#99 Piece

May 26th, 2016

Chicago, IL

We spent our second day in Chicago riding rented bikes around the Lakefront Trail. We had to make sure to have room for our second pizza of the day, and we were pretty full from that deep dish at Gino’s East.

Luckily, our second pizza of the day was at Piece, which serves New Haven style pizzas!

We were so surprised to see a New Haven style pizza outside of Connecticut! Even better, the pizzas at Piece actually look like New Haven pizza. They are the same oblong shape and are served on metal trays. Their “Traditional” pizza comes with thin crust, red sauce, and no mozz, so it is pretty much the COMPLETE opposite of a deep dish. The restaurant itself reminds us a little bit of BAR in New Haven. It has the same open space and the same brewery-type feel. Both places have an excellent selection of beers, some of which are produced in-house.

As it turns out, the restaurant was started by a native New Haven-er (New Haven-ite?) back in 1999. They learned how to make pies from someone who worked at Sally’s. This place is legit.

The one difference between Piece and a real New Haven pie is how it is cooked. Piece uses a rotating gas oven instead of the coal ovens found around New Haven. This was done partly for environmental reasons, but also because the owner originally worked making bagels, and he had some high quality gas ovens already available. So, you don’t get the really awesome char at Piece that you do at the New Haven greats.

The pizza is good though, and so is the beer. We got a pie with banana peppers (as recommended) and spinach (no cheese). The banana peppers are unique – we’ve never seen them on a New Haven pie before. We liked the addition. The crust is a little more firm than the crust at Pepe’s or Sally’s, so it holds the toppings nicely. We polished off a medium size pie between the two of us easily.

They have mashed potatoes listed as a premium topping, but I wonder how many people order that here? Only someone who has tried it in New Haven, probably. I think they should advertise that more. Same with the clams. I can’t imagine their clam pie living up to the clam at Pepe’s, but they should add this to their main menu if they really wanted to be authentic.

The place was pretty empty when we showed up for dinner, but we had to make it an early night because we were heading to a comedy show. We can see this place being a giant pizza party on the weekend, with the extensive bar and the open atmosphere. We’re just so glad to see New Haven pizza spreading around the country!

To visit:

Piece Brewery and Pizzeria
1927 W. North Ave
Chicago, IL 60622

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