AaronSinger wrote:Looks great. The HBFC one--I think Piece also did a recent collab with them.

Not sure but I think this one is permanently on Piece's menu. It's certainly been on for a very long time. Menu description: white pizza with HBFC, blue cheese, scallions, HBFC signature buffalo sauce and topped with crunchies. Not sure I've ever had it.

HPGlutster2 wrote:We went last Tuesday at 7PM. We didn't get our pizza till 9:20 pm. The cheese and pepperoni pizzas were deluged with parmagian. Loved the sausage. Extremely thin, fun to eat. Would not go back due to extraordinary wait.

Oy, that's very rough but it's been well covered upthread (and elsewhere) that the waits can get irrationally extreme on Tavern Tuesdays. I think going on another night would be less burdensome and imo, you'd end up with pizza that was every bit as good as their tavern-style, maybe even better. I really don't make a habit of getting to dinner at 4:30 but in this case, it really was ideal. But again, not going to make a habit out of it.

gullit wrote:Pizza looks great but I hear they charge 8% service fee?

Again, also pretty well covered (and beaten to death) upthread. The fee is designated for labor equity & healthcare . . .


Directly From Our Receipt

I think it'd be much better applied as an 8% price increase but everyone gets to run their business the way they want to (and then we, as customers, decide whether or not to eat there). No doubt, there are some aspects of the Middle Brow experience that some people would consider deal-breakers. It doesn't bother me that not every place is for everyone. In fact, I wish there were a lot more of that. I think it would lead to a far more interesting dining-out landscape.

=R=

Tavern Tuesday still going strong. Sausage was as great as ever. Special this week came with ham, pineapple giardiniera, and red onion. That was a whole lot of flavor but the rich sauce pretty much held its own. There was no need for the ham. Pineapple giardiniera should be a thing.

Middle Brow Bungalow is offering morning hours again after a roughly two-year pause — and the brewpub is debuting new breakfast items, too.

Middle Brow Bungalow, 2840 W. Armitage Ave. is open beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday-Friday, with plans to eventually open early on Tuesdays too, co-owner Pete Ternes said.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/03/25 ... -new-menu/

Middle Brow gets and nice and well-deserved mention in this recently posted piece at NYT's website:

22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States

Bungalow by Middle Brow
Chicago (Pop. 2,746,388)

The overlapping skills required to make beer and dough have spurred a growing number of brewers to try their hands at pizza. This restaurant-within-a-brewery is an inspiring example. The crusts are fragrant and flavorful, with sturdy undercarriages, and the Neapolitan pizzas are always memorable, whether they’re topped with the barest amount of ingredients (order at least one with tomato sauce and yuzu oil) or the makings of a German potato salad, to name just one in the never-ending parade of specialty pies. On Tuesdays, the kitchen features its take on Chicago’s square-cut tavern-style pies (shown above). The food is a good match for the beer and, yes, wine, which Middle Brow started making, from Michigan grapes, in 2019. -- Brett Anderson

Another IL spot receiving a mention was . . .

Scratch Brewing
Ava, Ill. (Pop. 553)

It would be an understatement to call Scratch a product of its environment. Perched on the sloping edge of a forest in deep Southern Illinois, the brewery was built partly from salvaged local materials. The outdoor brick oven was handmade, and it’s used to bake wood-fired pizza, served Thursday to Sunday. The crusts are made with the same sourdough culture used to ferment the excellent bread and most of the beers. The ingredients for the pizza are largely local (same goes for the beer), much of it grown or foraged by the co-owners Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon on land surrounding the property. To say this place is worth its own road trip is another understatement. -- Brett Anderson

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Another IL spot receiving a mention was . . .

Scratch Brewing
Ava, Ill. (Pop. 553)

It would be an understatement to call Scratch a product of its environment. Perched on the sloping edge of a forest in deep Southern Illinois, the brewery was built partly from salvaged local materials. The outdoor brick oven was handmade, and it’s used to bake wood-fired pizza, served Thursday to Sunday. The crusts are made with the same sourdough culture used to ferment the excellent bread and most of the beers. The ingredients for the pizza are largely local (same goes for the beer), much of it grown or foraged by the co-owners Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon on land surrounding the property. To say this place is worth its own road trip is another understatement. -- Brett Anderson

=R=

Would love to take a road trip down there someday. They make some very unique beers. Only place I've ever see carry them is the Beer Temple on Elston.

AaronSinger wrote:
Would love to take a road trip down there someday. They make some very unique beers. Only place I've ever see carry them is the Beer Temple on Elston.

Hopleaf has carried/carries Scratch beers.

Middle Brow, the Chicago brewpub that earned a James Beard Award earlier this year as a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, is opening a second location in Michigan. Ownership is keeping the exact address a secret, but say they’ve signed a lease to take over a space off Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer, Michigan, about 50 miles west of Downtown Chicago. Sawyer is along Lake Michigan and is a popular tourist destination. Co-owner Pete Ternes says they’ll take over a one-acre plot where customers can enjoy the outdoors.

https://chicago.eater.com/2024/10/4/242 ... ral-winery

Dave148 wrote:

Middle Brow, the Chicago brewpub that earned a James Beard Award earlier this year as a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, is opening a second location in Michigan. Ownership is keeping the exact address a secret, but say they’ve signed a lease to take over a space off Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer, Michigan, about 50 miles west of Downtown Chicago. Sawyer is along Lake Michigan and is a popular tourist destination. Co-owner Pete Ternes says they’ll take over a one-acre plot where customers can enjoy the outdoors.

https://chicago.eater.com/2024/10/4/242 ... ral-winery

50 miles WEST of downtown Chicago?

When they got rid of the 8% service fee, they raised their prices to compensate. Now that they've added a 21.1% service fees, they've lowered the prices. Just kidding. The raised prices are unchanged. Because it's a service fee and not a tip, this money goes to the restaurant and does not have to get passed along to staff.

I do appreciate the apparent attempt at transparency but without knowing the connection between the service fee and wages and how their pay compares to competitors, they're just calling attention to the price increase.

All that said, the pizza is great and I'm overdue for a return visit.

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:
When they got rid of the 8% service fee, they raised their prices to compensate. Now that they've added a 21.1% service fees, they've lowered the prices. Just kidding. The raised prices are unchanged. Because it's a service fee and not a tip, this money goes to the restaurant and does not have to get passed along to staff.

I do appreciate the apparent attempt at transparency but without knowing the connection between the service fee and wages and how their pay compares to competitors, they're just calling attention to the price increase.

All that said, the pizza is great and I'm overdue for a return visit.

While not explicit, I can't imagine that not going to the staff. The Middlebrow owners are really good folks who are interested in giving their folks a living wage. I can't imagine them charging a "service fee" that doesn't go to the staff.

HT70 wrote:

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:
When they got rid of the 8% service fee, they raised their prices to compensate. Now that they've added a 21.1% service fees, they've lowered the prices. Just kidding. The raised prices are unchanged. Because it's a service fee and not a tip, this money goes to the restaurant and does not have to get passed along to staff.

I do appreciate the apparent attempt at transparency but without knowing the connection between the service fee and wages and how their pay compares to competitors, they're just calling attention to the price increase.

All that said, the pizza is great and I'm overdue for a return visit.

While not explicit, I can't imagine that not going to the staff. The Middlebrow owners are really good folks who are interested in giving their folks a living wage. I can't imagine them charging a "service fee" that doesn't go to the staff.

I agree. I hate to just blindly vouch for them without any inside knowledge but Pete and his team are owners who really care. A rare breed, especially these days.

=R=

i think i'll skip my return visit