Large Thin Crust Pizza w/ Green Peppers

Item Purchased: Large Thin Crust Pizza w/ Green Peppers
Location Purchased: Ricobene's Pizzeria / 252 W. 26th St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $14.89 + tax

Review: Ricobene's, which has several locations in the Chicago area, is famous for one thing and that is their breaded steak sandwiches. Before reading this review and ordering a delicious pizza from this classic Italian Pizzeria, do yourself a favor and order one of their sandwiches. But be warned!!! Only order the steak sandwich from the Ricobene's on 26th street. Back in 2001, when I was working at O'Hare airport, a police officer once told me that the location on 26th does everything better. I went to the location on Wells St. at least once a month when I was working Sears Tower, thinking there was no way it could be any better than that. That was until I tried the sandwiches from the 26th St. location.

You have been warned.

This was the first time I had ever tried Ricobene's pizza. I've never been convinced that an Italian restaurant is the ultimate place to order pizza. Other cultures were eating veggies and other things on flat round bread for centuries before the Italians. When I go to an Italian restaurant, I like a nice Sicilian beef or chicken parmesan. Anyone with a can of tomato sauce and some kraft cheese can make a good pizza, right? I forgot who said it, but I do firmly believe that pizza is like sex... Even when it's bad, it's good.

If that is true, then pizza from Ricobene's is like an orgy on the beaches of Sardinia. The one aspect of Ricobene's pizza that stands out is their tomato sauce. Most pizza sauce tastes like ketchup to me with its high sugar content and smooth texture. The sauce on Ricobene's pizza actually tastes like a fully ripe tomato. Little or no sugar is added, so the only sweetness you taste is the natural sugars from the tomatoes themselves. In addition to the delicious sauce, this pizza was simply gooey with cheese and well peppered with the green variety we asked for. Ricobene's crust is nothing special, but it is well tossed and cooked so that you are not gnawing on dough or choking on carbon. This is a damn fine pizza!

Still, though... if I wasn't ordering food for my vegetarian girlfriend and I, you can bet your last slice I would have ordered a king size breaded steak sandwich!

Rating: 4.5 / 5