We all know Chicago is a great pizza town, and few know it better than NBC Chicago's Steve Dolinsky.
From books and podcasts to a tour and festival, Dolinsky is always looking for something new, with two new pizzerias in the Chicago area to dive into this week.
One is in Pilsen, led by three guys hailing from two different cultures – both of which manage to affect the pizza’s flavors. The other is in Glen Ellyn, the product of a New Jersey native, hoping to bring East Coast slice culture to the western suburbs.
It’s a typical afternoon at Pie Life Pizza – kids flooding in after school and dudes on a late lunch break or afternoon snack run. The shop is hidden along busy Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn, but the regulars know where to find Joseph Smith every day. The Nutley, New Jersey native’s first job was in a pizzeria growing up, and he’s now bringing that culture here.
“It’s always a pizzeria in the front of the restaurant, in the dining room, and there’s always a little ‘how ya doin’?’” Smith said.
There’s always a cheese, a pepperoni and a sausage & onion… also some margheritas with large, white clouds of fresh mozzarella. Reheated to-order, just like on the East Coast, his stone deck-lined Blodgett oven doors get a real workout.
The squared Grandma-style is rarely seen in the Midwest, but Smith is offering these thin-and-crispy slices anyway, hoping they catch on.
“They’re baked in cast iron, with fresh mozzarella, and then the sauce on top when they’re done baking,” he said.
In Pilsen, Novel Pizza Café serves coffee all day and starts making pizzas at lunchtime. They’ve already got a decent line of merch and a pair of pizza styles on the menu.
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“We are a Filipino-Mexican-owned pizzeria,” said co-owner Francis Almeda of Novel Pizza Café in Pilsen.
The Filipino side rears its head in the form of longanisa.
“Longanisa is a Filipino sweet sausage, that’s usually in Filipino breakfasts, comes with rice, eggs,” he said.
But here, the sweet sausage is paired with spicy giardiniera for their Chicago thin, or tavern style, dusted with cornmeal. A Chicago-meets-Filipino pie for sure.
“It’s playing along the lines of a sausage-giardiniera pie which is a pretty big staple in Chicago. Little sweet, little spice, best of both worlds,” Almeda said.
They also make a traditional deep-pan pizza, in the style of Milly’s, Burt’s and Pequod’s, crowned with cup-and-char pepperoni, knobs of ricotta, a drizzle of hot honey and a chiffonade of fresh basil.
“Something a little bit different than the others,” he said.
430 Roosevelt Rd., Glen Ellyn
630-547-2309
1759 W. 19th St., Chicago
