Noli's NY Style?! Pizza

After a slice of unevenly reheated cheese-board at Gigio's in Evanston late last night, the quest for tolerable NY style pizza to rival Santullo's continued past the dormant Eastern Style Pizza on Touhy west of Western to Noli's NY Style Pizza in a strip mall on Kedzie in Albany Park. While we waited for our small pie, the lady and I took note of the garlic powder on every table, the garlic knots and Italian subs and pasta on the menu, and the advertisement of fresh baked breads, and concluded that the stars were aligned.

When the pizza arrived our hopes were immediately dashed. The crust did not bulge out at the ends; instead it puffed up the toppings to a dangerously high level. While transferring a slice to my plate, the weightlessness of it further dismayed. But the bread turned out to be the highlight of the ensemble, though it did not resemble any pizza crust I had encountered. The cheese was not particularly noticeable during normal bites, but alone it tasted similar to but worse than Velveeta. The sauce was as usual not even worth mentioning.

Frugal gourmet that I am, upon return to the homestead I rescued the bread (and pepperoni) from the offending dairy product with aid of a spatula. Today's lunch featured pepperoni, parmesan and garlic on the recovered bread and outclassed most frozen pizza options.

Perhaps I'll be back to try the byrek (a giant empanada, very roughly). Apparently the proprietors are Bosnians; I had thought they were Albanians (Albanian-Bosnians?) and, thinking of the Albanians infiltrating the Bronx's Belmont section, figured they could pull off a pizza. Guess they pulled one over on me.

Anybody been to Eastern Style Pizza or East Coast Pizza in Skokie? The former got a mention on the long pizza thread of several months ago but I don't recall any talk of the latter. Still itching to try Follia's.


Noli's New York Style Pizza
4839 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-588-0400

I have never had the pizza at Eastern Style on Dempster even though I've been there hundreds of times. I go for the Grinders (Rueben in particular). But I have had the pizza at the Touhy location. I don't know if they both have the same pizza. It's also been at least 10 years since I've tried it.

But my impression is that it's not what you are looking for. I've personally never had NY style pizza, but I've seen it described many times. What I had at the Touhy location doesn't seem to be what I've heard described. It was very different pizza than you normally see in Chicago. The crust composition sounds similar to what people describe, but it seemed too thick to be a real match.

What really seemed to be missing was the orange grease on top of the cheese. I remember the cheese having a unique taste, but I seriously doubt that it's a match based on the lack of grease.

Wow, that might be the longest non-answer to a question ever posted here

So let me recommend this place:

Al's Pizza
8530 W Lawrence Ave
Norridge, IL 60706-2956
Phone: (708) 456-8800

They have slices available at lunchtime. But if you order a full pie make sure you tell them not to cut it in squares. I can't vouch for the crust, but the orange grease is plentiful.

Having grown up in New Jersey and lived in the New York metropolitan area for thirty years, I continue to crave the NY style pizza slice of my youth. I can't say I have found such, but the place that comes closest in my mind is Cafe Luigi on Clark Street in Chicago. While I would not have considered this a good place if it was in my boyhood negihborhood, I find the slices to be recognizable as being close to those of my youth. It has the kind of heavy oiliness to its crust that I remember. The place is a storefront operation and has a kind of anti-atmosphere. I would not order pasta but for a slice I think it is decent and not very expensive

Cafe Luigi
2548 N. Clark St., Chicago
Tel: (773) 404-0200

Say what you will about Nolis (it's hit or miss, I live nearby and even on it's best day it's just OK on a New York level) but you have to give them some credit for only charging $1.50 a slice, not the standard $3-3.50 Chicago price.

Noli's isn't perfect, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. If you go for a plain cheese pie, it's quite decent.

Positives:
- foldable crust, which remind me of home
- tasty sauce, right combo of zestiness and sweetness
- fast delivery
- they'll deliver beer
- it's cheap
- gracious host/owner. In fact, when the normally fast, reliable delivery broke down one day, he gave me a free pizza and free beers next time!

Negatives:
- sausage is inedible. adjectives to describe the funky taste are not appropriate for this family-friendly site
- cheese sometimes slides off the pizza before delivery arrives - probably a function of it being too hot when put in the box, and having too much sauce

Haven't had NY-style pizza before so this may be way off base here.

You might want to try Piece in Wicker Park. It's a brewpub with a decent selection of guest beers that does New Haven style pizza. The crust is thin under the toppings but puffy around the edge. It's cooked pretty quickly (10min or so) so the toppings don't get overly cooked.

They offer pizzas in red (tomato sauce & cheese), plain (red sauce, garlic, cheese & oil), or white (olive oil, garlic & cheese) with the traditional New Haven style being white with clams.

My preference is red with meatball & banana peppers. The meatballs are made in-house and chopped up for the topping.

They don't deliver, however.

Here's the info.

Piece
1927 W. North (near North/Damen/Milwaukee)
Chicago, IL 60622
773-772-4422
http://www.piecechicago.com/

Definitely go back for the Byrek. My only trouble with it is deciding between the meat, cheese, and spinach/cheese. They suggest a tart (yogurt?) sauce with it, and I like it with the meat, not so much with the cheese.

I second the byreks at Noli's. Really good as is the bread they sometimes have for sale.

The cevapcici they offer isn't that great, though. Apparently it's made in-house but it just doesn't measure up to cevapcici I've had at other places in Chicago.

I'm not a big pizza delivery guy, but on the rave reviews of a close friend we ordered a pie from Noli's. The toppings were completely flavorless and the crust was abysmal, completely indistinguishable from corrugated cardboard.

It was our first and last pizza from Noli's. My friendship status with the guy who recommended it to me is now in question.

eatchicago wrote:I'm not a big pizza delivery guy, but on the rave reviews of a close friend we ordered a pie from Noli's. The toppings were completely flavorless and the crust was abysmal, completely indistinguishable from corrugated cardboard.

It was our first and last pizza from Noli's. My friendship status with the guy who recommended it to me is now in question.

Wow - I couldn't agree more. A couple of different people recommended this place when I was looking for pizza delivery in Lincoln Square and I too thought it was one of the worst pizzas I had ever tasted . . . crust, sauce, toppings . . . you name it. I tried it one time and vowed never again.