They don’t make them like this anymore: the low-ceilinged, wood-paneled, Christmas-light-covered dining room; the vinyl-topped barstools filled with old guys who bring to mind Bill Swerski’s Superfans commiserating over $1.50 Old Styles. Same goes for the pizza, an exemplar of a regional style that gets far less love than its thicker counterpart. The crust is … Read more
Surprise! A restaurant with a patty-slinging name in a suburban strip mall just happens to serve top-notch pizza. Once you figure out that the big chef is Cristiano Bassani (Bice, Coco Pazzo, Carlucci), the spacious layout, cloth napkins, charming service, and sophisticated bar start to make sense. And the stocky paisano clearly knows the secret … Read more
Luxurious white tablecloths, a sleek glass-topped communal table, and über-modern barstools say “ristorante” more than “pizzeria,” and plenty of avant-garde pasta, carne, and pesce dishes stream out of Tocco’s kitchen. But the two timeworn wood-burning ovens behind the bar also have a story to tell. It’s the story of chewy-centered, delicately scorched crusts that refine … Read more
Nothing says tradition like a third-generation dough recipe, a well-worn rotating deck oven, and irregularly shaped blasts from the past—like this cheesy, saucy specimen. 2124 W. Lawrence Ave., 773-275-1700
Assistant dining editor Carrie Schedler and Coalfire founder J. Spillane face off on the ideal shape for a slice.
Bargain hunters, rejoice: You can feast on free stone crab claws, all-you-can-eat tacos, and special truffles.
Grab a slice of Dante’s pizza and roll the dice for a surprise shot if you dare.
A pizza primer, from Neapolitan to Quad Cities and everything in between
Expect to hear a lot more from him in 2016.
You’ll be waiting a long time for the simple-yet-delightful fare at this Logan Square diner reboot.
