Eastern (not really) Style Pizza ? In it's own way, good

I've ordered pizza from here a dozen times, talked to the owner (who is always there) often, and learned some of the history of this place. It's been around since 1970, so the classic Rogers Park families know this place well. It is on a dark stretch of W. Touhy, laden with empty storefronts...so it's hard to miss, especially if you take the Edens in.

I did an LTH search, and found a few references - but no dedicated thread; a few pizza inquiries were as recent as this past summer (August 2012)...so here's the scoop (or slice if you prefer):
This pizza reminds me of what it was like to be 14 years old, in a good way. This pizza is SO cheesy, it in no way represents a proper Eastern Style Pizza (unless you mean Eastern Dundee at Chucky Cheese Circa 1987).
However, this is a nice pie for it's style (as a restaurant owner/Chef, I have vowed all of my LTH posts will have a positive vibe, always truthful-but silver lined...if there no good to be found, I'll simply not post - my policy).
This pizza will make your stomach hurt if you eat too much, but the rich, mozzarella-stick like texture of the cheese will remind you of pizza-parties of your younger years, when pizza was about the cheese, not crust or sauce. Adolescent taste-buds are especially appreciative of rich, chewy, pungent mozzarella coating a soft doughy crust with a light tomato sauce and thin slices of pepperoni. Your (refined) adult taste buds may not appreciate this, but on a glass-is-half-full night, they will "hop in the delorean" to remember the joy this type of pizza brought to your younger years.
Here's a few pics of the pie...nice looking


Here's a picture of the cheese doing it's best Stretch Armstrong impersonation:

Another pic of the massive cheese deposits in this pizza:

Again, a good quality cheese, just very rich, very "cheesy", very mozarellalicious...(spell check tells me that's not a word, but I'm adding it)
The crust is made in house, probably from an off-the-truck pizza flour (maybe Caputo), sauce is thin tomato, may or may not be seasoned in house (not distinctive enough to matter), but simple, and it's own style. Eastern style it may not be, but it's cheesy, rich, delicious, and satisfies my craving for: mozzarella sticks, bread sticks, pizza, and 40 year old Rogers Park institutions all in one sitting. For less than $20 to feed my family, B+ !

Oh, and it's approved by my kids and dog:



It's ain't easy, being cheesy (I couldn't resist)

at Eastern (not really) Style Pizza:

Eastern Style Pizza
2911 West Touhy,
Chicago, IL 60645

There was an Eastern Style in Skokie on Dempster in the same strip mall with NY Bagel & Bialy. It was my regular weekly fix for an Italian Grinder on garlic bread. Probably the root cause of my cholesterol issues.

Pizza at Eastern Style is pretty good in a throwback way, but what I grew up on at the Touhy store and the one on Dempster in Skokie (since closed) was their Eastern Style Beef on garlic bread. Very, very thinly sliced italian beef, griddled with onions, then slapped onto a thin garlic loaf with a little red sauce, and baked open-face for about 10 minutes. The result is a steaming, crunchy beauty almost a foot long.

The Eastern Style Beef was a definite go-to when I lived down the street in Skokie. In fact, recently I was meeting my 25-year old daughter at my brother's house in Rogers Park, and as I was driving down Touhy towards California, I spotted the sign & said what the heck. The store smelled the same, the sandwich was wrapped the same way, they still sold RC cola, like time had stopped. At my brother's house, I told my daughter to close her eyes and taste this. She immediately said 'Eastern', and we both realized that we had moved away from the 'hood 17 years ago. The taste buds have long-term memory.

jnm123 wrote:Pizza at Eastern Style is pretty good in a throwback way, but what I grew up on at the Touhy store and the one on Dempster in Skokie (since closed) was their Eastern Style Beef on garlic bread. Very, very thinly sliced italian beef, griddled with onions, then slapped onto a thin garlic loaf with a little red sauce, and baked open-face for about 10 minutes. The result is a steaming, crunchy beauty almost a foot long.

The Eastern Style Beef was a definite go-to when I lived down the street in Skokie. In fact, recently I was meeting my 25-year old daughter at my brother's house in Rogers Park, and as I was driving down Touhy towards California, I spotted the sign & said what the heck. The store smelled the same, the sandwich was wrapped the same way, they still sold RC cola, like time had stopped. At my brother's house, I told my daughter to close her eyes and taste this. She immediately said 'Eastern', and we both realized that we had moved away from the 'hood 17 years ago. The taste buds have long-term memory.

That sandwich sounds awesome! Next on my list...

rubbbqco wrote:
That sandwich sounds awesome! Next on my list...

I agree. For me, Eastern Style Pizza is all about their grinders, not the pizza. Check them out and be sure to specify that you want your grinder on garlic bread for the full experience.

I dunno; last time I ate at Eastern Style Pizza it was pretty damn gross. On par with J.B. Alberto's. Cardboard topped with congealed grease. Or maybe its congealed grease topped with cardboard, I can't really tell. I think there is some ketchup between the two.

Get drunk and try their cheesesteaks. Those are pretty good.

I think the only pizza I ever had growing up in Skokie in the 70's was Eastern Style on Dempster. I have some pictures from on of my earliest birthday parties where we are eating it. Before it closed I went back to the old location on Dempster and it wasn't anything special. But I have to admit, I am intrigued a little now that I see the Touhy location is still there. Rub - your post was perfect about how it will probably remind us of our youth with all that cheese. Absolutely. I think I may have to get in the time machine soon and try it. My dad used to always get the grinders with sausage. Maybe I'll get him one to surprise him.

I also have good memories of getting Eastern Style Pizza back in my youth, probably from the Dempster location.

Grinders - Oven Toasted Submarines
Oven baked submarines on large french bread filled with meats, cheese and vegetables. Them baked until crisp and golden brown in our stone bottom oven.

I was wondering...

Panther in the Den wrote:I was wondering...

In case you were wondering, yes, these are the only thing worth getting at Eastern Style, unless you're nostalgic for the pizza. If you didn't grow up with it, you probably won't like it. I grew up with it and I've never liked it. The grinders on the other hand...

stevez wrote: For me, Eastern Style Pizza is all about their grinders, not the pizza. Check them out and be sure to specify that you want your grinder on garlic bread for the full experience.

Yep. I lived right across the street for a while and loved those. Their pizza must have been really forgettable,as I can't ever recall eating it.

Forgot to mention that in the assemblage of the Eastern Style Beef (grinder) on garlic bread, there is some mozzarella involved, but sparingly so, thank goodness. Nothing like the mondo amounts on the pizza.

A taste of the almost-charred loaf yields to a soft-ish inside after a crunchy exterior, then the confluence of semi-shredded Italian beef, grilled onions, garlic & other spices, a little red sauce to hold it together, then the spot of mozzarella. A great bite, in the '70's and now.

Problem is--like most vices--if one bite is great, then sixteen HAS to be better, right? Pretty soon, the grinder is gone and my middle-aged system is scratching its head and saying, "Really?! You're fifty-five freaking years old!"

I grew up in Rogers Park and didn't leave until '96. I still make the trek down to ESP whenever I get a chance. The wife and I pick up 4 combination grinders. Eat one and save the rest for anther meal. Just not worth the trek to only get one meal out of it.

I also frequented the one on Dempster, even after they changed the name. I actually preferred that location because they continued to sell the Rueben grinder long after the Touhy location quit selling it.

But in the 40 or so years I've been going there, I think I ordered pizza about 3 times. I guess you could say it's an acquired taste that I wasn't interested in acquiring.

So, I went back yesterday to try the Eastern Style Beef that was being raved about. They were busy-ish at lunch; it took 34 minutes to make my order (I happened to get a txt message right when I walked in, so when I started feeling slightly annoyed by the wait, I checked its time stamp to decide if I was being impatient or justified). When I walked in, there were 6 people sitting and another 2 in front of me in line - they were very disorganized, 5 customers behind me got food before I did....it's husband, wife, and son (I assumed he's the son as there was a lot of bickering between the woman and 19ish year old boy, with smart-alec comments being made by the boy that a non-related employer wouldn't have put up with). It wasn't charming, it was actually kind of uncomfortable - the arguing was happening at a volume level that made several patrons look at each other with "awkward eyes". Oh well, everyone has their days - on to the sandwich...it was just OK. I wouldn't order it again. I was starving by the time it arrived, and there were a few memorable bites....but it was just average for me. Not bad, just average. It also seemed to be thrown together, maybe in the chaos it wasn't made to perfection. Here's a few pics:



Just as I was finishing, a customer received his order - then asked the owner if his fries were in the bag. The owner said, "I didn't see fries on your ticket" (didn't drop fries)- the guy says, "Well, I paid for fries" The owner's wife SCREAMS "PETER!!!" (son who took the order)...she runs out back (fries not dropped), runs out front (fries not dropped), Peter comes out of the washroom - she screams at him to show her the customers receipt from the register (which she could have looked at herself quietly -fries still not cooking ) . Peter sees there were fries on the receipt and he looks at the customer (fries still not dropped into fryer through all the arguing), and says "Sorry Dude". He called the customer "dude" after screwing up his order. I would have lost it...mom screamed at Peter some more, dad finally drops fries ...customer still waiting with weird look on his face. I had said I wouldn't write bad things about other restaurants here, and this feels a little like a rant - but I was less than charmed by all of this, and it's not a new place - they've been there for 40 years. My kids still like the pizza

Hah, great story!

Reminds me of a hot dog joint back in the '70's called Sherm's at (I want to say) Bryn Mawr & Kimball. Sometimes we'd do a mad dash from high school at the lunch hour to grab a dog & fries, and watch the show. By this I mean the constant bickering & screaming between Sherm & his mom, who ran the place. It was like a one-act play every day. Dogs were good, nothing special, but the entertainment value was priceless!

And rub, your problem, like I mentioned upthread, is 'you...ate...the...whole...thing.'

rubbbqco wrote:So, I went back yesterday to try the Eastern Style Beef that was being raved about. They were busy-ish at lunch; it took 34 minutes to make my order ...I was less than charmed by all of this, and it's not a new place - they've been there for 40 years.

I gotta say, I've had interactions with ESP for close to 20 years, and it has really gone downhill. The owner was always a bit brusque and now he is downright mean. I've been getting a *half*-order of fries from him with my orders for decades. I ordered it recently, and he literally screamed at me: NO HALVES! I turned and walked out in the middle of ordering. His prices have kept going waaaay up [thus the request for a half order of overpriced fries], his quality has kept going way down. They used to make their own meatballs for the grinder; now they are food service quality. The grinders themselves seem thinner and haphazard as mentioned before. Their daily specials are a total scam---the individual combo items are the same price or *less* if bought separately. The son seems like he is trying to learn the business but the family drama is undermining. The person they have actually making the stuff these days looks like Lon Chaney's great-grandson on work-release.

Basically ESP was a sub shop that was /always/ a buck or two more expensive for a footlong, but once in while it seemed justified because the quality was a little bit better. Now, it is a LOT more expensive for nothing more than a toasted sub from a dysfunctional family.

I still might give it a try.

I am looking for a replacement sandwich that I used to enjoy from a pizza place in Franklin Park called Paisano's (long closed).

They would take garlic bread (almost dripping), top it with Italian beef, a dash of red sauce and cheese and run it through the pizza oven. The bread would toast up, the cheese browned and the beef would get a roast beef type of flavor. Peppers optional.

That was a tasty sandwich that I have not been able to find since. Close a few times...

Panther in the Den wrote:I still might give it a try.

I am looking for a replacement sandwich that I used to enjoy from a pizza place in Franklin Park called Paisano's (long closed).

They would take garlic bread (almost dripping), top it with Italian beef, a dash of red sauce and cheese and run it through the pizza oven. The bread would toast up, the cheese browned and the beef would get a roast beef type of flavor. Peppers optional.

That was a tasty sandwich that I have not been able to find since. Close a few times...

The old Candlelite used to serve a sandwich like that, minus the red sauce, called a John's Special. It was house-roasted Italian Beef on butter soaked garlic bread topped with sport peppers and mozzarella cheese then broiled. The peppers would literally explode when you bit into them, shooting scalding hot pepper juice down the back of your throat. I loved the sandwich, but quickly learned to have an ice-cold beer handy when eating one.

Is this a soap opera or what. Sounds like a Jerry Springer episode, he actually though has a point.

foodmex wrote:Is this a soap opera or what. Sounds like a Jerry Springer episode, he actually though has a point.

???

scottsol wrote:

foodmex wrote:Is this a soap opera or what. Sounds like a Jerry Springer episode, he actually though has a point.

???

I think the mother son drama.

But who has what point?

Let's keep this more focused than the reported drama upthread, please. Now I just need to figure out where to satisfy this garlic bread craving...

Matt / Santander
for the moderators

Santander wrote:Let's keep this more focused than the reported drama upthread, please. Now I just need to figure out where to satisfy this garlic bread craving...

Matt / Santander
for the moderators

Nearby, I've always had good luck getting stuff on garlic bread from Villa Palermo on Devon just west down the little hill from Damen. They do have a Palermo Beef which on toasted garlic bread would be quite grinder-like. The thin-crust pizza is quite serviceable particularly if you get their good Italian beef on it. They also offer chicken fingers as an appetizer but those are really like an entree-sized portion of good chicken shnitzel. If I were still living in Rogers Park, as I have multiple times for many years, this would be my go-to pizza delivery and sandwich maker.

I may have missed it, forgive me...
What is a proper Eastern-style pizza?

Pie Lady wrote:I may have missed it, forgive me...
What is a proper Eastern-style pizza?

Round, triangle cut, New York, New Have, New Jersey, New-whatever....

Marco wrote: The son seems like he is trying to learn the business but the family drama is undermining. The person they have actually making the stuff these days looks like Lon Chaney's great-grandson on work-release.

LOL! I got NONE of that drama last time my husband and I stopped in over the summer, maybe in June or July. I hadn't been in over a decade and when I got married I moved out of West Rogers Park so it isn't exactly convenient for us. But I had been thinking about it forever because I, too, loved the pizza there but that was over a decade ago. I tried to take my husband once when we were dating sometime in the mid 2000s and we stopped on a late Sunday afternoon and they were closed which was weird because just five years or so prior to that I would always go with my parents that time on a Sunday afternoon and they were always open late in the afternoon. My dad's not a pizza person but he liked their pizza a lot.

So this summer we were in the area doing estate sales and decided to stop in. My husband and I had the Italian beefs which I thought were very good and I think the fries appeared to be fresh cut which were also good. One order of fries is more than enough for two people to share. I didn't even see the owner. It was a young woman taking our orders. No Lon Chaney Jr fresh out of jail. No mother-son bickering. No drama. I still need to go back and try the pizza again.

Pie Lady wrote:I may have missed it, forgive me...
What is a proper Eastern-style pizza?

As Habibi said, plus - often ordered by the single slice (= 1/8 pie), in which case the place will toss a handful of shredded mozzarella on a slice cooked earlier & slap it in the oven till the new cheese melts.

Such slices are often folded in half lengthwise for ease in consuming while walking down the street, which necessitates a foldable, i.e. not-so-crispy, crust.

(Above applies to NYC only, e.g. Original Ray's UWS, that place at the corner of St Marks & 3d Ave if it's still there, etc. Never eaten pizza in Connecticut or Jersey.)

I ain't never been to a place in NYc that puts shredded cheese on a slice before warming it up. That sounds nasty.

Habibi wrote:I ain't never been to a place in NYc that puts shredded cheese on a slice before warming it up. That sounds nasty.

nasty?

I remember once at The One And Only Original Ray's (one of several), the guy in charge of recheesing & reheating was on the phone with someone who was apparently annoying him. After a couple of minutes he turned in disgust & dumped the receiver* into the big cardboard box of shredded mozzarella that was kept beside the oven. What is this "nasty" you speak of?

They don't do this at places like John's (if that's still there ...? It used to be the "best" place in town, they had a signed photo of Johnny Cash in the window, although I somehow can't picture Johnny Cash eating pizza) but for walking-down-the-street pizza, yeah, it is (or was) SOP.

*So you can see this was a while ago.