and the celebration could begin, and celebrate this town will!

It's what Chicago does best, as pointed out by my wife earlier this week on Facebook... nothing brings people in Chicago together like Sports Championships and food (mainly pizza).  Friday 6/11 10:30 AM the celebratory ticket tape parade takes off from the intersection of Wacker & Washington.  They will head east down Washington until they get to Michigan Ave and travel north back up until they reach Wacker & Michigan where the rally and ceremony will take place.  Can't help but think of one of my favorite pizzerias just blocks away from that location but that is for another time...

In the midst of all this celebration, the adult beverages, and pizza will be flowing all weekend (with the weekend starting Weds night) and in light of all the contacts I've received lately through my Flickr account about some pizza pictures I have, I feel it is time to give a description of Nancy's Stuffed Pizza.

Normally, I am not a huge fan of Stuffed Pizza.  It is what New Yawwkers & other east coasters tend to stereotype Chicago pizza.  Referred to as "Casseroles not pizza".  However, there are a few places in Chicago that do it good enough to grab my attention and more importantly my orders.  Nancy's is definitely one of them, but before I go into why, let's take a moment to explain what stuffed pizza is and how it differs from the true Chicago deep dish pizza.

Stuffed pizza is really like the deep dishes younger brother that is twice his size.  You see deep dish was created in the early 40's at a pizzeria on the near north side at the corner of Wabash & Ohio which is now known as Pizzeria Uno.  Chicago stuffed pizza got onto the Chicago scene about 30 years later in the early 70's.  Nancy's claims to have been the first while Giordano's makes the same claim.  Chances are they are both right and I am not going to get to the bottom of who opened their doors first and served the deliciousness that is known as stuffed pizza because it doesn't matter.  Both restaurant owners got their pizza roots from the same region of Italy, Turin (Go 2006 Winter Olympics and Stuffed Pizza!).

For Nancy's, it was husband and wife team Nancy & Rocco Palese who made their way over from the Turin region with their 3 children in 1969.  They found work at a local pizza parlor named Guy's Pizza which specialized in serving traditional thin crust pizza.  {Yes, the traditional pizza in Chicago is thin crust, crispy, cracker crunch, tavern style pizza NOT deep dish or stuffed}

So about 2 years after working at Guy's, Nancy & Rocco opened up Nancy's Stuffed and served this

Ok, I think that these pictures help give you an idea of how truly massive this pie is.  I started to talk about the difference between Stuffed and Deep Dish and got off track so lets revisit that.

Stuffed = Crust #1, Cheese, Toppings, Crust #2, Sauce, Parmesan/Romano mix

Deep Dish = Crust (not nearly as thick), Cheese, Toppings, Sauce, Parmesan/Romano Mix

Doesn't seem like it is too much different but trust me it is... I mean a 2nd crust are you insane!  Not only are there 2 crusts in a stuffed pizza, but crust #1 is going to be thicker than the crust on a deep dish because they load the inside of that pizza and you need to contain those ingredients.  Good God see pic above for huge crust reference.  The deep dish your crust is relatively thin, and while the pizza looks similar to the stuffed from above, it is a much lighter version with that bottom crust acting like a pumpkin pie as opposed to the 2 crust apple pie.

Notice the color of that crust, nice golden yellow letting us know that there is some corn products used in the cooking of it, the crust has a great oil taste to it (not butter).  Crust makes me think of high prison walls designed to keep the tomatoes and cheese inside... although from picture #1 above I see quite a bit of cheese has made its way outside the walls!  Speaking of cheese, there is plenty of that fresh melted mozzarella, as well as a very sweet tomato sauce on top.  I am assuming these are vine ripened tomatoes that have more sweetness and less acidity to them but that is just my opinion.  Sometimes I pepper the take out guy at the register with questions like that and he usually doesn't have the answers anyways.  I NEVER get a pizza like this delivered.  If they tell me it will be ready in 35 minutes, I will be there in 25 minutes ready to get it as soon as it comes out of the oven and ask that they do not close the box because I don't need any of that steam and moisture compromise the taste of my pizza.  These are my issues that I have to deal with and let me tell you that there really isn't a solution and if there was I would have invented it already.

Ok, psychotic rambling up there but lets get back on track.  Don't expect to knock back more than a couple of pieces (unless you can really eat and are looking to spend the rest of the day or evening struggling to breathe on the couch).  Really 1 is all you need if you get your stuffed pizza the way I like it, loaded with veggies and sausage.  

In a perfect world my stuffed goes as follows:

Spinach, Sausage, Green Peppers, Onions

Nancy's is one of my favorites because it has not changed in 40 years, yeah so what?  Many places are like that.  True but this is a great one because of the BALANCE of everything within the pie.  You have to appreciate that out of a stuffed pie, the crust is so big, the tomatoes on top are so plenty, the cheese is oozing out the sides, yet somehow the mix of all these cancel each other out and that is what makes it perfect.  Most pizza snobs use the crust as their basis to judge a pizza and while I feel that is an enormously important part, it should not play an overpowering role in rating a pizza.  With these big pies it's all about the balance I mentioned, and I believe that if you take a bite and you can enjoy the totality of it (crust, cheese, toppings, tomatoes) all at the same time then you have a winner!  Of course it needs to taste good in addition to be balanced but do I really have to write about the taste when those pictures are worth a 1000 words?

Question - Why are their little craters on the outside of the crust

Answer - Pockets of air that burst while the dough cooks in the oven

Nancy's has locations throughout Illinois, dabble over the border into Indiana, and did I notice a couple of locations down in Georgia?  Nicely done Peach State, oh and in case you were wondering what happened to the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks in the beginning of this post, well the cup is now 36 lbs and Toews had no problem hoisting it... the equivalent to 6 Nancy's Large Pizzas, maybe I will take a pic of me hoisting 6 stuffed pies!

Nancy's Pizza

3970 N. Elston Ave

Chicago IL

773-267-8182

Long Day At The Office

Normally when you tell someone that you worked from 8:30am til 9:30pm you are venting about how awful your day was.  This is NOT the case for me, as I recently had the pleasure of being a guest at the Travel Channel's Food Wars hosted by Camille Ford.  Cammy (as everyone called her on the set) was personable, and incredibly talented as I saw first hand how it cannot be easy to delivery your lines amidst an angry mob of foodies (wait til you see the scene on the double decker bus).

What was the food war you ask???  Deep dish pizza - what else!?!?!  Of course there was already an Italian Beef Food War in Chicago with Al's losing in a close battle to Mr. Beef, but this is a pizza blog, and in Chicago pizza is KING!  So deep dish pizza, who do they ask to represent, Pizzeria Uno -1st pic (I mean it is called Uno, right?) and Lou Malnati's - 2nd pic.

If you think I am going to tell you who won as a spoiler alert, guess again.  WATCH THE EPISODE!  

This post is going to be about my experience as this was one of my favorite pizza days ever!

8:30 AM - Work on Amex rewards program for card holders looking to take pizza tour
9:30 AM - Conversing with Zerve our ticketing company to implement 2 or 3 ticket deals for summer
10:15 AM - Facebooking and Tweeting to my Pizza Fans and Pizza Tweeps out in cyber
11:30 AM - Lunch in Elmhurst at a local pizza dive (more on them in another post)
1:00 PM - Pick up Chicago Pizza Tours promo items and gear up for the 4:00 PM shoot
3:30 PM - Check in with the wife and remind her that she is going to have to pick up the boy after work
4:00 PM - Brother and I are among the first ones to arrive at English and proceed to talk pizza with none other than Marc Malnati!!!!!!!!

Sidenote:  When I started Chicago Pizza Tours one of my goals was to meet Marc Malnati because he seems like the nicest guy on TV in all the pizza specials he has starred in and he is what I consider a pizza legend.

CHECK THAT GOAL OFF MY LIST!

Honestly he was so outgoing and humble, it was such an opportunity for me to talk pizza with the legend!  Not to be outdone, was a picture with his brother Rick who I have spotted in plenty of Lou's YouTube videos

Another great guy who thought my sign was outstanding.  I love me some Pizzeria Uno as well, but when a Food War has been thrown down, you have to pick a side for the day!

4:30 PM - standing in the alley smelling all the pizzas from being cooked by Lou's and Uno's and that is the best that alley will ever smell.  EVER!
5:00 PM - After filming the walk down the alley segment and the double decker bus segment, it is time to head back into English and get the judging part taped
5:02 PM - Snag a quick pick with none other than Marc and Rick's mom, MRS. MALNATI!!!  Jean Jean Jean (how the cheers went)

5:15 - Race upstairs, get to your spot and chant for your team for Food Wars
6:00 - Realize that a sign you have been holding up correctly for 97% of the day, was upside down for about 1 minute during the filming (it is almost certain that it will be shown upside down when the show premiers)
7:30 - The judges have made a decision and it is time to announce a winner
7:31 - EDITED CAN'T DISCLOSE WON'T DISCLOSE DON'T ASK ME
7:45 - A celebration on both sides (in the end everyone wins as both are outstanding pizzas)
8:00 - I have the opportunity to eat a slice of each, much like the judges did

8:30 - Pizza talk and celebration leaves English and heads on over to the closest Lou Malnati's (1/3 of a block away) with members of both Uno's and Malnati's leading the charge for the celebration of pizza.

Did I mention that Marc announced to the crowd that Adult Beverages were on him?
They were, and not wanting to take too much of advantage of a dynamite offer like that, I went for a couple.  Such a great opportunity for me to discuss with both Lou's and Uno's the business of pizza in Chicago.   They both are masters of their trade and I have nothing but positive things to say about each.

*Another sidenote, I was at a wedding in November in the Quad Cities and April the star from Uno's was there as well and was introduced to my wife through mutual friends and I wasn't around... was I on the dance floor?  That happens.

So finally to wrap up the night I said my good byes and wished everyone the best, hopefully we will be in talks for more pizza promoting here soon!  Here is my final pic for evening at Lou Malnati's afterwards with both stars and their bosses (Marc's boss would be his wife).  I should mention that these are some of the nicest people you could ever come across, they are truly happy and it is contagious.

9:15 - my departure and racing home to tell my wife (who is really the brains behind our pizza tour) to tell her how amazing the whole experience was.

Normally when someone works that late into the evening they would be venting about how tired they are and how long their day went, but to me I was on cloud 9 (where the heck does that expression come from anyways, maybe wiki can answer.

An experience like that is just a great reminder to get up this morning and get to work on my pizza stuff because when you truly love doing your job, you never really notice when your work day begins or ends.

-Jonathan Porter

Chain, Chain, Chain...

Here in Chicago, we have over 2000 pizzerias and not of the major chain variety.  Don't get me wrong, there are chain pizza restaurants here too, they just aren't the majority.  In case you don't follow hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and Pizza Hut sponsors some of the highlights during the breaks and it got me thinking about chains.  I'm not a pizza snob, I'll eat 'em all. Even though there are so many great independent pizzerias in Chicago doesn't mean I don't want a little Papa John's every now and then.  Gasp!  Papa John's?!  Yes, I went to college in a typical small midwestern town where Papa John's was king and it will always have a special place in my heart.  I could drink the garlic sauce still today.  So, let's see, we got Pizza Hut, Papa John's and let's not forget Domino's and Little Caesars.  Little Caesars!  Pizza Pizza!  Those are so hard to find around here!  I have a friend who will drive to the ends of the earth for crazy bread and I understand it.  Now, Domino's claims to have changed their recipe and made their pizza much better, but I haven't tried since and am not so sure I believe the hype and I may have to bite the bullet and check it out.  Anyone I'm missing?  I think the average person not living in Chicago, or even Illinois for that matter calls one of these four whenever deciding to eat pizza.  I wonder which one gets the most action - I think I've just given myself a homework assignment.  So which chain do you prefer if you go the chain route folks?  Papa John's Dominos', Little Caesars, or Pizza Hut?

Oh and if any of those non IL/non Chicago living folks come to town, I know a great way they can taste a lot of Chicago pizza!

Anichini, A Legend In Chicago Sausage

The 1986 John Hughes movie FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF starring Matthew Broderick made the name "Abe Froeman - The Sausage King Of Chicago" a household name.  Everyone took that little snippet of the film and made it into their own personal joke.  To think, a high school kid using The Sausage King Of Chicago's name to get a table at an over priced French restaurant (Chez Quis) and doing it successfully just brings a smile to anyone who has ever tried to pull a fast one.

What resonates with that joke though is that Chicago is so well known for being a sausage capital of the world.  It was a perfect fit for a Chicago based movie and probably caused a few people to wonder, was there really an Abe Froeman?  Here is what we know about him courtesy of Sloan Peterson Ferris' girlfriend:

• wears a leather jacket
• sweater vest
• white t-shirt
• devastatingly handsome

Ok all kidding aside, there is no Abe Froeman (sometimes also spelled Froman) but there have been sausage kings of Chicago.  The original would be Adolph Luetgert a German immigrant who traveled to Chicago in the 1870s to sell sausages.  He set up shop at Hermitage & Diversey in 1894 with his three story house located just next door to his sausage factory.  Success came early to Adolph and he soon married a petite woman named Louisa.  Without getting too much into it Adolph was pulling a "Tiger Woods" and wooing some women on the side.  Louisa, quite the tiny little firecracker would often get into very public fights with Adolph and never held back.  One night Louisa confronted Adolph inside the factory as workers were leaving for the night and the next day she was missing.  Without having to do too much investigative work, the Chicago police determined that Adolph did in fact murder her and probably decomposed her body using stuff in his own factory (acid, meat grinder etc.).

With overwhelming evidence against him, Adolph was convicted and sent to Joliet State Prison where Louisa would get the last laugh.  Adolph would beg and plead with the prison guards that he was being haunted by the ghost of Louisa who, according to his defense was alive and just ran off...  It drove Adolph insane for the rest of his life which was fitting.  Louisa's ghost was also spotted by the factory workers and neighbors of the Luetgerts so she has become famous as one of Chicago's ghosts.

Now, corresponding with the title of this post, Anichini Brothers are the current day sausage kings of Chicago.  Company slogan "Home of the sausage that made Chicago pizza famous" and that is pretty spot on.  Family owned and operated since 1925 located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Anichini Bros still to this day dominates the sausage market in Chicago.  It all started when Silvio and his brothers immigrated to Chicago from Lucca which is a small town in the Tuscan region of Italy.  First step for them was to open a grocery store, it was what they knew best.

After running the successful grocery store, Silvio's son-in-law Salvatore Gadinni decided to get into the meats and more importantly the sausage making.  They didn't just market their sausages to the consumer, they went right after the big restaurants (namely pizzerias) and why not... they were making the finest "blue ribbon" sausages in the land.

Over the years they have formed great partnerships with some of the cities best pizzerias.  It is no surprise for me at all to find out that Anichini supplies sausage to at least 3 of the 4 stops on my Chicago Pizza Tours company.  For this reason I anoint The Anichini Brothers Company the real Sausage King of Chicago, and give the consumer the inside scoop that if they are eating an awesome sausage pizza at a restaurant in Chicago... chances are it's Anichini's sausage!

Take me out to the ball game

Opening day is here for the south siders and White Sox Nation is up and excited to get underway for another season of:

A)  Good Baseball
B)  Bad Baseball
C)  Mediocre Baseball
D)  Both A & C
E)  Both B & C

Whatever type of baseball they play this year one thing will always remain a constant... THE FOOD AT US CELLULAR FIELD IS THE BEST IN ALL OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS!  I mean it, the product on the field can be hit or miss at each game (no pun intended) but the product on the concorse is always dynamite.

HOT DOGS!  HOT DOGS!  Surely anyone who has watched a game on TV has heard the voice of this boisterous hot dog vendor ruining the broadcast with his amplified call of HOT DOGS (sometimes later shouts out ICE CREAM post 7th inning) but he is doing it for good reason.  Those hot dogs are awesome!  For me I skip the traditional hot dog at the park and I do that for one reason and one reason only.

The Polish...  Cover that bad boy in mustard and extra onions, grilled onions that is and give me two of them.  Sure everyone likes to get to the parking lot and tailgate but I hold back so that I have plenty of room for my first and second polish of the season.  Made just down the road on Damen Ave in Lincoln Park, Vienna Beef seasons these just perfectly, the Sox staff gets the flat top grill covered in lard and starts grilling away the onions and polish sausages all together before placing on some nice, sugar refined enriched buns.  I didn't say it was healthy, but it is awesome.

Now it doesn't make much sense to be a pizza blog and start off talking about food other than pizza at the White Sox game, but there is a good reason for that.  The Pizza provided at US Cellular is Connie's Pizza located in Sections 122, 155 (Larussa's Pizza Stand), 163, 522, 544.  I am not going to give a review of Connie's Pizza in general, it has its loyal followers and is a big name but for as good as all the food prepared at the ball game is... I feel Connie's is lagging behind.

It might not be their fault, pizza is tempermental and mass cooking pizza & sliding it under hot lights isn't exactly the way to go but $$$wise that's where we are at with ballparks.  I understand it is probably just as important for them to have the cheese, sausage, and pepperoni pizzas race in the 5th inning as it is to sell at the ballgame.  That advertising alone helps subliminally drive business to their 7 locations.  It is at those 7 locations that you will find a much better brand of pizza as opposed to the ballpark, largely in part due to not having to serve it to the masses.

These days money is tight so when you spend it, make sure you spend it on something good and get yourself a polish or two.  There is plenty of other good food there but I would hardly know because when you have something that works stick with it.

Connie's Pizza
2373 S. Archer Avenue

Chicago, IL, 60616
(312) CONNIES
(312) 326-3443
http://www.conniespizza.com/

I-290, I think we should see other people

So it turns out that this whole I-290 construction project isn't an April Fools Day joke haha, no it is going to be years of misery for anyone wishing to head out to the western suburbs of Chicago.  I mean sure they said "it will take 2 years" at first then they said "oh no 7 to 8 months", anyone else think the original 2 years sounds more accurate???  Why would I say that?  HELLO they pulled the same blabber with the Dan Ryan project and that ended up finishing in October of 2007... $975 Million and 2 years after they started.  Which brings me to my next question, where are they getting the money for this project?

Ok the seriousness of this post needs to stop and I need to get to the point soon because we are well into the second paragraph of this post and there is no mention of pizza.  Ah yes, this is a pizza blog but the 290 construction is important to this review because the cafe we blaahg about today is called Labriola Bakery & Cafe and it is located in the western suburb of Oak Brook, IL.

This place first caught my eye one Sunday morning watching the show Game Time Dine before a Bears game last season.  As assumed I live in Chicago and I am a HUGE BEARS FAN so of course I watch all pre and post game programming including that food critic show in which DC Crenshaw and Israel Idonije visit restaurants in Chicagoland and give their reviews.  The show romanced the restaurant pretty good and gave us the basics of true Neapolitan Pizza the way it was intended in Naples.  Lets review those steps

• Wood burning brick oven (preferably made in Italy)
• Sauce is made with San Marzano tomatoes and applied in circular motion from the middle
• Water Buffalo mozzarella is the only cheese allowed
• Hit that with some basil after it comes out of the oven

 

So check that Italian made wood burning brick oven off the list, and according to Game Time Dine, Labriola is using Buffalo mozzarella and I saw them apply the sauce in a circular motion.  So there we have it, a true Neapolitan pizza being cooked in Oak Brook.  When I found this out I jumped at the chance to head out there and give it a try.  Dragging a college friend of mine there for a lunch meeting was no problem, he is an even bigger Bears fan than I and just the mere mention that we are getting pizza and that Israel pimped it was enough for him.  I don't have a problem admitting that someone else is a bigger Bears fan than I, especially when his father was one of the super fans selected by McDonalds to be featured in a "tailgating" commercial in the Cade McNown era.

From the moment I walk in, I get the feeling I am in a Panera and for good reason, we are dealing with the same format.  Go ahead on up to the register and place your order, find a seat wherever you'd like and put up your number so they know where to bring your food.  I guess at Panera you have to go up to the counter when it's ready but this isn't much different.  Did I mention that I HATE HATE HATE Panera?!  So already we are off to a shaky start but looks can be deceiving because with me, it is really all about the pizza!  I ordered the Labriola Specialty Buffalo Mozzarella and got a seat right by the oven.  

Carefully watching them cook up our pizza and exchanging the latest family info with my friend we sat and waited for our pizza.  I think that is where the problem came in.  They used the right ingredients and techniques but when you are dealing with a Neapolitan pizza timing is just as important if not more important!  While the pizza photographed well, it looked better than it tasted.

Crust had a good chew to it, the buff mozz was mild and complimented the unmistakable San Marzano tomatoes & that shredded basil helped spread that basil flavor without having an overpowering taste that an entire leaf can tend to have.  Unfortunately being the pizza king, I was well aware that this pizza was past its prime, kind of like when the White Sox finally got Ken Griffey Jr. in 2008.  Get it to my table 4 minutes quicker and this might be an A review, but the collection of people that have nothing to do but crowd Labriola cackling and taking their sweet time to order make it a bit chaotic during lunch and henceforth hurting my experience.  I give it a B- at best and don't plan on making the trip anytime soon see above 290 project to rate it again.  

Labriola works for what it is, and I am sure most suburban families love the opportunity to dine at an upscale strip mall in Oak Brook, but for this city guy I am going to stay within the city limits for a while here... maybe venture up north or south, but as far as west goes... Eisenhower (290) it's not you, it's me.

Labriola Bakery Cafe

3021 Butterfield Rd

Oak Brook, IL  60523

(630) 574-2008

http://www.labriolacafe.com/