-Grubbing in Chicago
Tavern Style Pizza in River North
Chicago's pizza scene continues to reach new heights with each passing day. I’m not sure if it’s passed New York City in terms of impact but I don’t think there’s any debate that Chicago truly is Americas second city when it comes to pizza - the options have never been better than they are right now. This is thanks in part to the city’s hottest restaurant at the moment - Zarella Pizzeria and Taverna in River North. The setting is the corner of Grand and Wells in the former home of GT Fish & Oyster which was also a Boka spot. You know tavern thin pizza is having a moment when one of Chicago's biggest and best restaurant groups decides to get in on the action. Zarella Pizzeria is a product of the Boka Restaurant Group led by Kevin Boehm who along with his business partner, Rob Katz, operates 26 restaurants in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. Their namesake restaurant (Boka) has been awarded a Michelin star 13 straight years. Kevin and his team also won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in America back in 2018. They opened Zarella in March and it’s been bumping ever since. We first visited near the end of May and have been back twice since then.
On my first visit I was with my wife who doesn’t like eating meat right now so I didn’t get to try the sausage on first crack which is what I usually get at Chicago based pizzerias. But it all worked out because I wouldn’t know how good the pickled peppers were had we not gotten a pizza with those and some onions on our first visit. I knew I liked this pizza as soon as I picked up my first square. It was super thin and extra crisp with no limp and the bottom of the pizza was a bit bumpy thanks to a cornmeal crust. I could also tell that it wasn’t over sauced just by looking at it. Then I took a bite and it reminded me of Wells Brothers up in Racine Wisconsin (my favorite pizza anywhere). I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what type of peppers they're using but they’re chopped and all sorts of zippy.
Pickled Peppers and Onion Pizza
For starters we got the Gigante Beans with Calabrian peppers, lemon, fennel pollen. No complaints on those but it's not something I would say you must get though I liked the addition of the Calabrian peppers. The fried zucchini seems to be the most popular dish aside from the pizza but we both wanted calamari so that was an easy choice. It was a tad bit salty but included tentacles which is a must for me. It's probably some of the better calamari in town, when salted properly. They serve a trio of desserts including coconut soft serve which sounded pretty good but she wanted to try the brown butter cake with pineapple and lime cool whip which was a satisfying way to end a pleasurable meal.
Gigante Beans
Calamari
Brown Butter Cake
I wasn’t going to write this review without trying the sausage which I recently did when I learned they were now doing pickups. I placed an order over the phone and it was ready within 20 minutes though they do put a hold on pickups when it gets too busy. I made sure I was there when my pizza was ready but it still suffered a bit from being taken out though the crispness of it stayed intact long after I got back. The sausage at these chef driven pizza spots is never quite as good as it is at the old school places but it was still better than most of the sausage you’ll find outside of Chicago so consider me happy with the sausage here too. Reviews from others have been mostly positive though a couple of people have complained about the sauce being weak and it not being crisp in the middle but those were non issues for me as I prefer a milder sauce to a super sweet one and got a crisply cooked pizza each time. Zarella is also putting out an artisan pie but as long as tavern thin is an option that’s what I’m getting from here. Just be aware that it’s a bit of a process right now as reservations are booked weeks out. They do take walk-ins but you’ll likely be waiting with others. As long as it’s not too long I think the wait will be worth it. Some are bound to complain about the price and get upset it's called tavern thin and call Zarella a tourist type of spot but those same people will tell you real Chicagoan's eat thin crust pizza - just like the version served at Zarella, which is better than most.
Zarella Pizzeria & Taverna
531 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 470-0250
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