Packages: Chicago's Best Pizza 2015

Most of its pies skew middle-of-the-road. Not the Terra, with braised leeks, lots of mushrooms, and a hearty drizzle of truffle oil on a chewy crust. davantienoteca.com

The 900-degree oven in this all-day neighborhood mainstay cranks out a wonderfully charred crust that manages to be crunchy on the outside and supple at the nucleus. 2607 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-697-4234

Stick to the basics at Jonathan Goldsmith’s passion project: The Margherita remains blissfully authentic, its sauce the purest expression of tomato flavor out there. 1769 W. Sunnyside Ave., 773-878-2420

​The pizza here is not New York–style or Chicago-style, nor is it exactly New Haven or Neapolitan. Beholden to no particular geographical bias, Coalfire takes the best elements of the most beloved traditional pizza styles and forges something more satisfying than any of them. The bubbly crust, almost ornate at the cornicione (the pizza’s outer … Read more

Beef and chicken shawarma tastes shockingly good topped with tomato sauce, four cheeses, olives, herb oil, basil, and oregano at this 12-seat Lane Tech lunch fave. 3539 N. Western Ave., 773-472-7444

Crumbles of goat cheese and gooey mozzarella canoodle with caramelized onions, olive oil, and ungodly amounts of garlic. 3352 W. Foster Ave., 773-649-3114

Pizza chic: nibbling on a pie made from 00-quality (finely ground) house-milled flour at a high-top marble table under a crystal chandelier. And when that pizza is topped with chunks of incredibly juicy lamb merguez and rich dabs of sheeps’ milk feta, you can almost feel a warm Adriatic breeze on your back. Nice in … Read more

These crispy chewy slices are so addictive you’ll finish one before you remember to fold it. 5159 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-293-6992

Named for Ferris Bueller’s immortal sausage king of Chicago, this standout is equal parts sweet, salty, and bitter, and the springy thin crust crisps and bubbles in all the right places. 108 N. Green St., 312-600-6090

Over the past 14 years, Billy Jacobs has made this one of the highest-grossing indie pizzerias in the nation, winning countless awards and adding gimmicks such as live-band karaoke on Saturday nights. Small wonder its misshapen pies—hand-formed and minimally topped as the New Haven style demands, cooked in a gas-fired oven—are as good as ever. … Read more