Castel Gandolfo, Brick Oven Pizza: Reports and Discussion

A friend brought me to this place a couple weeks ago and I was really, really impressed with the quality of the pizza. It's a totally unassuming restaurant. Awful music, strange green striped motif on the walls, too-short-too-expensive wine list, but really awesome pies.

I was skeptical before the meal and skeptical walking into the place, but the pizza I had here was some of the best I've had in memory. It's probably what I'd call NY-style, but the dough isn't as worked and chewy. Definitely crisp, but none of the cracker crust stuff. Certainly not topped with a light hand, but everything was seemed balanced. I'm surprised there's not more talk of this place. I'm not a pizza expert, but I give this place my full endorsement.

The place isn't dirt cheap--pies run $16-$22ish--and the wine list is kind of depressing in both selection and pricing. The only "pizza wine" some chianti from a producer I'd never heard of was something like $48. Still, I'd be inclined to order pizza, drink beers, and make this place a regular, under-the-radar haunt.

They do half pies, too.


Castel Gandolfo
800 N Dearborn st
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 787-2211

Cool name for a pizzeria. Someone who really loves Italy must have named it.

Or someone who loves Tolkien.

mrbarolo wrote:Or someone who loves Tolkien.

... or the papacy...

The appearance on the scene of a clandestine network of papist pizzerie could herald the beginning of a desperate and bloody counter-reformation that would beggar the paranoid imaginings of Dan Brown, destabilize the republic and haunt secular pizza lovers for generations.
Let us hope the appearance of Castel Gandolfo among us presages but a nicely charred crust and not the smoking ruins of civilization itself.

mrbarolo wrote:The appearance on the scene of a clandestine network of papist pizzerie could herald the beginning of a desperate and bloody counter-reformation that would beggar the paranoid imaginings of Dan Brown, destabilize the republic and haunt secular pizza lovers for generations.
Let us hope the appearance of Castel Gandolfo among us presages but a nicely charred crust and not the smoking ruins of civilization itself.

Hilarious! Thanks for the best laugh of the day.

Really excellent pizzas - I visited last night with a couple of friends. We ordered three large pizzas (and salads) because we were really hungry. We should have shared 2 large or 3 small because we had nearly the equivalent of one large left.

All of the pizzas featured a crust similar to what I've come to know as Neapolitan, although perhaps not as moist in the middle. I loved the many charred spots and bubbles throughout the very flavorful crust.

I thought the pizzas featured wonderfully fresh and delicious ingredients. We ordered two white pizzas and one with a red sauce. The red sauce was very tasty and minimally acidic. The pizza with arugula, prosciutto, parmesan and lemon vinaigrette was perfectly balanced and not overdressed. Although my favorite toppings were on the white pizza with mushrooms, sausage and goat cheese, they were a little heavy with the toppings on this particular pizza. But overall, I thought this was some of the best thin crust pizza I've had in Chicago.

Salads on the other hand were pretty boring, particularly the caprese salad which featured poor quality tomatoes and bland and overly dense housemade mozzarella. Skip them or you'll be sad.

As for the future of Castel Gandolfo, I'm a little nervous. Although this was only my first visit, the place was largely empty and I didn't notice and takeout or delivery business going on. And this was a Saturday evening after 7pm with a line of 100 or more people waiting to get into Grand Luxe Cafe. Part of the problem has to be its slightly out-of-the-way location at Chicago & Dearborn, just outside of the large foot traffic area. So I encourage LTH'ers to give this place a try and if you like it as much as I did, to spread the word.

BR wrote:
Salads on the other hand were pretty boring, particularly the caprese salad which featured poor quality tomatoes and bland and overly dense housemade mozzarella. Skip them or you'll be sad.

As for the future of Castel Gandolfo, I'm a little nervous. Although this was only my first visit, the place was largely empty and I didn't notice and takeout or delivery business going on. And this was a Saturday evening after 7pm with a line of 100 or more people waiting to get into Grand Luxe Cafe. Part of the problem has to be its slightly out-of-the-way location at Chicago & Dearborn, just outside of the large foot traffic area. So I encourage LTH'ers to give this place a try and if you like it as much as I did, to spread the word.

It is December and tomatoes aren't the best quality in winter. The location is challenging (in a peculiar way) but there's always been something there. I remember when it was Sante Fe something or other, and I never knew it was a rib restaurant and only went in there once.

mrbarolo wrote:The appearance on the scene of a clandestine network of papist pizzerie could herald the beginning of a desperate and bloody counter-reformation that would beggar the paranoid imaginings of Dan Brown, destabilize the republic and haunt secular pizza lovers for generations.
Let us hope the appearance of Castel Gandolfo among us presages but a nicely charred crust and not the smoking ruins of civilization itself.

Nice try, but I think you have culture & civilization and culture-destroyers reversed. Does the name scare your types that much? Castel Gandolfo in Italy is beautiful.

Johnsoncon wrote:

mrbarolo wrote:The appearance on the scene of a clandestine network of papist pizzerie could herald the beginning of a desperate and bloody counter-reformation that would beggar the paranoid imaginings of Dan Brown, destabilize the republic and haunt secular pizza lovers for generations.
Let us hope the appearance of Castel Gandolfo among us presages but a nicely charred crust and not the smoking ruins of civilization itself.

Nice try, but I think you have culture & civilization and culture-destroyers reversed. Does the name scare your types that much? Castel Gandolfo in Italy is beautiful.

So you're defending this blatant attempt at pizza proselytism? You're one of the Vatican's agents, aren't you? Mark my words, you shall never convert my palate; LONG LIVE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND PLATE!!!

Good, that way I won't have to run into you at Castel Gandolfo!!

Perfect!!

maybe the name is code after all....to help weed out Satan and his followers!

Castel Gandolfo got a very nice write-up on Serious Eats today.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2 ... go-il.html

A shame they're no longer open for lunch, this is close enough to work that it could've been a regular Friday stop for me and some co-workers. I'll try to make it for dinner within the next week or so.

I went tonight and was unimpressed. The pizza was not at all crisp, which I have no idea how that can happen in an 800-900 oven. It was actually not even all that hot when it was brought to our table which was very odd. But it was brought out reasonably soon after our order, so I can't understand why it wasn't hot. But the crust was really lousy - chewy, too thick and not at all crisp. It really didn't resemble the crust from the pizza in the picture from the OP. Between the location and the pizza, I give them until April. It's really close to my work and I'd love some crisp pizza from a coal-fired oven, but this was not worth the price. Could have had a Great Lake for the same price which isn't even a valid comparison given the crust I had tonight.

There were maybe three other tables there the entire evening which is a bad sign right after they were written up on a blog.

BR wrote:As for the future of Castel Gandolfo, I'm a little nervous. Although this was only my first visit, the place was largely empty and I didn't notice and takeout or delivery business going on. And this was a Saturday evening after 7pm with a line of 100 or more people waiting to get into Grand Luxe Cafe. Part of the problem has to be its slightly out-of-the-way location at Chicago & Dearborn, just outside of the large foot traffic area. So I encourage LTH'ers to give this place a try and if you like it as much as I did, to spread the word.

Well, too late according to Chicago Magazine's Dish Newsletter:

Arrivederci to two Italian spots: Adesso, in Lake View, and Castel Gandolfo, which had a Margherita pie that made Chicago’s 2010 list of top pizzas.

Too bad about this - I thought they really made a fine pie.