Side Street Saloon: Tavern Style Pizza

LTH,

There have been a few posts in Other Culinary Chat about Steve Dolinsky's amazing roundup of Chicagoland pizza joints. Agree or disagree with his findings, up to you, but I've been digging #4 in his Top 5 Tavern Style Pizzas, Side Street Saloon, a pleasant old school tavern I never heard of 6-blocks from where I work.

Yesterday was my third time at Side Street Saloon, this time with a small group for an early afternoon lunch. Tried three pizzas, enjoyed all particularly sausage/caramelized onion/giardiniera with bacon/mushroom/basil not far behind.

Comfy seating in the back room, friendly attentive service, the bartenderess came around 2-3 times with water and soda refills.

Side Street Saloon





Side Street Saloon, count me a fan!

Side Street Saloon
1456 W. George St.
Chicago, IL
773-327-1127

That's some fancy crust.

I went here a few weeks ago on a Wednesday night and was blown away at the crispy, flaky tavern crust. The ridges on the outside crust emphasize the perfection.

It was everything I'd wanted in a tavern-style pizza. Visited again late on a Saturday night, and this time the crispy crust hadn't held up as well, teetering on soggy. Could have been the difference between ordering a Medium and an XL, or that it was empty on my first visit, and crowded/late on the second.

I look forward to going back. My hunch is that my late Saturday pizza was a rare miss.

jbwheel wrote:Could have been the difference between ordering a Medium and an XL, or that it was empty on my first visit, and crowded/late on the second.as a rare miss.

I stopped a few Saturdays ago around 10:30, looked in the window and it was jam packed with, what appeared to be, a drinking crowd. Did not even walk in, just about-faced and boogied.

JB, I'd agree with your hunch stick with small or medium and avoid crowds. Speaking of hunches, I have a hunch that Side Street Saloon has a really good turkey club, one of my favorite sandwiches. This was reinforced by the server's info that they roast turkey breast in-house for the clubs.

Happy to hear you enjoyed your first visit, hope your SSS batting average improves.

I was fortunate to join the lunch group at SSS on Friday and am very excited to find this place hiding in my backyard. I enjoyed all of them but my favorite was, believe it or not, the plain cheese. You can't hide anything on a plain cheese pizza and SSS didn't need to--great sauce; just the right amount (not too much!) of cheese that was flavorful and the right texture; and the crust was pretty unique--crackery but with some substance. I did think the more toppings, the more you'd need to stick to the smaller sizes and specify well done. The sausage/onion/Giard was a bit soggier and the cheese didn't brown as much. But still, great stuff and they've been doing it forever so not much likelihood that it will fall off any time soon. Thanks HH!!

boudreaulicious wrote:I did think the more toppings, the more you'd need to stick to the smaller sizes and specify well done.

Boudreaulicious makes an excellent point, order pizza at Side Street Saloon, or most anywhere for that matter, well done if you want crisp crust.

Here is an image of the half cheese half cheese/anchovy. One note of caution, SSS's anchovies are strong/salty. Though, it may have been flavor stood out due to lack of competing flavors.

Side Street Saloon: Half cheese, half cheese/anchovy

Their specialty pizzas are damned good. I often go there with a vegetarian and we usually order the Oakdale Girls pizza: olive oil, garlic, mushrooms, jalapeños, artichoke hearts and mozzarella (no tomato sauce).

The "Brew Buddies" appetizer is a great "I just need a little snack with me beer" option--piping hot cheesy potato nuggets.

They do beer tasting events pretty regularly, too.

I also think this pizza is pretty good. Went there a year ago with a lady friend, who recommended it to me, and I was pleasantly impressed.

G Wiv wrote:Speaking of hunches, I have a hunch that Side Street Saloon has a really good turkey club, one of my favorite sandwiches.

Hunch proved correct.

Side Street Saloon, Turkey bacon club

Do they still have the ribeye sandwich on the menu?

Drover wrote:Do they still have the ribeye sandwich on the menu?

The Side Street Saloon online menu does not list a ribeye sandwich. I love a grilled thin cut ribeye sandwich a la Brat Stop, bet SSS's would have been good.

G Wiv wrote:

G Wiv wrote:Speaking of hunches, I have a hunch that Side Street Saloon has a really good turkey club, one of my favorite sandwiches.

Hunch proved correct.

Side Street Saloon, Turkey bacon club

Wow. That looks awesome.