Chicago Magazine's List of the 25 Best Pizzas

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magaz ... n-Chicago/

This is sure to spark some discussion given Jeff Ruby's very personal rankings (e.g. Lou Malnatti's above Bert's, Santullo's ranked 7th, Spacca Napoli ranked 15th).

Maybe we should have a separate thread (or website) to discuss every new ranking that comes out.

Anyone have a ranking of the 25 best rankings that have come out this year?

ld111134 wrote:http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/July-2010/Photos-Best-Pizzas-in-Chicago/

This is sure to spark some discussion given Jeff Ruby's very personal rankings (e.g. Lou Malnatti's above Bert's, Santullo's ranked 7th, Spacca Napoli ranked 15th).

The associated photo gallery is puzzling/amusing, as the majority of the photos are of the outside of the pizzerias, or worse, pizza that is cold or otherwise worse for the wear.

Darren72 wrote:Anyone have a ranking of the 25 best rankings that have come out this year?

Now now, ranking are interesting in a glossy magazine kind of way, and I was introduced to Flub a Dub Chub by Jeff Ruby's Best Burgers list last year. Anyhoo, I was a little surprised not to see either Vito and Nick's or Marie's on Ruby's list.

Enjoy,
Gary

I was surprised to learn that both Great Lakes and Piece use gas ovens, given the meme that superior quality pizzas must be baked in wood- or coal-fired ovens.

G Wiv wrote:Anyhoo, I was a little surprised not to see either Vito and Nick's or Marie's on Ruby's list.

If the pizza Ruby had at Vito & Nick's was anything like the soggy, greasy mess served during a recent visit, then I'm not surprised.




Middle piece

Sorry . . .

Marie's doesn't surprise me, but my one Vito & Nick's pizza was pretty incredible (and looked nothing like the one pictured above). Then again, it was just one pizza.

I think its been documented, and I have experienced it first hand, when V & N's is on they have one of the best pizza's in Chicago( a couple Sunday's ago), when they are off they can be really off(the day after t-day debacle).

Good to see Coalfire on this list.

ld111134 wrote:I was surprised to learn that both Great Lakes and Piece use gas ovens, given the meme that superior quality pizzas must be baked in wood- or coal-fired ovens.

Burt uses a standard gas Blodgett oven.

Obviously the trendy people are making these lists. As Gary said, no Marie's, no Vito and Nick's, no Pat's, no D'Agostino's, etc - the neighborhood joints are mostly abandoned in favor of what have you come up with lately. The aforementioned pizzerias are the true Chicago pizza joints, what we started with before deep dish, stuffed, and everything else caught on. At least Giordano's didn't make it.

To be fair I should mention that I love a lot of places on the list, so I will give them some credit. I'll also have to check out a few of these lesser known names.

Ram4 wrote: At least Giordano's didn't make it.

I was actually pleasantly surprised they didnt get ranked on this list.

Ram4 wrote:Obviously the trendy people are making these lists. As Gary said, no Marie's, no Vito and Nick's, no Pat's, no D'Agostino's, etc - the neighborhood joints are mostly abandoned in favor of what have you come up with lately. The aforementioned pizzerias are the true Chicago pizza joints, what we started with before deep dish, stuffed, and everything else caught on. At least Giordano's didn't make it.

To be fair I should mention that I love a lot of places on the list, so I will give them some credit. I'll also have to check out a few of these lesser known names.

Of course it's possible that these new places do actually have better pizza than some of the older places. I don't think nostalgia was the main goal of the list...just who has the best pizza right now.

I think Ruby tried to "spread the love around" and include a variety of styles - Chicago deep dish (i.e. Pequods, Malnatti's, Burt's), stuffed (Art of Pizza), Chicago thin crust (e.g. Pizano's), Neopolitan (Nella, Spacca Napoli) and New York/New Haven/East Coast thin crust (Piece, Coalfire, Santullo's).

Ruby himself implied that party-cut Chicago-style thin crust isn't for everybody; this may account for the omission of old time Chicago favorites such as Vito & Nick's. Personally and as a native East Coaster, I'm not a huge fan of the squares and cracker-y crust so I don't mourn their omission.

I was surprised by the inclusion of Santullo's and its relatively high ranking - it's good but no better than you'd get at a random Manhattan slice shop or any number of places in my upstate New York hometown.

jesteinf wrote:

Ram4 wrote:Obviously the trendy people are making these lists. As Gary said, no Marie's, no Vito and Nick's, no Pat's, no D'Agostino's, etc - the neighborhood joints are mostly abandoned in favor of what have you come up with lately. The aforementioned pizzerias are the true Chicago pizza joints, what we started with before deep dish, stuffed, and everything else caught on. At least Giordano's didn't make it.

To be fair I should mention that I love a lot of places on the list, so I will give them some credit. I'll also have to check out a few of these lesser known names.

Of course it's possible that these new places do actually have better pizza than some of the older places. I don't think nostalgia was the main goal of the list...just who has the best pizza right now.

I do agree with you on that. I love places like Coalfire, and Piece was great too. But usually when the dust settles on new places, the old guard come around again.

Hey, wait a minute. Why is Union Pizzeria on here? I thought it was Chicago only.

Ram4 wrote:Hey, wait a minute. Why is Union Pizzeria on here? I thought it was Chicago only.

Lighten up. It's only 1 1/2 miles from the Chicago border. And the pizza's really good for the style.

nr706 wrote:

Ram4 wrote:Hey, wait a minute. Why is Union Pizzeria on here? I thought it was Chicago only.

Lighten up. It's only 1 1/2 miles from the Chicago border. And the pizza's really good for the style.

Did it actually say Chicago only? Because last time I checked, that would have disqualified Burt's too, as unimaginable as that sounds.

ld111134 wrote:Personally and as a native East Coaster, I'm not a huge fan of the squares and cracker-y crust so I don't mourn their omission.

Ditto, nearly word for word ... except I would go much further than saying "I'm not a huge fan" to saying "I wouldn't eat that stuff again if you paid me."

SSDD

When done properly, cracker crust pizza is my favorite style save perhaps Neapolitan. Again executed well, I would take it over NY flop and slop any day (which I also love).

Habibi wrote:When done properly, cracker crust pizza is my favorite style save perhaps Neapolitan. Again executed well, I would take it over NY flop and slop any day (which I also love).

I don't hate it like used to, it's just not my preference - it seems more like Italian-style nachos to me. However, I do like the square-cut Roman style pizza proferred by Pizza Metro (at least by the Division Street store), which I find far superior to some of Ruby's picks such as Lou Malnatti's and (dare I say it) Pizano's.

ld111134 wrote:

Habibi wrote:When done properly, cracker crust pizza is my favorite style save perhaps Neapolitan. Again executed well, I would take it over NY flop and slop any day (which I also love).

- it seems more like Italian-style nachos to me. However, I do like the square-cut Roman style pizza proferred by Pizza Metro (at least by the Division Street store),

Again, on the same wave length.

SSDD

ld111134 wrote:I was surprised to learn that both Great Lakes and Piece use gas ovens, given the meme that superior quality pizzas must be baked in wood- or coal-fired ovens.

To me, what makes Great Lake especially great is that they do what they do in a gas oven. It ain't the tools, it's the craftsman.

I can easily see why Vito & Nick's might not have made the cut. I love the place and have had unforgettably stellar pizzas there but like jimswside, I've also been there on "off" days when the pizza -- pardon the expression -- sucked. If JR went there on the wrong day, that might explain it.

Interesting list -- some of it I agree with, other parts, not so much. There are a few entries I've never tried, which I appreciate, and hope to try. After reading Ruby's (and Pollack's) book, Everybody Loves Pizza, I definitely consider him to be a knowledgeable source of information and opinion about pizza, whether I entirely agree with the list or not.

=R=

Map

First, I think it's silly to try to rank pizza places without breaking it down by style. I just don't see how you can compare thin and pan and all the others in the same list. Rank each in it's category and go from there.

Second, I understand that some places aren't on the list simply because nobody could try ever pizza place in the city. But how does the original Uno's not make the list at all? Sure the franchises are awful and the wait is interminable. But this is a rating of pizza and it surely deserves a spot in the top 25.

The rest is purely subjective and only one man's opinion. But the fact that he rates Malnati's so high means I do not share the same opinions and makes the whole list suspect for my tastes.

First, I think it's silly to try to rank pizza places without breaking it down by style. I just don't see how you can compare thin and pan and all the others in the same list. Rank each in it's category and go from there.


i agree.
there is at least 6 place's that was'nt on there list that should be

Anybody else waiting for a mysterious first-time poster to complain that Spacca Napoli is two slots above Nella?

Why doesn't anyone ever mention John's Pizza on Western?

It's nice to see the SW side representation with Louisa's--and it is a pretty solid pizza, in a very neighborhoody restaurant--but I dunno about top 25. Frankly, in terms of overall quality and the kitsch effect, it's on par with V&N, for me, despite being entirely different styles. V&N just doesn't always cut it when you have Louisa's, Palermo's and Rosangela's in the environs.

In the end, such a list is pretty frivolous, but Mr. Ruby is a nice guy and he's spent a lot of time focused on pizza. More importantly, his article spawned discussion here amongst other serious food folks--folks obviously willing to spar over pizza bragging rights, the whole reason we're here: education and degustation.

While we will always disagree with any list (and with each other) about pizza, it's nice to see a wide-ranging and positive list after the maligning of Chicago's pizza scene by New York food writer Ed Levine in his book Pizza: A Slice of Heaven: The Ultimate Pizza Guide and Companion and elsewhere - dismissing deep dish as a "casserole" and generally dismissing pizza in our fair city (and its environs).

I'm curious to hear from defenders of Malnati's. I've found their pizza (both in the plain and sausage-topped varieties) to be repulsive. It tastes like some misbegotten pizza quiche, combining an unpleasantly buttery crust with a well of bland sauce and overpowering, but tasteless cheese. I don't get it.

I am, however, a very very big fan of Burt's. Burt has told me that his pizza is somewhat less "deep" than the traditional deep-dish style. But it isn't really a matter of depth for me with Burt's but a matter of proportion of sauce to cheese to peppers/sausage/etc. And his crust rises and crisps nicely, but doesn't suffer from the soggy oversaturation of other deep-dish pies I've had.

On a different side of the spectrum. I've been very impressed with Coalfire's thin crust. They have a nice sweetness to their sauce that is proportionally punctuated with fresh mozzarella. Their sauce to cheese proportions remind me of southern italian pizza in that they don't just cover their pies in a mass of greasy, processed seeming cheese that pulls off the pizza in a single tug. I want to see some red on my pie. Spacca Napoli seems to be aiming for the Neopolitan style in their thinness and texture of the crust, but they also seem to put far too much cheese on their pizza. I don't mind them, but Coalfire is a clear winner in that match-up.

I've only been to Great Lake twice and enjoyed their pizzas a good deal. Really enjoyed the mandoline-thin mushrooms. But their sauce didn't grab me in some kind of insatiable way (they lost in a mental matchup against both DiFara's in NYC and Andiamo in Miami on this count). Good pizza, but in a blind test I think I would prefer Coalfire.

Crust is another one that baffles me. I think their "flatbreads" are fine to eat, but kind of bland. They don't seem fired either at high enough temperature or for long enough, leaving the crusts unsatisfyingly soft/bland (this may be the aim of flatbreads, I admit). I am also not as satisfied by creative topping combinations as I am by well done margaritas (or marinaras).

Piece is yet another one that I don't get. Number 2 in the city! That's outrageous. I had a pizza from them last week (ok, it was delivery) and it wasn't really much distinguishable from your greasy corner pizza shop. Bland cheese (completely removable in one aggressive bite), little sauce and an unremarkable crust. I have had their New Haven style before, and while I prefer it, I still don't find it anything to seek out.

Pizza Metro has grown on me and it's too bad they didn't make the list. I was never the biggest fan of pizza a taglio while in Italy, but their pizza has good bite and a somewhat surprisingly nice sweet taste (not cloying). If I'm walking by and hungry, they're hard to resist, though I would never get a whole pie from them.

In any case, also anxious to hear more about Ciao Napoli in Logan. I'm closeby and hoping they're as good as some of the hype.