The bratty, contrarian spirit lurking inside me has long wanted to set up a taste test between Domino\u2019s Crunchy Thin Crust pizza and a standard bearer for Chicago tavern-style pie. Though this sounds like a stunt, I\u2019ve been honestly curious to see how they would compare; I do really like tavern-style pizzas and, in a previous life, I really liked Domino\u2019s. I like the same thing about both: the cut, the crunch, the corners.<\/p>\n
The term broke big last year when New York Times food columnist J. Kenji Lopez-Alt wrote a widely circulated piece about Chicago\u2019s best tavern-style pizzas and devised a recipe based to some degree on the one used at Kim\u2019s Uncle Pizza in Westmont. Because pizza is the most obsessed-over food, the obsessives went wild.<\/p>\n
So the time came for my taste test, which I\u2019ve conveniently left to the end of this article to avoid the pitchforks. The most-loved and most-iconic tavern style closest to my house is from Pat\u2019s Pizzeria. I ordered a medium pie, half cheese\/half pepperoni, from both Pat\u2019s and Domino\u2019s, set them up side by side and invited people in my orbit to try both.<\/p>\n
I found that Pat\u2019s pizza had milkier cheese and tomato-ier sauce, both of which easily detached themselves from the crust when we tried to pry pieces apart. The crust was spotted black from the oven and crunchy in the way of, say, the corner of a flour tortilla quesadilla or a pita chip. I liked it. The Domino\u2019s pizza on the other hand was blander but better constructed, with a uniformly golden brown crust and a sheer cheese topping that melded into it. It tasted like it had more fat in the dough, so it was both super thin and super flaky, like the bottom of a buttery croissant. Our group, none of us native Chicagoans, all liked the Domino\u2019s better. We kept eating it, little square by little square, until it was no more and then made inroads into the Pat\u2019s pie.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying that Domino\u2019s has better pizza but perhaps it does belong in the conversation as an example of a certain kind of short crust style now that tavern style is gearing up as a huge trend. Please take every opinion I make with a grain of salt, though. After all, I\u2019ve admitted that I sometimes crave Mellow Mushroom. Opinions are all personal and should be shared.<\/p>\n
If you love soft serve ice cream, then check out two new spots bringing some flavor swag. LTO, a.k.a. \u201cLimited Time Only\u201d on the patio at Avondale\u2019s Guild Row through the summer. Chef Jamie Davis has been devising flavors such as caramelized white chocolate and goat cheese, blackberry, rhubarb, and black sesame. Over at the new Bar Parisette, where Madalyn Durrant is chef, the flavors have included salted vanilla and blueberry\/lavender. During happy hour the \u201cshake frites\u201d snack combines crisp fries with a sidecar of vanilla soft serve.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, while Pat\u2019s Pizzeria serves a delicious tavern-style pizza, Domino\u2019s Crunchy Thin Crust pizza also deserves recognition as an example of a certain kind of short crust style. Taste is subjective, and it\u2019s okay to have personal preferences when it comes to pizza.<\/p>\n
Q: Why did you compare Domino\u2019s to Pat\u2019s Pizzeria?<\/strong> Q: Do you think Domino\u2019s has better pizza?<\/strong> Q: Why do you mention Mellow Mushroom?<\/strong> In Praise of\u2026 Domino\u2019s? The Bratty, Contrarian Spirit Lurking Inside Me The bratty, contrarian spirit lurking inside me has long wanted to set up a taste test between Domino\u2019s Crunchy Thin Crust pizza and a standard bearer for Chicago tavern-style pie. Though this sounds like a stunt, I\u2019ve been honestly curious to see how they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chicagomag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pats-vs-dominos1.jpg?w=1500&resize=1500,1000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1224,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1222\/revisions\/1224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nA: I wanted to see how a well-known tavern-style pizza joint compared to a chain pizza place with a similar style.<\/p>\n
\nA: No, I don\u2019t think Domino\u2019s has inherently better pizza. However, its Crunchy Thin Crust pizza is a worthy contender in the tavern-style pizza conversation.<\/p>\n
\nA: I mentioned Mellow Mushroom as a comparison to Domino\u2019s and to show that personal opinions on pizza are subjective and can vary greatly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"