Pizza City, USA by Steve Dolinsky

PIZZA CITY, USA by Steve Dolinsky is a totally fun and VERY comprehensive review of pizza places around Chicago. In fact, he profiles enough restaurants to give “101 reasons why Chicago is America’s Greatest Pizza Town.”  The pictures throughout are fabulous (mouth-watering is not an exaggeration) and accompany a one to two page description of each establishment, often offering a bit of local history as well as what makes the pizza distinctive.   

Local readers will recognize Dolinsky’s name as “The Hungry Hound” on Channel 7 and I enjoyed the brief biographical information he provided.  Dolinsky also readily acknowledges that not everyone will agree with his assessments (and I did not!), but he carefully explains his criteria and definitely still makes this a clever and informative book. There are separate chapters on recommendations (with maps) for Tavern (or Chicago Style thin), Thin, Artisan, Neapolitan, By-the-Slice, Deep Dish/Pan, and everyone else (Stuffed, Sicilian, Roman and Detroit-style).  PIZZA CITY, USA would make a great gift, especially for someone moving to the Chicago area.  Dolinsky is coming to The Book Stall on Thursday, Sept. 27 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm (free pizza available, of course!).