Last month we took you to Naia on the Riverwalk for a first look at one of the most talked-about new openings in the city. This month, we're going back to the thing that makes Chicago, Chicago - Pizza!
We've been doing this long enough to know that when clients ask us what it's really like to live here, in Bucktown, in West Town, in any of the neighborhoods we know and sell - the honest answer always includes pizza. Not just as a fact about Chicago, but as a way of life. You move here, you find your spot, and then you defend it with the energy of someone who has never been more certain of anything.
My family has been eating its way through this city for years. My kids can identify a coal-fired crust from across the room. Ivona has sold nearly every house in West Town, and she'll tell you exactly where to eat after you close. Between us, we have very strong opinions. Here is the full picture.
Our Neighborhood Picks
Piece Brewery & Pizzeria
New Haven Style · Karen's Pick
1927 W. North Ave · Bucktown / Wicker Park
Before you argue about deep dish, let's talk about Piece - because this is where the Chicago pizza conversation gets genuinely interesting. Owner Bill Jacobs grew up eating at Sally's Apizza in New Haven, Connecticut, and when he moved to Chicago, he couldn't find anything close. So in 2001, he took a roofing company garage on North Avenue, built out a sun-drenched loft space with a sunken lounge, and opened what is, as far as anyone knows, the first New Haven-style pizzeria ever built outside of Connecticut.
New Haven-style, for the uninitiated, is its own category entirely. The crust is thin but not brittle. Foldable, chewy, baked dark, charred in the way that brings out the sweetness in the flour rather than burning it. The tomato sauce is applied sparingly, with purpose. The whole thing is a lesson in restraint that somehow produces the loudest possible flavor. Piece has been doing this for 24 years and is Chicago's longest continuously-operating, most award-winning brewpub. They were the first Chicago pizzeria ever named Independent Pizzeria of the Year by Pizza Today.
This is my family's restaurant. When we talk about our neighborhood, Bucktown, we talk about Piece in the same breath as the farmers market and the 606. It is woven into the fabric of the block. If you are buying a home here, consider this your welcome-to-the-neighborhood dinner. We mean that literally.
IK Insider: Walk-ins are welcome and encouraged. Large parties (6+) can reserve. The PIT - the sunken lounge can be rented for private events up to 30 guests. My kids have had many birthdays here.
Milly's Pizza in the Pan
Pan Pizza · Ivona's Pick
925 N. Ashland Ave · Noble Square / West Town
Ivona's neighborhood. Ivona's pick. And one of the most extraordinary pizza stories in Chicago right now. Robert Maleski started making pizzas alone, out of a ghost kitchen, during the pandemic. He sold out nearly every single night. The pies are inspired by the legend of Burt Katz - the Chicago pizza visionary behind Pequod's, but Maleski makes them entirely his own: a focaccia-like dough baked with a ring of mozzarella directly against the pan, which caramelizes into a golden, crispy, almost candied crust edge that you will spend the rest of the meal thinking about.
Milly's has been named one of the best pizzas in the world by Time Out. It made the Chicago Tribune's 25 best pizzas list just months after opening. It was nominated for a 2025 Jean Banchet Award, Chicago's highest culinary honor. And yet it stays stubbornly, beautifully neighborhood. Only about 45 pies are made per day. The menu features creations like the Craigslist.org — sausage, mushrooms, pappadew peppers, red onions, tomatoes, spinach, and ricotta — and the names alone tell you this is a place with personality. This summer, Milly's moved from Uptown into Noble Square, cementing its place in the West Town community Ivona knows better than anyone.
IK Insider: Pre-order online! Milly's only makes around 45 pizzas per day and they go fast. Orders open Monday; pickup runs Wednesday through Sunday, 4–8pm. Pull into the lot, text Robert, and someone brings it out to you.
The Full Chicago Pizza Map
Coal-Fired
Coalfire
Near West Side
Coal ovens burn hotter than wood or gas — upward of 1,000°F — which produces a crust that is blistered, slightly smoky, and unlike anything from a standard oven. Coalfire has set the benchmark for this style in Chicago for nearly two decades.
Roman Style · al Taglio
Bonci
River North
Bonci earned a global reputation in Rome before anyone outside Italy had heard of al taglio. Pizza sold by the cut, airy focaccia-like base, creative seasonal toppings. Chicago's location brought that tradition to the Midwest, and it has never felt out of place here.
Wood-Fired Neapolitan
Spacca Napoli
Ravenswood
Certified Neapolitan, nationally acclaimed, and utterly serious about it. Imported Italian flour, San Marzano tomatoes, the full tradition. Spacca Napoli has earned the kind of quiet reputation that only comes from doing one thing, perfectly, for a very long time.
Wood-Fired
Paulie Gee's
151 N. Milwaukee Ave · Logan Square
Logan Square's beloved wood-fired spot. Creative, seasonal pies with beautiful char from a real wood-burning oven. The neighborhood vibe makes you want to linger over one more slice — which, in Logan Square, is exactly the right instinct.
Tavern Style · South Side Icon
Vito & Nick's
8433 S. Pulaski Rd · Chicago Lawn
Since 1947. Tavern style is cracker-thin, always party cut (squares, never wedges), and Vito & Nick's is the place where serious Chicagoan's point when they want to explain the style. A South Side institution that has outlasted entire eras of the city.
Tavern Style · North Side Classic
Pat's Pizza
679 N. Lincoln Ave · Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park's no-frills answer to the tavern question. Decades of loyal customers, a cracker crust done exactly right, and the kind of consistency that only comes from genuinely not overthinking it. A true neighborhood institution.
Local Secret
Candlelite
7452 N. Western Ave · Rogers Park
The kind of place you only find when you actually live here. Rogers Park institution for decades, loyal regulars who have never needed to tell anyone about it, and pizza that has never required press. This is what we mean when we say Chicago goes deeper than the tourist trail.
Deep Dish · Cult Favorite
Pequod's
Lincoln Park
The caramelized cheese crust. If you have not had it, you are missing one of Chicago's most genuinely distinctive food experiences. Pequod's has a devoted following and a waiting line that tells you everything you need to know before you even walk in.
The Icons
No Chicago pizza conversation is complete without these names
- Lou Malnati's — The butterscotch crust, the chunky whole-peeled tomatoes, the sausage patty. The most beloved deep dish in Chicago. Multiple locations, zero debate.
- Giordano's — The stuffed deep dish that launched a thousand arguments about what Chicago pizza even is. A rite of passage, and rightfully so.
- Ranalli's — Thin crust, Lincoln Park classic, multiple locations, reliably excellent for any night of the week. The kind of pizza that anchors a neighborhood.
- Parlor Pizza Bar — Wood-fired, lively atmosphere, excellent for a date night or a group Tuesday. One of the city's most fun places to eat pizza.
- Pizzeria Portofino — Authentic Neapolitan, imported flour, San Marzano tomatoes, the original tradition taken seriously. For when you want the real thing.
This is the pizza city.
Every neighborhood has its spot. Every Chicagoan will defend theirs with the conviction of someone who has done serious research over many years. The places on this list have earned their reputations through decades of consistent work.
Once you live here, you'll know exactly what we mean. And you'll have a very strong opinion about all of it.
Did we miss your favorite? We genuinely want to know. Reach out and tell us.
Karen Ranquist & Ivona Kutermankiewicz
