Another Chicago post – sorry Duke City’ers!
If nothing else, this might get you interested in poking around great neighborhood joints on your next Windy City trip instead of eating only around your hotel/convention/family. Great food cities deserve food pilgrimages.
We only needed a 2.3 mile journey to one of the best thin crust places east of the Mississippi – Coalfire Pizza, sporting a 850 degree coal and wood-fired oven and blackened crusts with the chew of a baguette.
First, the oven (one of our pizzas on the right):
And the final product, already beginning to be devoured:
The char is intentional and carcinodelicious!
Peek under the hood:
I talked with the owner quite a bit as our food was being prepped (sorry, my table of wonderful friends!), and he waxed poetic about his crust, his oven, the technique. He waxed not so poetic about the vagaries about bloggers and the internet meme thing that nearly crushed his staff the first week they were open.
Having survived the LTH onslaught, Coalfire went on to garner a Great Neighborhood Restaurant award, the coveted argyle placard.
Ok, so how was the damn pizza? It was stunning. High heat means the exterior crisps up and chars, but seals in some steam so the interior is soft and chewy. Toppings are sparse and perfectly balanced. Seriously, this is close to Pizzeria Bianco . . . but not quite. I don’t care. Its pretty amazing.
New Restaurants in this Economy?
Farina Pizzeria opened this weekend to preliminary rave comments. The masterminds of Artichoke Cafe had planned this extension of their talents for well over a year, and it has finally made it to completion.
