Near West Suburbs Pizza (Oak/Forest/Elmwood Park and Berwyn)

I just moved to Oak Park! Fortunately, I've already found a couple of good taco places thanks to the West Suburbs thread and my own exploring, but I'm wondering where there is good pizza to be had generally around here. Looking for both deep dish and NYC or New Haven style.

Whoo, boy, I second this query. I'm a recent Oak Parker, too, and if one more person tells me "Lou Malnati's," well, John's in Bucktown isn't THAT far away.

Best/closest pizza is either Flapjack Brewery in Berwyn or Forno Rosso in ... I guess Chicago? North on Harlem. Both are Neapolitan style and both are excellent.

Flapjack Brewery
6833 Stanley Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402

Forno Rosso
3719 N Harlem Ave, Chicago, IL 60634

Oh, and if you're new and don't know Freddy's, go there ASAP. Like, tomorrow. Tonight? Everything is good at Freddy's, including the pizza. Cash-only.

Freddy's Pizza
1600 S 61st Ave, Cicero, IL 60804

Vitesse98 wrote:Best/closest pizza is either Flapjack Brewery in Berwyn or Forno Rosso in ... I guess Chicago? North on Harlem. Both are Neapolitan style and both are excellent.

Flapjack Brewery
6833 Stanley Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402

Forno Rosso
3719 N Harlem Ave, Chicago, IL 60634

Oh, and if you're new and don't know Freddy's, go there ASAP. Like, tomorrow. Tonight? Everything is good at Freddy's, including the pizza. Cash-only.

Freddy's Pizza
1600 S 61st Ave, Cicero, IL 60804

These are the essentials to me, too. I’ll add just Gaetano’s in Forest Park for fancy pan style and Jimmy’s Place for tavern also there on Madison, ordered well-done. Trattoria 225 has a cost-effective weekly special with good ingredients and reasonable crust but not near Gaetano or Freddy-league.

I have not been impressed with the Elmwood Park places, Bricks, or the Salerno’s spots of late. Still often take Nella (Hyde Park) and Coalfire (Grand) home, occasionally Loop Aurelio’s for nostalgia.

Q's Restaurant and Pizzeria isn't too far away. It has previously been discussed here. Others may know how it currently is doing.

I haven't had it in awhile, but I loved Armands pizza (Elmwood Park, Elmhurst, Lombard)

http://armandspizzeria.com/

Specifically for the OP's Deep Dish request, I'm still a fan of Lou's. Suggestion: get the butter crust, and a side of their garlic salad dressing. Lou's will not have anything remotely close to a New Haven or NYC style, and they are not trying to, nor have they ever tried to. Unless the Oak Park branch has fallen off, I can pretty much say that Lou's has pretty good quality control across their chain, in my experience. We don't order from them often, I think it's been a year, but we hit the Ogden avenue location then, and it was same as always. Identical to the other locations we've ordered from over the years. I happen to REALLY like their thin crust as well, but again, that's not gonna be anything sim to what you'd expect from East Coast style. It's a Chicago style thin.

Not sure of any NY Style, but Old World has excellent Deep Dish and tavern style. Di Nicos, Bertollis and Cuzzo's to name a few others. Forno Rosa and Coal Fire are both excellent Neopolitan style, but I find that those don't really travel well, they are much better consumed on-site.

thetrob wrote:Not sure of any NY Style, but Old World has excellent Deep Dish and tavern style. Di Nicos, Bertollis and Cuzzo's to name a few others. Forno Rosa and Coal Fire are both excellent Neopolitan style, but I find that those don't really travel well, they are much better consumed on-site.

I agree with Old World having nice deep dish, nicer on, I think it's Thursday, that it's a special.

That said, the pizza we get the most often is Armand's. I've switched allegiance in recent years from Old World to Armands for thin. As to deals, the Monday one-topping extra large deal at Armands is really good.

Eat-in it's Jimmy's or Freddy's. Pizza, like Italian beef, is not something we struggle with around here.

Lot's of good advice here already, with Flapjack and Forno Rosso. As a former New Yorker, give up hope on NY Style in the greater suburban area. There are a handful of fixes available in the city, notably Paulie Gee's. And Piece Pizza does decent New Haven style.

Once you learn to embrace (or at least resign yourself to) Chicago tavern style, I prefer Geo's, just up Harlem, unless I can get to Pizza Fried Chicken Ice Cream.

Throwing my two cents in... I consider Forno Rosso on Harlem (I believe that neighborhood is called Dunning) to be one of the true "destination" pizzas in Chicago.

It really is that good.

I would check out Bertoli’s on Lake and Thatcher in River Forest. It’s worth the scene if you pick up on a Friday evening. It’s a tavern style and worth a try. Also, I second the vote for Armands. Having grown up in Elmwood Park, it was always our go to pizza place-when they used to be on Grand. I would encourage a Friday night pizza testing tour. You can’t go wrong in this area.

Vitesse98 wrote: Best/closest pizza is either Flapjack Brewery in Berwyn or Forno Rosso in ... I guess Chicago? North on Harlem. Both are Neapolitan style and both are excellent.
Flapjack Brewery
6833 Stanley Ave, Berwyn, IL 60402
Forno Rosso
3719 N Harlem Ave, Chicago, IL 60634

rfleisch1 wrote: Throwing my two cents in... I consider Forno Rosso on Harlem (I believe that neighborhood is called Dunning) to be one of the true "destination" pizzas in Chicago.
It really is that good.

I can only recommend the Flapjack Brwy. for its beer selections. But this is not its fault; but because my transit route to it has me transferring to the Pace #302 route at Cermak & Cicero - which is one block away from Scatchell's Italian Beef shack.
Guess where I am dining before landing at Flapjack Brwy.
Forno Rosso on Harlem is truly out of the scope of our original poster. It is way beyond what most people would accept as 'near western suburb'. But, that did not prevent SweetWillie from hosting an assemblage there under the guise of another website forum (NOT linked)
So, it could be contemplated here on LTHF.
I would be intrigued to participate in such an assemblage.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Villa Nova, it's right across Pershing Rd from Berwyn.

dukesdad wrote:I can't believe no one has mentioned Villa Nova, it's right across Pershing Rd from Berwyn.

I would have, but:

jsagoff wrote:Looking for both deep dish and NYC or New Haven style.

I don't think Piece does New Haven style that well, but you really don't any choice around here.

I still love Malnati's deep dish after many decades (had it last night), and I agree with seebee, I always get it with buttercrust and uncut (I pop it in the oven for 8-10 minutes to crisp it a little more after taking it out of the box). Malnati's thin actually does remind me a little of the bar pizzas I had in Massachusetts, but they are not like NY or New Haven style. I have heard Old World Pizza does a decent deep dish but I have not had it.

Oak Park is still not too far from the places that serve a fairly authentic NY style in the city like The Stopalong, Paulie Gee's, Craft, Pizza Lobo, etc. Are you also looking for NY Sicilian or Grandma styles?

The OP was looking for deep dish and New York style, not Chicago thin crust. Are there any good New York, Neapolitan or other such pizza in the area other than those already mentioned above?