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It would take a masters in pizza studies to get anything close to an understanding of what this iconic food means to Chicago and the many, many forms it can take here. But let’s start with the basics. Most homegrown Chicago pizzerias offer two styles — thick and thin. Thick may mean a classic deep dish with a sturdy crust holding its abundance of cheese, sauce, and toppings; or it may be a stuffed pizza, kind of like a double-crusted pie, with a veneer of tomato sauce; or it may be more akin to the Detroit-style version with a crisp, airy, and lofted crust supporting its abundant toppings. Thin may indicate what people in other cities simply refer to as “pizza,” but more often than not it’s a tavern-style pie, with a nearly cracker-like base cut criss-cross into squares. That’s a beginning, but as you’ll see when you read on, Chicago’s top pizza places offer a whole lot more.
Piece Pizzeria & Brewery
The specialty of the house is a version of New Haven-style apizza, which are thin-crusted, oblong, and available with or without cheese. Of course there are clam pies, but also look for pies garnished with the “Atomic” (i.e., super spicy) sausage from the late, lamented Hot Doug’s. The large format pies — which are about the size of a turkey platter — make for excellent additions to any party.
Pizza Lobo
The pies at this Logan Square fave — which belongs to the club of local eateries that merited a cameo in The Bear — are medium-thin crusted; painted with red, white, or pink sauce; and topped with any number of gourmet toppings. We’ll never say no to ’nduja (spicy, spreadable Calabrian sausage), smoked provolone, and Castelvetrano olives. Meanwhile, the Good A.M., with a runny egg, hot honey, and red onion, is welcome any time of day.
Nancy’s Pizzeria
This is the Chicago pizza restaurant that developed stuffed pizzas 50 years ago as an alternative to traditional deep dish. Cheese and toppings make gooey magic between two crusts under a final slathering of tomato sauce. But tavern-cut thin crust pizzas (and super-thin crust) are also available. If you like a slightly fluffier pie, opt for the “rustic” crust.
Coda Di Volpe
The name of the game here is Neapolitan pizza as it should be. The cornicione (rim) will be puffy and dotted with char, the fresh mozzarella milky and melty, the sauce bright, and the basil plentiful. Here’s where you want to splurge on a pie made with mozzarella di bufula or black truffle purée. Great salads and pea arancini are always welcome add-ons.
Robert’s Pizza & Dough Company
Owner Robert Garvey has spent years perfecting his dough so that it achieves the right mix of pliancy and crackle, chew and crunch. You’ll see what we mean as soon as you pick up a piece and marvel at how well it keeps its shape, and then you bite in and discover the crust isn’t heavy or dense, but somehow filled with air bubbles. Because of the long fermentation Garvey favors, the crust is easy to digest and sits well in the stomach, even if you decide to go for that fourth piece. His Cup and Char pepperoni pie is all you need to know about, an exemplar of form enhanced with spicy Calabrian chilies that come in for a slow burn on the finish. Other pies come with ingredients as diverse as duck prosciutto and roasted vegetables.
Corridor Brewery & Provisions
True fact: Brewpubs often have some of the best pizza in Chicago. Maybe that’s because the same care that goes into sourcing grain for the beer extends to dough. Here, the kitchen sources the freshest local flour from Janie’s Mill in Ashkum, Illinois, to make a stupendous lineup of pies. This Pizza has a Leek in It also has mushrooms, arugula, rosemary, and garlic. Everyday I’m Brusslin’ takes the sweet and tangy route with pickled onions, bacon, and balsamic to offset that distinctive Brussels sprouts twang.
Eataly
River North’s massive Italian food emporium makes one helluva Neapolitan pizza. This is the real deal with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufula, and 00 flour in the crust. As in Naples, these pies come stretchy, puffy, perhaps a little puddly in the center, but with flavors so fine-tuned you’ll be instantly smitten. The Capricciosa with prosciutto cotto (cooked rather than cured ham) and mushrooms is an instant trip to Italy. The calzone, fat and gushy, is a thing of beauty.
Pizza Matta
The well-regarded local chef Jason Vincent opened this carryout spot next door to his flagship restaurant Giant during the pandemic. At first it served just one style of pie — a kind of East Coast version with a sturdy, well fermented crust with a noticeable tang. It is very good, but it wasn’t until Vincent decided to introduce a Chicago-style tavern pie with a crackery crust that we became die-hard fans. Choose from the long list of toppings and order it cooked to your specs. I kind of like it well done, but “burnt” is a possibility. There are some great salads — like one with apple, lentils, manchego cheese, and bacon — that show off Vincent’s culinary perspective.
Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria
Sure, it’s a big ol’ chain but it’s our big ol’ chain and really the best big ol’ chain out there. Think about all the times when friends are in town for a quick meeting and ask where to get deep dish. You send them to Lou’s because it’s just about as good as the place where they’ll have to wait an hour for a table. The signature Lou with its layer of spinach sandwiched between the signature “buttercrust” (kind of like pizza dough that thinks it’s pie dough) and gobs of cheese never lets us down.
DeNucci’s
This sister restaurant to Coda di Volpe skews more Italian American, so the pizzas take your taste buds more to the East Coast than to Italy. The crusts are sturdy, nicely charred, and supremely foldable, and the toppings all seem like they were sourced from a really good deli in northern Jersey. We’re partial to the sausage pie with caramelized onions and chili flakes, but the mushroom one with “razor thin garlic” is a close second.
Sfera Sicilian Street Food
This unique carryout spot serves the kinds of snacks and quick meals you might buy from street vendors in Sicily. In addition to arancini (fried, stuffed rice balls) and sandwiches, you can choose from two kinds of sfincione — a unique pan pizza — by the slice. The Chicago Style Slice with its combination of sausage, peppers, garlic mushrooms, and mozz beneath a crunchy cap of pecorino bread crumbs gets our love, but we hear the veggie mushroom version with creamy parmesan sauce is pretty great, too.
Jimmy’s Pizza Cafe
Maybe we’ve been lucky, but every time we’ve ordered a pizza from Jimmy’s it has arrived so hot the toppings slosh. Give it a moment and have napkins ready. This is a New York kind of pie, with plenty of robustly spiced tomato sauce, bubbly Grande cheese, and a crust that needs folding. You will inhale two pieces before you even notice the very good house salad with walnuts, dried cranberries, and gorgonzola cheese.
Naudi Signature Pizza
If you’re the person reaching for the slice with the most basil leaves strewn on a Margherita, then the Margo here is your new obsession. This super-thin-crust pizza holds a layer of robust tomato sauce, a tangy blend of cheeses, and what appears to be an entire bunch of the fragrant green herb scattered from center to rim. The square pan pizza is also excellent, with a crunchy crust and its own basket of basil. Owner Daniel Kadyrbekov first arrived in the U.S. from Kyrgyzstan as an exchange student, and he’s been fine-tuning his pizza game ever since.
Pequod’s Pizza
One of Chicago’s most beloved pan pizzas is now available for delivery, so fans no longer have to wait hours for a table. What makes it such an object of obsession? Perhaps because in a town of deep dishes, there’s nothing quite like it. The bready, crisp crust suggests focaccia, but the toppings are all pizza and then some. Go for the classic Chicago combo of sausage (huge, meaty marbles) and giardiniera nestled in a liberally applied, chunky sauce. Also, the best part of a Pequod’s pizza is the most overlooked elsewhere: the rim, here encased in lacy caramelized cheese.
Strapoli Pizzeria
This fast-casual spot from Marcial Bereciartu, whose Italian-immigrant family owns a much-loved pizzeria in Venezuela, served individually-sized Neapolitan pies that are ideal for those times when you’re ordering alone or sharing a meal with your pizza polar opposite. They’re totally on point — with a pliant, yeasty crust, a base of San Marzano tomatoes, and many milky blobs of fior di latte mozzarella. The restaurant also makes a signature pistachio pesto pie, and a Nutella version for dessert. Compared to other Neapolitan pizzas around town, these are a few dollars cheaper, but just as quality-minded.
Pizza Friendly Pizza
What happens when a Michelin-starred chef puts his mind to creating pizza for the carryout market? You get this one-of-a-kind spot where thick-crusted Sicilian pies come with toppings you won’t find elsewhere. Oriole chef Noal Sandoval oversees this casual, rock-and-roll spot where one pizza arrives with miso onions, mushrooms, and black garlic, and another features roasted chili potatoes and pepita pesto. Pay attention to the weekly specials, and you may be rewarded with a veggie fantasia inspired by a trip to the Garfield Conservatory.
Pizzeria Portofino
This restaurant may be best known for its swank riverfront location, but don’t think about overlooking the pizzas, which are hand tossed, crisp on the bottom, and gorgeously puffy and blistered around the rim. Go for an Italian classic, such as the Pugliese with spicy fennel sausage and rapini, or an exemplary Margherita. There’s plenty else on the menu to complete the meal — burrata with roasted grapes, truffle fondue, or a big plate of top-tier prosciutto with whipped ricotta.
Bonci
This Chicago outpost of a much-loved Roman chain serves the pizza al taglio popular in Italy’s capital city. These pizzas, cooked in rectangular pans, have sturdy yet puffy crusts and a variety of toppings (lemon ricotta, spicy eggplant) that beckon for your attention. Sold by weight in the store and by number of slices for carryout, this pizza begs to be sampled in as many flavors as possible. Assemble a group, and go to town.
Pat’s Pizza
This classic Chicago pizzeria has been around since 1950, and it is to thin tavern-style pies what Pizzeria Uno is to deep dish. The pizzaiolos here have long perfected the technique of cold curing super-thin crusts in order to get that pliant-yet-crackly texture that is the key. This is the tavern pie that old timers judge all others by.
