SPACCA NAPOLI PIZZERIA Address: 1769 West Sunnyside Avenue, Chicago IL 60640 [map] Phone number: 773-878-2420 Website: spaccanapolipizzeria.com Hours: Lunch, W-Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner, W-Th., 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., F-Sat., 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sun., noon to 9 p.m. An interesting story in the "Good Eating" section of the Chicago Tribune today about the Windy City's Spacca Napoli, complete with recipe. The piece touches on the Neapolitan pizza trend that's sweeping Chicago (as it has in New York, Phoenix, and San Francisco), namechecking a handful of thin-crust Italian-style pizzerias that have opened there in the last... More

The previous post about Ed Levine's top pizza picks drew some emailed and IMed responses that the choices were mostly all coastal and that there were no Chicago joints on it whatsoever. Well, here's a list that ran earlier this month in USA Today. In it, Jeff Ruby, coauthor of Everybody Loves Pizza (along with Penny Pollack), gives the paper his and Ms. Pollack's top spots: Metro Pizza [four locations, Las Vegas NV; metropizza.com] "The pizza menu at this gourmet oasis in the desert reads like a map of regional flavors. With grilled shrimp on the New Orleans, barbecued chicken... More

Poached Moulard Duck Foie Gras Au Torchon with Pickled Pear Originally uploaded by ilmungo. If you're only a "foodie" when it comes to pizza, then you might not know that Chicago, as a city, decided to ban foie gras a short bit ago. The ban, enacted by the Windy City's city council, went into effect yesterday. As befits residents of the "City of Big Shoulders," some chefs yesterday were still serving the dish—which is the fattened liver of a duck or goose that has been overfed. (The city banned it over concerns about animal cruelty.) Other chefs actually added... More

"Taylor Street, the late 1890s. The neighborhood of Italian immigrants, largely from Naples, is packed with handcarts and makeshift stands selling fruit, vegetables, olive oil and bread. Speaking mostly in Italian, they buy, sell, argue and barter, when suddenly a man walks onto the street pushing a cart holding two copper washtubs. Their bottoms are packed with charcoal, keeping round pies of bread, tomato, spices and cheese hot. Walking near Taylor and Racine, he sells these pies for two cents each, and the people seem to like them. Little does he know that he is America's first pizza vendor, and... More

And they are: Zachary's Chicago Pizza: Berkeley, California PIzzeria Regina: Boston Patsy Grimaldi's Pizzeria: Scottsdale, Arizona Vic's Bar & Restaurant: Bradley Beach, New Jersey Tacconelli's: Philadelphia John's: New York City Star Pizza: Houston Imo's Pizza: Saint Louis Home Run Inn: Chicago Mellow Mushroom: Atlanta Windy City PIzza: Tampa, Florida Anthony's Pizza and Pasta: Denver Papreza's Pizza: Henderson, Nevada Well, they say 13 is an unlucky number, right? I mean, only one New York City pizzeria on this list? And it's John's? John's is good, sure, but not the best in NYC. And maybe we should hold our tongue until we've... More