Virtual Pizza Party–Saturday, May 16th!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Stuffed is my favorite style of Chicago pizza. I remember first having it in 74 when Giordano's had opened their first shop in a house. Now people seem to refer to stuffed as another kind of deep dish - I've seen this online in several places. Not sure when then changed.

I've also learned never to challenge my teenage boys when it comes to eating. Last night I made fried rice. I had six or seven cups of rice, half a pound of broccoli, a pound of chicken, shallots, garlic, and green onions and they ate it all. Of course there are usually leftovers but not last night.

My oldest ate the last of it mixed in with the last of his sister's macaroni and cheese. He called it "American paella".

[Mike Nolan]

Stuffed pizza and pan pizza have one thing in common, they aren't flat, so they need a pan with sides. But a stuffed pizza has at least two layers of dough, and I've seen a few that had three. (Beyond three and it is more of a lasagna, IMHO.)

The original Nancy's claimed to be the originator of the stuffed pizza, but at least one other north-side Chicago pizzeria had a similar pizza in the late 60's. The first time I went to Nancy's was after they had moved, because of urban renovation of their original location. A lot of the old crowd (including, reportedly, some Chicago gangsters) didn't follow them to the new location.

I don't remember Giordano's being in a house, I do remember a three hour wait for a table at a place on the far South side in 1969, but all I really remember was we had to park about 4 blocks away in mid-winter. (For us North-siders, it was a really long trip, especially when you pack 6 college students in a car.)

I was always more of a fan of thin crust pizza, which was more common on the North side. There was one place near south campus that Northwestern students favored that had a cracker-like crust that tasted a bit like matzoh, but my favorite was a hole-in-the-wall place in south Evanston that would deliver to campus. I think they had just one table, and it was mainly for those who were walk-in customers waiting for their pizza to get done so they could carry it out. I've never duplicated their sauce or crust, not sure what made them unique.

Chicago Magazine had a feature story on the '5 types of Chicago Pizza' back in the early 70's, I remember reading an early draft of it and having discussions with their features editor (a chess buddy) over whether it should be 5 or 7 types! (I was in negotiations to do 'casual dining' restaurant reviews for them when we decided to move to Nebraska, the person who eventually got that position was probably a better writer than I am anyway.)

[Joan Simpson]

I can't join the party but I made a sausage,pepperoni,green pepper,pickled banana peppers,black olive onion,and cheese pizza.

[chocomouse]

Pizza is baked. I'm connected to the Zoom site and just going to wait for the meeting to open. Thanks Mike and Aaron for getting this organized and set up for us! See you all shortly.

[BakerAunt]

My pizza is in the oven and will come out shortly before 7:30 eastern time. I'll head over to the zoom site as well.

[Mike Nolan]

I thought the virtual pizza party was a big success, I think we should plan another virtual gathering. One possibility would be a virtual brunch, another would be a virtual afternoon (low) or early evening (high) tea.

[aaronatthedoublef]

It was fun. Sorry my network went wonky. I hope it didn't wreck the meeting for the rest of you.

I'm game for a brunch or high tea.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you to Aaron and Mike for organizing the Virtual Pizza Party. It was fun. I'm sorry that Chocomouse's computer did not allow for her to join us on video, but I'm glad she was able to get in on audio.

I also like the idea of brunch or "the taking of a toast and tea."

[chocomouse]

Thanks everyone who was able to join us last night for pizza - it was fun. I've checked out one of my older tablets, and think next time I will have video available. Yes, I'm up for brunch or tea, sweet or savory! So many choices, how do I narrow down what to serve?

[Mike Nolan]

My stuffed pan pizza came out pretty good, but I should have used the shorter skillet. The flat pizza stuck to the baking stone, I probably didn't use enough cornmeal under it. Next time I'll do it on parchment.

The pizza bread was really good, the baguettes I've been making work very well for that. The pepperoni was a bit strong, though, I need to look for a milder brand. (We used to use Oscar Meyer, but I think they changed the formula a year or so ago, adding garlic.)

[Italiancook]

I've enjoyed all the post-party updates. Thanks.

[Joan Simpson]

I've enjoyed all the updates too.

[Author]

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