I'm operating with two handicaps when I review local pizzerias...
1. I'm Sicilian - I have family in a little olive and citrus grove close enough to Mount Aetna that the SOUND of the active volcano gets cursed with imprecations that I refuse to translate here, on a family site, for fear of a permanent, life long ban...
Sicilians invented pizza...
2. I'm from Chicago, Illinois...
Chicago pizza is uniquely world renowned for it's craft, art, and incomparable presence...
As it is gently slid from the scorching oven paddle and quietly steams, mammoth taste awaiting to be conquered, but only with the love and pride it deserves...
I, ummm, well, I take pizza pretty damn serious....
So....
My opinion, then, is that using Chicago pizza as The Bar to judge ANY other pizza is counterintuitive...
To review non-Chicago local pies I act the part of someone who has NEVER had pizza and start fresh...
This place..?
They know how to craft a heck of a pie and hands down are in the top three of where to get one done right and hot and quick - TIP YOUR DELIVERY PEOPLE, people.... Unsung heroes who I hope never unionize, we'd all be chumped if that ever happens...
And when I say top three, well, the other two are probably not who you may think - the first place I hit for a local pie 9 years ago was all "... In business forever, I'll meet ya' there... "
I've microwaved better pizza in the camper and was disgusted - that's a story for another time...
But really, what did it for me, here..?
What iced the cake..?
My younger sister (52, she's gonna kill me) can enjoy virtually any pie she puts her mind to - her food sensitivities are so acute that dining out can be made into a real medical issue for her if she doesn't watch EVERYTHING she consumed, and Mad Mushroom has menu choices for her that Chicago can't hold a candle to....
Mad Mushroom rocks - no restrictions on quality, appearance, taste and service for the dietetically challenged and when I had a slice of vegan, gluten- free, lactose free pie, I took a polite nibble, and tasted pizza not styrofoam ( again, separate story here but I was six when styrofoam cups hit the market, my cousins told me to taste it because if you chew and swallow they told me it was like cotton candy, so I know whereof I speak. OK..?)
REWARD YOURSELF - This is fine food...