Piece Chicago

Piece - Not your typical Chicago Pizza - it's better

Alright, so I ate my fair share of pizza in Chicago. I tried Gino's East in Lakeview, Giordano's in The Loop, and Lou Malnatis in the Near North Side - all of which were delicious. However, in my opinion, no pizza was as good as the one I had at Piece in Wicker Park. Did I just give the first-place award to a thin-crust Chicago pizzeria? Yup - I sure did.

First, let's talk about Piece the Restaurant. There's a hip vibe to this place; the interior has guitars mounted on the wall, the tables are communal, and the bar is located right at the entrance (as it should be). When you walk in, there's a good chance that you'll be greeted by a host and a wait. Luckily, even if the wait's a bit longer (we waited about 40 minutes for a table of 4), you can still walk right up to the bar and try one of the many micro brews they have on tap. Supposedly they have a full bar, but we stuck to their beer specials. I had an IPA, which was really good if not particularly memorable.

Once we were seated, I took charge of the pizza order (I'm a self-proclaimed "pizza expert" who worked in a pizzeria through college) and we decided to go with a large white pizza with chicken, mozzarella and ricotta. Given that we were pretty much starving at this point, a large was the only way to go.

The pizza, in my opinion, was incredible. Greasy without being messy, thin-crust but easy to manage, the ricotta was an exceptional touch and the chicken was cooked to perfection and not remotely dry. It's hard to describe just how delicious the 3 slices of pizza I enjoyed at Piece were, just know that not a crumb was left on our table.

I love Piece - not just because it combines two of my favorite things in the world, pizza and beer - but because it combines GREAT pizza and beer. Anybody can come up with an unimaginative pizza recipe and sell it with a couple of Bud Lights; what makes Piece unique is the way it uses craft beer and gourmet pizza to compliment one another. The result was one of my favorite restaurant experiences in Chicago.

I would highly recommend making the trip to Piece in Wicker Park.

This review was made by the www.chicagotraveler.com site editor based on personal experience. Chicago Traveler was not paid for this review, nor will we receive any future compensation for posting this review on our site.