Tell me what you know about My Pi

On another board, talk turned to Pizza. I was curious to see the name My Pi pop up a few times in cities other than Chicago. I remember My Pi from Sheridan Rd. just north of Loyola a long long time ago. But I didn't know that there was more than 1 location.

So I did a little web searching and found that there is currently one located on Clark just north of Fullerton (at least at the time of the posting I saw). Someone posted that they talked to the owner and he claimed it was the last My Pi left.

So was this a franchise of some type? Does the current location, if it still exists, have any relation to the Sheridan Rd. one? And what about the ones in places like Florida? How do they fit into this puzzle?

Here's something I posted about it on Chowhound in '03 which, given the unchanging nature of the place, is surely as true today:

I don't know that they have a history as such, but they still exist and make a Pizzeria Uno-style pizza that is, if not world class, perfectly decent if you live nearby; the one on Clark has a pizza and salad buffet at night where they bring you freshly-baked slices as you finish the previous one, which is a smart improvement on reheating cold slices for you or letting them sit out for hours on a buffet table. I think there's another one way up north somewhere, but the listing I found is for 2417 N. Clark.

Not much info there, but I'd swear there was another post in the thread from one of the family members of the founders talking about the history. Being Chowhound, they probably pulled it because it was from someone talking about their own restaurant, but it had the answers you were looking for, as I recall.

I used to live around the corner form the Clark Street location. I liked their thin crust much mre than their pan style.

There's a little history here.

LAZ wrote:There's a little history here.

Thank you Laz, that explains a lot. But now the question, this has the address as 2010 N. Damen. So what of the Clark location?

But it was interesting to see that the Sheridan location was the first.

Last time I walked by there I believe Clark was still there, but who knows?

Damen I've also noticed but never been to.

Mike G wrote:Last time I walked by there I believe Clark was still there, but who knows?

Damen I've also noticed but never been to.

Clark Street is still there (as of last week). I can't speak to the Damen location, which was carry out only, I believe.

The Damen location is in the small strip with 7-11. It also has a Lil' Guys inside of it which does a better than average job with cold cut sandwiches (much better than any chain places), salads, a small salad bar and homemade soups. As we have been temporarily living very close to the Damen location, it has become a great place to get pizza since we are out of delivery range of our "go-to" standards: Oggi and Bacci. I am a big fan of their deep dish, which is odd as I am normally a thin crust lover. The pizza has a very tasty crust and is topped with what is more along the lines of crushed tomato rather than a thicker, heavy paste type sauce. For a deep dish, it is quite light and fresh tasting.
Jamie

A couple of times each year I get a take-away deep dish pizza from My Pie on Damen.

I request that the pizza be "half-baked," so that when I return home I can finish it off in a pre-warmed oven.

It is a very good pizza, and for me, finishing the pizza in this way and consuming it at home beats schlepping to Uno's, Due's, Malnati's, etc.

My Pie
2010 N. Damen
773.394.6900

E.M.

Jamieson22 wrote:The Damen location is in the small strip with 7-11. It also has a Lil' Guys inside of it which does a better than average job with cold cut sandwiches (much better than any chain places), salads, a small salad bar and homemade soups. As we have been temporarily living very close to the Damen location, it has become a great place to get pizza since we are out of delivery range of our "go-to" standards: Oggi and Bacci. I am a big fan of their deep dish, which is odd as I am normally a thin crust lover. The pizza has a very tasty crust and is topped with what is more along the lines of crushed tomato rather than a thicker, heavy paste type sauce. For a deep dish, it is quite light and fresh tasting.
Jamie

My wife and I tried My Pie once a few months ago, enticed by a coupon for a free pizza and its proximity. We opted for the (quite) thin crust, which was as Jamieson describes. About a notch above Barcello's, which has a similar style of pie.

Only because this very thin crust isn't our preference, we haven't been back.

Zee

Barcello's Restaurant Pizzeria
1647 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Tel: (773) 486-8444

I have to put in a vote of confidence for My Pie. I was in town about a week ago visting Jamieson22 , meeting my new boss, and generally getting ready to move back to Chicago from my exile in Connecticut in a month... YAY! and on the one night that we didn't feel like going out we got a couple deep dish pies from My Pie. We got one cheese for the vegitarian in our midst and one suasage and gardinera pie. The cheese was good but the sausage and gardinera was outstanding. In addition the the great "sauce" of well seasoned roughtly crushed tomatoes the plentiful sausage and above average gardinera really elivated the pie. The vinegar from the gardinera permiated everything and brought out the meatyness of the sausage. My one complaint is that there was a little less cheese than I like on my deep dish pies and it wasn't evenly distributed enough. The crust was decently light and flakey, proabaly a half notch below Uno/Due/Girodano's. Overall it hit the spot.

The added benifit was that I wrapped up about a quarter of the Sausage pie to bring onthe plane back but wound up bringing it by one of my favored watering holes back in CT. The owner of the place and a good friend (who happens to be a professional chef of impressive skill) had been disparaging all things deep dish before I left (having only had the pathetic immitations you can get in the north east). I convincd the owner of the place to fire up the ovens and, lets just say that when I stoped back in last night, a week later, he was still singing the prases of CHicago deep dish.

All of this is good to know. It is hard to judge the quality of a Pizza place by it's buffet- which is all that I have ever tried at the Clark Street location.

Pizza Buffets are good for gorging oneself on the necessary and life sustaining fats and proteins stripped from your body during a hard round of drinking the previous night. A least that's how I medically justify Pizza Buffets on Sunday.