Uncle Pete's

Brought Uncle Pete's from naperville home for dinner. A small little carryout pizza joint next to closed BlockBuster. Was not expecting much. Ordered a double crust sausage, mushroom and green pepper. The crust was nice, doughy and coveered with very good marinara sauce. The cheese was not shredded but full slice, mushrooms were also slices Overall, the pizza was a nice surprise and very good. Cathy gives it 4 pizza cutters, however, I believe the sausage was only average and held the pizza down. Did I mention that I got a Uncle Petes magnetic ad for my fridge.

3.5 pizza cutters.

Old World Pizza, Elmwood Park

Cathy brought home a big sausage deep dish pizza from Old World Pizza.
FYI, did you know that if you put a cardboard box in the oven, you could burn down the house. Not that I did that. The pizza was huge and a lot of cheese! It reminded me of one of my favorite, Gino's East. Constructed in the true Chicago style, crust, cheese, meat and topped with the sauce. Let’s dissect the pizza layer by layer. First layer, the crust was excellent and firm. Layer two, the cheese was a good quality mozzarella and a lot of it. Layer three, the sausage was also a good quality and a little spicy. Final layer, the sauce was just OK. (I realize I must be very very careful with my review but don’t worry I will hire a neighborhood kid to start my car for awhile.) It was a little too sweet for my taste as I like more of a tomato taste.

Another sign of a good Chicago pizza, it came with one of the little Barbie patio table. Makes me want to go buy Barbie doll and play. Of course, I would have to get her a friend.

To summarized, it was a very good pizza but the sauce keeps it off of my top 5 list. Would it make a top 10 list? Drum roll please! Wait for it! Wait for it! Yes.

3.5 Pizza cutters.

After the pizza, we watched, Burn after Reading, so a quick movie review. It starts out very slow but picks up speed and is funny. Outstanding? No, but worth a watch.

It has been awhile since my last post and from a pizza-eating standpoint, very busy. That is a good thing. Our goal is 26 pizza places by the weekend of March 13, 2009, as that will be the halfway point of this journey. Currently are about 2 weeks behind our goal, but that should be easy to overcome. Especially considering we recently had 4 pizzas places in 5 days.

Let me recap the past five pizza joints, starting from the most recent and working back in time.

Pazzo’s

Friday night at Pazzo’s, or as it is now known as Ewiva Bar and Eatery, Lisle Illinois.
It is a nice one room bar and restaurant with plenty of sports on the TVs. It seems to becoming a bar that serves very good food. Plus they make the wait staff dress up as if they are going out for a night on the town (as my dad would say). Beer was cheap and the pizza was very good. We had our “usual” but they called it “Tony’s Special” No matter what nationality you may be, saying “Tony’s special” always seems to come out in an Italian accent. It had sausage, mushroom, green pepper and onions. The crust was medium, crispy and cooked just right. The cheese was thick and also very good. Overall, a very good pizza and was just as tasty the next morning for breakfast. Of course that is the true test of a pizza’s quality.
3 Pizza cutters.

Giordano’s

Next is Giordano’s pizza at my sister-in-law’s house for my nephew’s birthday. This was the fourth pizza in five days, so I was a little concern about my fairness in reviewing it. However, it was also very good.
It was a thick sausage pizza that was probably 70% cheese. The pizza was made up of mostly cheese (a good thing) and had a crust that was nice and flaky.
Did I mention it was free?
3.5 Pizza cutters.

A good day in Naperville

Next is Lou Malnati’s in downtown Naperville. First I must be completely honest and mention that this visit was right after spending the afternoon at the Grumpy Bulldog tavern, a nice small bar nearby. We spent the afternoon there with my sister and brother-in laws, Karen and Dave. They always seem to have a way to get me into trouble. At the Grumpy Bulldog, we consume 18 Miller Lites and an order or Gravy Fries. Yes, they are exactly like their name says and are very good. At Lou’s (my attempt to be hip) we had the pan pizza with the sausage patty. It was excellent as usual. I enjoy the chunky tomato topping with the sausage patty. (Is Sausage Patty the brother of Peppermint Patty? Makes you wonder). We had the butter crust and I give it my highest recommendation.
Lou’s pizza is in my top three so far.
4 Pizza cutters.

Movie and a Pizza

We went to a movie at the Hollywood Boulevard in Woodridge and saw Paul Blatt Mall Cop with our friends Hal and LoChin. First my movie review, it was good and funny. How can you not like Kevin James, I now realize how he gets the hot girl in King of Queens. His brother and my good friend, Gary Valentine was also in the movie. Did I mention I am thinking of changing my name to a holiday? How does Gary Pulaski sound?
Of course, I made Cathy have the pizza and it was ok. The crust was thin and similar to one that I buy from Trader’s Joe and make at home. The sauce, I don’t remember it, which is not a good thing. The sausage and vegetables were simply thrown on and nothing special. I can and have made this pizza at home.
1.5 Pizza cutters.

Falco’s Pizza in Burr Ridge

Had this pizza many times back in high school (they have moved to a newer building). Our daughter, Jenny, joined us, which was nice. We had a thin crust sausage pizza. The crust was thin and crispy and cooked to perfection. Also very good was the sausage, which had a nice spicy after taste. Completing the pizza was a nice sweet sauce with plenty of cheese, overall a very good pizza. The restaurant was bright, roomy and lots of sports memorabilia on the walls. My only compliant is that there is no wait staff. You place your order for food and drinks at the counter. When I go out, I always want someone to bring me my food and beer to me. Otherwise, I should just stay at home and wait for someone to walk near the fridge and I can yell at him or her to bring me a beer.
3 Pizza cutters