I was downtown yesterday wrapping up some last minute plans for the wedding, and figured I'd check a box off on one of the pizzas that gets really great reviews by "critics" - Labriola Chicago. Place is always jam packed full when I've looked in the past, so I figured it was going to be good. They told us an hour for a seat, but there were tons of open spots at the bar so we sat down.
Ordered some garlic knots as an appetizer, and a small deep dish cheese for the entree. The garlic knots were flame. They were like a crossaint mixed with a garlic knot. Absolutely top notch. Then the pizza came.
Pizza is supposed to be the Burt Katz style pizza - more of an airy crust, caramelized cheese on the crust, and a thicker sauce, served still in the pan. While it definitely had all the right elements, it was just done poorly. The crust was overly fluffy. It was almost soft it was so fluffy. It kind of had a similar consistency to a cake, which is just kind of weird on a pizza. To back that up, it was kind of sweet, which is not something a crust on a pizza should ever be. The sauce was clumpy, so it wouldn't really cover the whole slice, but rather just be in patches over the top and wanted to slide off the slice the whole time. The cheese was solid, but that's hard to screw up.
I was really disappointed in this pizza. I can't imagine anyone having this and think that it represents a good Chicago style deep dish. It wasn't a bad pizza, but it definitely is towards the bottom of my deep dish list. I put Lou Malnati's over it, and you all know how I feel about Lou's.
Score: 6.9/10
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