HungryZ.com
When you think of “Chicago” style pizza, you automatically think of deep dish and stuffed. But what’s the difference between the two and how did they come about? In the mid-1970s, two Chicago chains, “Nancy’s” and “Giordano's” began experimenting with deep dish pizza, but what they created was the beloved “stuffed” pizza. “Nancy’s” founder, Rocco Palese based his creation on his mother's recipe for scarciedda, an Italian Easter pie from his hometown of Potenza. Stuffed pizzas are often taller than deep dish pizzas, but look pretty much the same until you cut into them. Similar to deep dish, a thin layer of dough forms a bowl in a high-sided pan and the toppings and cheese are added. Unlike deep dish, an additional layer of dough goes on top and is pressed to the sides of the bottom crust. That extra layer of crust is essentially the difference between the two. “Giordano’s” clearly is the largest pizza chain in Chicago, and the most famous for stuffed. “Nancy’s” on the other hand doesn’t advertise on TV and seems like “David” in the stuffed pizza battle. My recent trip to “Nancy’s” in Niles, showed that they’re really confident in their pie. How confident? Confident enough to be located across the parking lot from big, bad, “Giordano’s” (aka Goliath). “Nancy’s” is a simple store front restaurant that is very easy to miss. Step inside, and you get a somewhat small restaurant that has red leather booths and a comfortable relaxed atmosphere. Service is friendly but not pushy. Our waitress did a nice job of being around if we needed her but she also just let us relax and de-stress from the day. The menu here covers your Chicago-Italian basics such as Italian beef, pastas, and of course pizza. My buddy and I start with the mozzarella sticks and order a large sausage and pepperoni stuffed pizza. The mozzarella sticks are standard issue, and don’t have a special coating, but are never the less a solid choice to start the evening. The pizza however is anything but standard. The outer crust is thick, buttery, and delicious. The under crust is crisp and sturdy, sturdy enough to hold the massive amounts of cheese, sauce, sausage, and pepperoni. Many times the toppings make the crust a soggy mess, but this crust was the perfect base for this wonderful pie. Sauce is top notch as well. The slightly spicy sauce strikes the right balance between chunkiness and smoothness and really compliments all elements of the pizza perfectly. Every meal deserves a sweet ending, and tonight that meant the tiramisu. Our waitress recommended it, and I wish she hadn’t. The pre packaged dessert was served in its original plastic container, and was a soggy mess. Flavor was poor but the texture was just plain awful. The dessert was slightly moist on top but soggy and mushy on the bottom. Truly a disappointment after having such a wonderful pizza. Final bill for the two of us with tip was about $35, which is pretty good for such a satisfying pie. Overall “Nancy’s” offers a comfortable atmosphere, good service, and excellent stuffed pizza. Stay away from the tiramisu, and you may have just found your new favorite pizza place. Rating *** and ½ out of ****. Locations(Carry out not included) 1600 W. Lake St. Addison, IL 60101 630-773-4599 2930 N. Broadway Chicago, IL 60657 773-883-1977 3970 N. Elston Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 773-267-8182 940 N. York Road Elmhurst IL 60126 630-834-4374 8706 W. Golf Road Niles, IL 60714 847-824-8183 5128 W. 95th Street Oak Lawn, IL 60453 708-422-2333                                                                             Home
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