Saturday, January 25, 2014

Pizza Quest
 the art of pizza

pepperoni thin
So this was a really decent pepperoni thin crust. Perhaps more saliently, it served as our appetizer as we waited for the main event.

spinach and sausage pan
I greedily wanted the stuffed, but Dawn confirmed via smartphone that it was the pan we had to try. It is really, really good. The crust tastes like ...something. I am not a food reviewer, but you know what I mean?

dawn
Dawn, our fearless leader.

legal and berg
Joining us on tonight's quest were Legal and Berg. We contacted them old skool, on the TELEPHONE.

poppy
Your intrepid reporter and photographer.

The 20 Best Pizzas In Chicago Via Chicagoist.

Art of Pizza
As Art of Pizza has become more popular over the years, the restaurant has slowly taken over the entire strip mall where it's located, which is now appropriately known as Art of Pizza Plaza. The reputation of the establishment firmly rests on its pan pizza. It's a pie so perfect, so solidly crafted, I've yet to taste its superior. It begins with an exceptionally sturdy crust, crispy on the bottom and sides but possessing a wonderfully chewy interior. Eating it also doesn't require a knife and fork; you can perfectly balance your slice on three fingers: thumb, index, ring. Above the crust is a zesty sauce that’s neither watery nor overly chunky, making the ideal backdrop to Art of Pizza’s superior toppings, among them thinly-sliced discs of spicy pepperoni and juicy black olives packed with flavor. (I'm especially partial to a combination of sausage and spinach, both rustic and hearty.) And then the cheese, oh yes the cheese, usually a shade of toasty brown with a scattering of oregano on top. This is pan pizza offered up with an attention to fundamentals, offered up, well, artfully. Get yourself a 14-inch so that you have leftovers. If you don't eat it all at once, that is. —Rob Christopher

Art of Pizza is located at 3033 N Ashland Ave.
Well, he's not wrong. How do you pick one out of twenty pizzas to start with, well, I am apparently drawn to the words "strip mall." I can't say that how my pizza balances on my fingers is top of mind, but I suppose you could. It is a sturdy crust, it's not floppy or soggy at all with sauce. Oh hey that's what we had, the spinach and sausage combo. And there is something good about the cheese, it's toothy or something.

We asked the guy at the counter how many girls the 14" pan would serve, if they were girls who could eat. He said 3–4, so we ordered an 18" thin to start with. That worked out well, we were hungry and the pan took about 35 minutes to come to the table. As it was we were eyeing other people's pizzas that came out before our thin crust. We had twelve pieces of thin and four pieces of pan left over, very neatly divisible by four. A good omen to begin our quest.

So I brought a little box with a piece of pan and three pieces of thin to the sweetie man, which when he answered the door set me up perfectly to say Pizza delivery wowww-owww-owww.

One down, nineteen to go!