Ad Categories: Dining & Drinking

A side of heavy drinking often accompanies Boiler Room’s pizza. That’s no shock, given the sheer enormity of the pies and the existence of the PB&J: a slice of pizza, a Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboy, and a shot of Jameson for $8.50. But given BR’s rep as a late-night party spot, it is a surprise … Read more

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.

A pizza primer, from Neapolitan to Quad Cities and everything in between