Stop #2 Bricks Chicago

1909 N. Lincoln Ave.

Chicago, IL 60614

312-255-0851

So stop number two on the Pizza Challenge brought us to Bricks, located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Despite its rather eerie entrance (in the basement of an apartmen

t building, same entrance as the late night bar formerly known as Katacombs), the restaurant itself is very inviting and not at all what it appears it may be when you walk down the stairs. So, if you decide to visit Bricks -- come on down!

Bricks offers an impressive list of pizzas to choose from which includes interesting combinations, making it difficult to decide what to order -- especially when you’re sitting at a table of 8. The pizza at Bricks is thin crust, and

despite some of the comments from our crowd, it is designed to be crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Because the pizzas themselves are so unique, I will tell you what we thought of each one separately giving you our total scores for Bricks at the end.

Our Order:

<--- Green Garden: Pesto Sauce, mushroom, red peppers, fresh tomatoes & mozzarella.

This pizza is a delightful take on your average vegetarian pizza; the pesto sauce is a delicious twist!

Red Planet: Sausage, red pepper, purple onion, goat cheese, tomato sauce & mozzarella.

An oldie but a goodie -- as always quite tasty.-->

The Ditka: “da-za. all the meat. lots of cheese.”

Not as meaty as it sounds -- a great meat lovers pizza.

<---The Beverly: (On Special that night) Sausage, artichokes, jalapeno peppers & mozzarella.

If they have this on special, get it. It was a favorite among the table.

<---The Kapalua: (On Special that night) Pineapple, Canadian bacon, & mozzarella.

Mary say

s this “Hawaiian pizza was like a luau in [her] mouth!”

Score: 3.99/5

Here's how it all broke down:

Service: 3.25

Atmosphere: 3.88

Value: 3.93

Crust: 3.56

Sauce: 3.63

Toppings: 4.56

Cheese: 4.31

Overall Quality: 4.44

Overall Taste: 4.31

Overall this pizza was fabulous, and according to Kyle “will be tough to beat!” I am a big fan of Bricks, and have been for years. The toppings are delicious and the chefs over at Bricks just know how to put them together. The price came out to be the same as Pizano’s, and in my opinion, a wayy better value than its competitor. This is just my kind of pizza.

With its excellent selection of toppings and delicious pre-selected combinations, Bricks is an early front runner for the top pizza in Chicago.

Stay tuned for next month’s contender!

Stop#1: Pizano's Pizza & Pasta

Pizano's Pizza & Pasta

864 N. State St.

Chicago, IL

(For additional locations, visit http://www.pizanoschicago.com/state.html)

Our virgin “Pizza Challenge” voyage found us on North State Street at Pizano’s Pizza & Pasta. Pizano’s was founded by Rudy Malnati Jr. (yes, Rudy is related to the very well-known Lou Malnati). The Malnati Family has a deep-rooted history in Chicago Pizza; this will not be the last time the Pizza Challenge will visit a Malnati-owned restaurant this year. Enough of the history ... let’s get on to the real deal here.

Upon walking into Pizano’s we were enveloped with an authentic Italian feel -- Sinatra music in the background, actual Italians eating in the restaurant (see photo at right) and plenty of chianti flowing! We found the restaurant surprisingly busy for a Sunday evening and took this as a good sign. We were told we would have to wait 25 minutes for a table, but were seated in less than 10! Our server received mixed reviews from our crowd; I, personally, thought he lacked personality. Other than that, I can’t complain about him. He got our order right and he was prompt. Overall, he hit the mark as a server. (I’m going to let the personality thing go.) Off to a solid start for good ol’ Pizano’s.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, for Pizano’s), we did not find the best pizza in Chicago on our first stop. After some appetizers, we dove right into the good stuff ...

Our Order:

Deep Dish -- Sausage, Green Pepper & Onions

Thin Crust -- 1 Pepperoni, 1 Vegetarian

I’ll start with the deep dish. For anyone who knows and loves Chicago Deep Dish, Pizano’s is not the place to go for that widely renowned fare. Our group had several issues with the deep dish, starting with the lack of sauce and, for those of you familiar with infamous Lou Malnati’s sausage patty, the toppings (other than cheese) were sparse. If it’s possible, more than one person at the table found this pizza “too cheesy”. Mary’s take on the deep dish hit it right on the mark: “It was neither thick nor deep enough.”

Score: 2.88/5

I have some better news for Pizano’s thin crust, which is what they are known for anyway (Ranked #1 in Chicago, according to their website). The crust was pretty crispy and delicious (4.3/5). Our table was a fan of the pepperoni, in particular. Elizabeth said it was “just what [she] needed, which ironically, was the song playing at the time.” The veggie pizza, on the other hand, only had 3 vegetables on it, one of them being mushrooms which were very few and far between. Overall, we enjoyed the thin crust much more than deep dish and it gets our stamp of approval.

Score: 3.29/5

Here’s the run down on overall scoring -- by the way, we called an audible and added cheese to our list of categories.

Service: 3.75

Atmosphere: 4.44

Value: 3.38

Deep Dish/Thin Crust

Crust: 3.25/4.31

Sauce: 2.13/2.75

Toppings: 2.63/2.5

Cheese: 2.94/3.44

Overall Quality: 3.00/3.13

Overall Taste: 3.31/3.63

I can’t sign off without commending Kevin for delivering the quote of the night in reference to his thin crust pizza experience: “Bullseye! There was no escaping the union of cheese and pepperoni. It was like Snooki and “the Situation” in the hot tub!” It really only applies to the first 15 seconds of this clip, but for all you Jersey Shore lovers out there, I just couldn’t resist! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wduuUMviVqQ

The evening, in general, was very enjoyable. Pizano’s ranked pretty highly in the service, atmosphere and value categories. We would recommend it if you’re out and about looking for a well-priced, tasty meal in Chicago (especially those looking for a good thin crust pizza). For you die-hard deep dish fans, keep reading ...