1450 East 57th Street, Chicago IL 60637 (Hyde Park; map); 773-752-4100
Each year, nearly two million people visit the Museum of Science and Industry. And though I don’t have the numbers to back it up, I think it’s safe to say a significant number of those visitors decide to enjoy a Chicago-style pizza during their stay in my hometown. But I would guess that virtually none of the out-of-town visitors to the museum know that there is an outstanding pizzeria just a few blocks directly west of the museum.
I grew up in Hyde Park, and Caffe Florian opened before I left for good, but I had not set foot in the place until recently. That was a mistake. I really do have a good excuse: Caffe Florian opened in a space that had previously been occupied by Medici on 57th and I was not a fan of their pizza. I assumed the location was tainted with bad pizza juju, so I never tried Florian. Turns out, that was an error in judgment and I am now committed to making up for lost time (and pizza).
Hyde Park is a unique neighborhood unlike any other that I have encountered. Home to the University of Chicago, it is a mixed-income, interracial enclave that is bordered by Lake Michigan to the east and neighborhoods that are virtually 100 percent lower-income and black on each of the other three sides. It has been an independent (and fairly left-wing) political bulwark in a city that has long been dominated by machine politics. The neighborhood has been home to notables ranging from Swami Vivekananda, who introduced yoga to the U.S., to Hugh Hefner, who introduced something else (link intentionally omitted from this family-friendly site). Muhammad Ali and Saul Bellow used to live there, and Sara Paretsky and Barack Obama still do. Fun fact: Louis Farrakhan lives in a part of the neighborhood that is heavily Jewish. And for architecture buffs, highlights include Promontory Apartments, the first high-rise designed by Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.
Enough reminiscing about the place of my youth (and possibly future); this site is about pizza, and Hyde Park has a lot of it. In addition to Caffe Florian and Medici on 57th, Giordano’s, Edwardo’s, Pizza Capri, and Leona’s all have locations there.
On to the Pizza…
The first pizza was a thin crust pie with pesto and artichoke. I’m generally not a fan of pesto because I find that it overpowers most other flavors; that was not the case here. The crust was quite good – not as thin as more traditional Chicago thin crusts, but it still had a cracker-snap and a nice amount of butter.
The pesto was good, and may well have been made there. The artichokes were definitely from a can or jar, but if you show me a pizzeria that uses fresh artichoke hearts, I’ll show you a pizzeria that’s losing money, so that transgression is forgiven. What was nice about the pizza, and what stopped the pesto from overwhelming the pie, was the use of tomato sauce. In my experience, when a pizza comes with a special sauce, there is either no or virtually no sauce. The outstanding flavor of the thin, smooth sauce balanced the pesto very well, making this quality pie. For the uninitiated, please note that most thin crust pizzas in Chicago put the toppings under the cheese.
While the thin crust is good, deep dish pizza is the reason to go to Caffe Florian. Before I go on, I need to discuss the terminology. What I am calling deep dish, Caffe Florian refers to as pan pizza. The pizza looks like a typical deep dish pizza, but with a substantially thinner crust than the traditional ½ inch a la Uno’s or Lou Malnati’s. I think of pan pizza as being a thick pizza with a regular crust and with the cheese on top, like those found at Pizza Hut or the aforementioned Medici on 57th.
Regardless of what name is more accurate, the thick pizza at Caffe Florian is outstanding. The butter crust is excellent – flavorful, strong enough to hold the heavy toppings, and perfectly crumbly upon eating. The sauce is simply spectacular. Made from 7/11 Ground Tomatoes from Stanislaus , it is chunky, tangy, sweet and more chunky. It is one of the best pizza sauces I have ever tasted.
There was, unfortunately, one significant flaw in the pizza: the sausage. If there is one pizza topping that should always be good in Chicago, it’s the sausage; we like our pork in this town. Given that I always expect good sausage here, and given how good the rest of the pizza was, I was absolutely stunned that my pizza held uniform nuggets of processed, flavorless meat. Because the pieces were flavorless and were smaller than the chunks of tomato in the sauce, the sausage did not detract from the overall pizza. But psychologically, this was tough for me to handle.
I wholeheartedly recommend a sausage-free pizza from Caffe Florian to anyone who finds themselves in Hyde Park.
Man do I gotta Get out to CHI town... For pizza eating of course ;) Well that and I hear the beer is good there too! Do not listen to everyone about the "it's not pizza!" deal. Some people arent yet enlightend to all things in art and pizza. (as if I am, LOL). Love the reviews Pizza looks awesome! Hope you do more!
I miss Florian. I remember fondly the days of writing four 20+ page papers all at the same time while chowing down on Florian pizza (I think they used to have the garbage pizza, which was a pizza with every topping known to man. Unappetizing name for a pizza full of awesome.)
So is the Medici gone? Though the food was ok, I loved that restaurant. THey had good double chocolate cake and decent coffee - all that a UofC student needs.
Oh, I miss this place! I remember many days spent here - I lived literally 100 feet from this place when I went to the U of C. The Florian also has a very nice whole wheat crust for their pizzas - not many places have that option.
Wow, I have to say that I actually really dislike the Florian! I've been there about 5-7 times, during my two years so far at the U of C, and each of them was pretty abysmal. Perhaps I should try the pizza next time (I've never ordered it), because all the sandwiches (on pale, tasteless bread) and salads (limp lettuce, sad vegetables, bad dressing) I've had there have been pretty bad, the best probably being a veggie burger (reliably mediocre, since they come out of the freezer section). Given the choice between the Med and the Florian, I definitely always choose the Medici. For one, they make awesome homemade veggie burgers. Their bread is freshly baked next door in their bakery, the salads are huge and come with great homemade dressings, they make great chips and guac, and their fries are totally addictive. And did I mention the insanely good milkshakes? No, for me, the Medici rules supreme, and when I happen to wander into the Florian, thinking that it might have changed since the last time I ventured in, I'm always disappointed. Also, for pizza in Hyde Park, I really only go to Giordano's. Their cheese and spinach stuffed pizza is divine! And there's no better end to a Hyde Park meal than Intelligentsia coffee and homemade gelato from Istria Cafe--by far the best in the city!
oh my gosh the Florian! y'all just convinced me to sign up for a SE account just so I could express my excitement to see this posting. :) my husband used to work there as a waiter, & back when we were dating I'd hang out in one of the back booths while Tom (the awesome Greek manager) would bring me free desserts.
ChristineB, the Med is a venerable Hyde Park institution, but the Florian definitely gives them a run for their money. their wraps are awesome (get the beans & rice as a side, & ask for sour cream to go with them), & the Florian Spinach & Spinach/Sausage/Pesto deep-dish pies are amazing. true, the sausage is a little bit more of a background player in Florian pizzas, but I think it harmonizes really well with the other flavors. I've never had a sausage pizza from there without the spinach & pesto to accompany it, mainly because that combination is so amazing I can't bring myself to order anything else (well, except the Spinach when I'm being "healthy" :) ). & the crust is really crunchy & flavorful -- just the perfect balance.
I'm certainly a fan of Gino's East, Art of Pizza, & a host of the other fantastic pies that Chicago has to offer, but for my money, Florian's is the best pizza in Chicago. plus, it's a family-run place with local artists' work for sale on the walls, which gives it an awesome vibe as well. I'm so glad it got recognized by Slice!
(also, PS. their weekend brunch is amazing as well, particularly the huevos rancheros. it's more than enough food for two people to share.)
loreli76, the garbage pizza is from the Med, not the Florian -- & last I checked, it's alive & well. (they even got nice new bathrooms!) one of my friends is actually the manager there now, & I actually like it a lot more than I used to before she started running it. I like their thin-crust pizza & some of their other entrees, but (um, in case the above love letter doesn't make it obvious) the Florian is definitely my favorite restaurant of the two.
@DM: Thanks - it's been fixed.
@tonecapo: You have posed a question that only you can answer, but I will say that when a pizza crust is thick, as it in deep dish pies, I have never met a butter crust I didn't like. I doubt that butter would work in thin crust pies, but I don't think I've ever had it. I would, however, be more than happy to try it before deriding it.
Daniel Zemans, I think I went to grade school with your sister, a few years before I started cutting class and going to Florian. Their pizza is the best in the world-- deep dish regular crust Florian spinach. Their coffee and other food isn't very good. My mom has smuggled Florian pizzas to her children in Poland and in China.
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The sauce is simply spectacular. Made from 7/11 Ground Tomatoes from Stanislaus , it is chunky, tangy, sweet and more chunky. It is one of the best pizza sauces I have ever tasted.
13 Comments:
Man do I gotta Get out to CHI town... For pizza eating of course ;) Well that and I hear the beer is good there too! Do not listen to everyone about the "it's not pizza!" deal. Some people arent yet enlightend to all things in art and pizza. (as if I am, LOL). Love the reviews Pizza looks awesome! Hope you do more!
s0m3f00l at 4:12PM on 08/13/08
I miss Florian. I remember fondly the days of writing four 20+ page papers all at the same time while chowing down on Florian pizza (I think they used to have the garbage pizza, which was a pizza with every topping known to man. Unappetizing name for a pizza full of awesome.)
So is the Medici gone? Though the food was ok, I loved that restaurant. THey had good double chocolate cake and decent coffee - all that a UofC student needs.
lorelei76 at 4:22PM on 08/13/08
Oh, I miss this place! I remember many days spent here - I lived literally 100 feet from this place when I went to the U of C. The Florian also has a very nice whole wheat crust for their pizzas - not many places have that option.
mrsbao at 4:38PM on 08/13/08
BTW, Di Fara in Brooklyn uses fresh artichokes. So does Artichoke in Manhattan.
kathrynyu at 5:15PM on 08/13/08
Wow, I have to say that I actually really dislike the Florian! I've been there about 5-7 times, during my two years so far at the U of C, and each of them was pretty abysmal. Perhaps I should try the pizza next time (I've never ordered it), because all the sandwiches (on pale, tasteless bread) and salads (limp lettuce, sad vegetables, bad dressing) I've had there have been pretty bad, the best probably being a veggie burger (reliably mediocre, since they come out of the freezer section). Given the choice between the Med and the Florian, I definitely always choose the Medici. For one, they make awesome homemade veggie burgers. Their bread is freshly baked next door in their bakery, the salads are huge and come with great homemade dressings, they make great chips and guac, and their fries are totally addictive. And did I mention the insanely good milkshakes? No, for me, the Medici rules supreme, and when I happen to wander into the Florian, thinking that it might have changed since the last time I ventured in, I'm always disappointed. Also, for pizza in Hyde Park, I really only go to Giordano's. Their cheese and spinach stuffed pizza is divine! And there's no better end to a Hyde Park meal than Intelligentsia coffee and homemade gelato from Istria Cafe--by far the best in the city!
ChristineB at 5:40PM on 08/13/08
I live across the street from the Florian and am there way too often. The personal pizza is pretty delicious!
justlikeaholiday at 6:50PM on 08/13/08
Pssst The Florian is _west_ of the museum. The only thing east of the museum is the lake :)
DM at 10:13AM on 08/14/08
am i purist or an idiot? Pizza and butter should not be in the same sentence. The same can be said for pineapple on pizza....an abomination.
tonecapo at 11:17AM on 08/14/08
oh my gosh the Florian! y'all just convinced me to sign up for a SE account just so I could express my excitement to see this posting. :) my husband used to work there as a waiter, & back when we were dating I'd hang out in one of the back booths while Tom (the awesome Greek manager) would bring me free desserts.
ChristineB, the Med is a venerable Hyde Park institution, but the Florian definitely gives them a run for their money. their wraps are awesome (get the beans & rice as a side, & ask for sour cream to go with them), & the Florian Spinach & Spinach/Sausage/Pesto deep-dish pies are amazing. true, the sausage is a little bit more of a background player in Florian pizzas, but I think it harmonizes really well with the other flavors. I've never had a sausage pizza from there without the spinach & pesto to accompany it, mainly because that combination is so amazing I can't bring myself to order anything else (well, except the Spinach when I'm being "healthy" :) ). & the crust is really crunchy & flavorful -- just the perfect balance.
I'm certainly a fan of Gino's East, Art of Pizza, & a host of the other fantastic pies that Chicago has to offer, but for my money, Florian's is the best pizza in Chicago. plus, it's a family-run place with local artists' work for sale on the walls, which gives it an awesome vibe as well. I'm so glad it got recognized by Slice!
(also, PS. their weekend brunch is amazing as well, particularly the huevos rancheros. it's more than enough food for two people to share.)
courtguerra at 12:10PM on 08/14/08
loreli76, the garbage pizza is from the Med, not the Florian -- & last I checked, it's alive & well. (they even got nice new bathrooms!) one of my friends is actually the manager there now, & I actually like it a lot more than I used to before she started running it. I like their thin-crust pizza & some of their other entrees, but (um, in case the above love letter doesn't make it obvious) the Florian is definitely my favorite restaurant of the two.
courtguerra at 12:14PM on 08/14/08
@DM: Thanks - it's been fixed.
@tonecapo: You have posed a question that only you can answer, but I will say that when a pizza crust is thick, as it in deep dish pies, I have never met a butter crust I didn't like. I doubt that butter would work in thin crust pies, but I don't think I've ever had it. I would, however, be more than happy to try it before deriding it.
Daniel Zemans at 2:18PM on 08/14/08
Daniel Zemans, I think I went to grade school with your sister, a few years before I started cutting class and going to Florian. Their pizza is the best in the world-- deep dish regular crust Florian spinach. Their coffee and other food isn't very good. My mom has smuggled Florian pizzas to her children in Poland and in China.
JohnS at 12:33PM on 08/15/08
Seriously ? Commercial dry mozzarella ?
Q80 BurgerBelly at 2:03PM on 08/15/08