I'm about to go over to Coal Fire for dinner and it occurred to me that every time I've been there recently I've had to ask them to hold back on the cheese. Now, they're happy to oblige, but I'm curious why they cranked up the cheese volume in the first place. When they first opened, the cheese-to-everything-else ratio was just perfect, and then I feel like the cheese started to take on a life of its own.

Am I mistaken here? Has anyone else noticed this over the past few months? I've confirmed the phenomenon with one other Coal Fire fan that I know.

I don't mind having to ask for "light cheese", but the whole thing just strikes me as a bit odd...

-Dan

When they first opened, the cheese-to-everything-else ratio was just perfect, and then I feel like the cheese started to take on a life of its own.

I dunno. I and my Customary Dining Companion made our first visit on Saturday night, and we thought our pie (sausage) was just outstanding. The things that stood out were the wonderful crust and the unsweet, fresh-tasting sauce. We didn't note cheese overkill at all.

One further note: for anyone who reads this thread from the beginning, let me assure you that any service issues are a thing of the past. Excellent, jolly service, and interestingly, given the tiny check, no pressure to eat up and shove off. We noted several tables yukking it up and finishing off their bottles of wine who were there when we got there and still there when we left. How do the waitresses make any money? Geez, our check was about fifteen bucks without tip. Perhaps we should have ordered another pie to take home. (though I don't think it would have gotten that far....CDC declared that he could easily have eaten ou pizza by himself, he was so taken with it.)

sundevilpeg wrote:One further note: for anyone who reads this thread from the beginning, let me assure you that any service issues are a thing of the past. Excellent, jolly service,

I'm not sure that's entirely true. When a group of us dined there about a month ago, our waitress was definitely in the "you guys should just be happy that I've chosen to serve you" camp. Efficient, but not the slightest bit jolly or warm, and rather, slightly rude. To compound matters, when it came time to remove one of our two pizza trays to make room for a third, the waitress decided that the appropriate way to take the one remaining slice off the tray and place it on the other tray would be to use her bare hands, picking up the piece and transferring it. Pretty darn gross.

That being said, the pizza was exceptional and we absolutely loved the meal. We'll definitely be back, hoping for better luck in the service department.

sundevilpeg wrote:One further note: for anyone who reads this thread from the beginning, let me assure you that any service issues are a thing of the past. Excellent, jolly service, and interestingly, given the tiny check, no pressure to eat up and shove off.

I would agree - I think that the service at Coal Fire is just perfect for the style of restaurant that it is. They're friendly, quick, helpful, and (as mentioned) certainly don't rush you to turn the table.

sundevilpeg wrote:We noted several tables yukking it up and finishing off their bottles of wine who were there when we got there and still there when we left. How do the waitresses make any money? Geez, our check was about fifteen bucks without tip. Perhaps we should have ordered another pie to take home. (though I don't think it would have gotten that far....CDC declared that he could easily have eaten ou pizza by himself, he was so taken with it.)

Well, I generally go with a 1 pie per person ratio, which probably helps ratchet my bill up and hence the corresponding tip. I'm not a big guy, but I do love their pizza and I find that half a pie just isn't enough to satiate my Coal Fire hunger. I usually end up eating 6-7 slices myself and taking 1-2 home for that next-morning craving. That said, I think that it's just an awesome quality product for the price and I hope that everyone there is making a good living off of it.

-Dan

I have always found the service @ Coal Fire as good, if not better than the pizza(which is my favorite pizza of any kind, anywhere).

As I posted upthread on my first visit on a busy Saturday night I wound up chatting with one of the owners who took me in back, and showed me the operation & more importantly the pizza oven close up. I bet I could have even cooked a pizza if I wanted.

Despite being in the vicinity pretty regularly, I just made it to Coal Fire for the first time last night. My sensory condition was not ideal since I was pretty (OK, very, very) inebriated, but what I remember is all very positive. We stopped in shortly after 10pm. I was surprised at how many empty tables there were, probably half. Yet, the space still seemed loud. My boyfriend and I split a Napoli, which I enjoyed immensely. I'll admit that the crust challenged my comfort with burntness, but ultimately I was glad that our pizza was served at that level of doneness. The charred flavor helped balance the taste of the sauce and the anchovies. It also worked out well that our pizza had less cheese than I expected, which satisfied my initial hankering for a cheeseless pizza and also left the saltiness of the anchovies uncompromised, which made me happy. Service was very friendly and quick--again, the house was only about half full. I can definitely see myself having cravings for Coal Fire. It's yummy and a great value.

Walked by the other day and noticed they had applied for a liquor license, so it appears the BYOB days could be over soon.

We had CoalFire for our moveout feast last night, and it absolutely hit the spot. Perfectly cooked, right level of salt and silk (one of my early problems there was undersalted sauce and stingy use of olive oil), and that Fiorentino is a Giotto-perfect pie, with its colorful slivered red pepper and sopressata fanned out across the circle of dough.

Starting to get dear, though: with another recent price hike and 10% Cook County tax, two pizzas (each serves one hungry person in my experience) and two San Pellegrino limonata sodas came to $39.03 (!), which is a four-course meal with leftovers at Spoon, TAC, or Yum Thai, and a budget to feed about 8 instead of 2 at Aurelio's. This is one of the reasons I've only stopped in quarterly since opening.

jeanpoutine wrote:Walked by the other day and noticed they had applied for a liquor license, so it appears the BYOB days could be over soon.

BYOB may be over already. Had dinner at Coalfire last night (Wednesday) and I thought they said it was the last day for BYOB. Pizza was terrific, and 3 pizzas, White, Meat and Steve Z Special (sausage/anchovy), easily fed 4 with a shared caprese salad. They were busy, but the wait was a comfortable 10-minutes with speedy service once we were seated.

Enjoy,
Gary

on one of my visits to Coalfire, and a conversation with one of the owners , he mentioned they were going to go for a liquor license. He said to not worry, it will be just regular beer, nothing too expensive. Coming from a guy with a can of Miller High Life in his hand I believe him.

I read the posting on the way out of Coalfire last night and it says that 8/1 is the day that the liquor license will go into effect and beer and wine sales will begin. There was also a sentence about still allowing BYOB, but now there would be a corkage charge.

I was very pleased with Coalfire when I visited during its first days but am even more impressed now. The changes are subtle but real. Making pizzas daily for the last year, J has developed a thorough understanding of his oven.



He's running it hotter these days, coal only, resulting in a crust with even more character than before. Last month we had a spectacular pie, without a doubt the best pizza I've eaten in Chicago. This egg-ricotta-prosciutto-basil creation isn't on the menu but it should be.

Rene G,

that egg, ricotta, prosciutto, basil pizza looks excellent. I hope they do put it on the menu.

A heads up for everyone - Coalfire got their liquor license. Last weekend was their final as BYO.

I haven't seen the wine list. They did say that the corkage fee will be $10.

wak wrote:A heads up for everyone - Coalfire got their liquor license. Last weekend was their final as BYO.

I haven't seen the wine list. They did say that the corkage fee will be $10.

We had dinner there on Saturday and the WL is all Italian and limited to about 8 choices.
We brought wine with us but choose to order off the list even though they were not planning on charging corkage until Tues. I can't remember what we drank but it was $32 and a nice pizza wine at a decent price. Glassware quality is OK but I was not expecting anything fancy...

My only complaint would be that the red wine was served too warm. We ended up using both of our bottle chiller packs to bring down the temp a few deg.

I was in there at 5 pm on Friday. While I was there, the staff was scraping the "BYO" letters off of the door. They began full wine service on Friday.

My pizza, the four cheese variety, was served hot and fresh BUT the crust was really limp which required using both hands to eat. It was convenient fo rthe theatre but not a place I'd be rushing back to.

Any opinions?
Thanks

Hi Walter, there are lots and lots of opinions on Coal Fire posted here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12492&hilit=Coal+Fire

Hope that helps!

Best thin crust i've had in chicago, but not cheap. I think I spent $20 for pizza & a drink.

Went there the other evening. Definitely better than spaccia napoli. Not a destination. If you are in the area and have a taste for pizza fine. Menu is thin. Their salad is terrible.
I rate it about a 75. Thin crust is very good, but I've had better.
Vito & Nicks, 83rd & Pulaski ONLY, is still #1 in my book.

I agree that it's better than Spacca Napoli, but I disagree that it's not a destination. I love Vito & Nick's (and live fairly close to it), but it's a completely different kind of pizza than Coalfire's. If you're looking for that East Coast/Neapolitan bread-like charred crust, I don't think any place in Chicago does it better than Coalfire. And there are many, many times I crave that style of pizza.

Vito & Nick's is quintessential Chicago cracker crust pizza and is a heavier and more heavily spiced/flavored product than Coalfire. While the crust at Vito & Nick's is perfect for the style, it's not as flavorful (in my opinion) as the crust at Coalfire, whose style focuses on the quality of the dough, as well as cleanness of flavors.

But, really, it's apples and oranges to me. Both are exemplars of their particular styles.

Any beta on just how popular this place is?

I'm about to try to go there right at 5pm, today, Marathon Sunday. Am I going to be screwed with a long wait? We need to be outta there around 6:15 to get over to Second City performance....

Thanks!

abqandrea wrote:Any beta on just how popular this place is?

I'm about to try to go there right at 5pm, today, Marathon Sunday. Am I going to be screwed with a long wait? We need to be outta there around 6:15 to get over to Second City performance....

Thanks!

Normally, getting there early means that there is no wait and service is quick. As you say, it's marathon Sunday, so your guess is a good as anyone's, although surely most of the marathoners will be gone by 5:00, won't they.

abqandrea wrote:Any beta on just how popular this place is?

I'm about to try to go there right at 5pm, today, Marathon Sunday. Am I going to be screwed with a long wait? We need to be outta there around 6:15 to get over to Second City performance....

Thanks!

I don't think you should have any problems at that hour on a Sunday. We got there last night at 6:45-7 with a group of 11 people and didn't have any problems. Started to fill up around 8, but I don't think anyone was waiting for a table by the time we left.

stevez wrote:Normally, getting there early means that there is no wait and service is quick. As you say, it's marathon Sunday, so your guess is a good as anyone's, although surely most of the marathoners will be gone by 5:00, won't they.

I hope so...? Not sure if the trend is to leave tomorrow after a good night's sleep or just haul home tonight to be at work on Monday. I know I'm not headed out until the crack o' dawn tomorrow....

I'm looking forward to it - the only other great 'true Italian' pizza I've had is Chris Bianco's, and it was long enough ago I don't have to directly compare the two.

abqandrea wrote:I'm looking forward to it - the only other great 'true Italian' pizza I've had is Chris Bianco's, and it was long enough ago I don't have to directly compare the two.

Two different styles. Apples and oranges. The only similarity is that they are both cooked in a brick oven. Bianco's is more traditional by-the-book Neapolitan like you would find at Spacca Napoli (and cooked in a wood fired oven). Coalfire is more a cross between New York and Chicago thin crust (and cooked in a coal fired oven). It's one of my favorite places in the City.

OK....we have recently moved from NY to Chicago and have finally...finally....found our spot. This is great pizza; very much NY style. The owner cooked it for us, and it was every bit as good as John's Pizza on Bleeker St. in NYC. We loved this place--totally recommend it. The pizza was beautiful thin crust pizza, NYC style, with just the right amount of sauce/meat ratio to make it perfect. We were in heaven.

This is great pizza; very much NY style. The owner cooked it for us, and it was every bit as good as John's Pizza on Bleeker St. in NYC.

Son of a gun - that's exactly what the Constant Dining Companion and I said, and I do mean exactly. We were in NYC for my birthday last year, and went to John's - and were absolutely delighted with the food and the cozy atmosphere. We sat at a table right next to the coal-fired oven; I was hypnotized by it. Perfect first-night dinner. When we tried Coalfire for the first time, we were thrilled to find that same great taste in the sauce and texture in the crust as we had at John's. It's one of a kind in this area.

Glad you liked it as much as we do, and for such specifically similar reasons!

Was anybody else surprised when, after receiving their liquor license, Coal Fire hiked up their pizza prices by about $1.50 to $2.00 per pie?

Now, don't get me wrong - I love the place. Love, love, love their pizza, and I understand that rising food prices are forcing most places to pass on that charge to the consumer. But the place is always packed, and with the increased tabs from alcohol sales, I was surprised to see that my formerly $14 Fiorentino was now closer to $16.

Like I said, it probably has a lot to do with the economy (and not whatever the Grinch in me might think in my darker moments) - AND I would much rather pay more to someplace like Coal Fire than lose it entirely. I'll never stop eating my Fiorentino; I just might now eat it less often, as my waist line would prefer anyway!

I believe they did this before they got their liquor license, although not much before. But in any case, commodity prices were also rising sharply at the time, so that might have something to do with it, too.