Chicago (Italian) - Pizza D.O.C.

Pizza D.O.C.
2251 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago IL; Phone773-784-8777
Date of Review: May, 2006

So, what does D.O.C. stand for? It actually stands for "Denominazione Di Orgine Controllata", a term used on Italian wine labels to convey both the excellence of a product and the care with which that product was made. Take it from the owner’s themselves, “We insist on excellent ingredients and attention to their preparation, which is the reason we call ourselves "D.O.C."

Pizza D.O.C. is a very romantic restaurant. It makes you feel like you are in a restaurant in Italy. There is a “community table” in the middle of the restaurant where you can select items like marinated zucchini or eggplant for your antipasti plate which contributes to a warm, comfortable environment. Most of the servers, based on their accents, seem to be of Italian descent. There is a not a large waiting area but there is a small, cute bar at the back of the restaurant where you can enjoy a drink and wait for your table. The restaurant is active, just like in Italy and has a wood burning oven in full view as you pass by to go to the bathroom. If you want an Italian oasis in Chicago, this is the place.

Pizza D.O.C. has generous size portions of absolutely very good, authentic Italian food. Everything about this place screams Italian, making it a favorite of the Italian immigrant community. On my visit, we started with the Insalata Tricolore and we both enjoyed it. Consisting of arrugula, endive, beets and parmigiano shavings in a light lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil dressing, this salad went very well with the fresh, home baked bread. The menu is loaded with different pastas and pizzas that I will continue to sample as I visit Pizza D.O.C. again and again. On this evening, we shared the pizza porcini. The ingredients – tomato sauce, mozzarella, porcini mushrooms – were simple but the taste was definitely not. To start with, the pizzas are cooked in a wood burning oven. This makes for old style Italian crust that is somewhere between thin crust and New York style chewy crust. It doesn’t get soggy no matter how long you take to finish your pizza. The crust is chewy but not too much and a bit sweet. There is just the right amount of extremely tasty sauce as it doesn’t overpower the flavors of the mushrooms or mozzarella. To be honest, I am still wondering how a pizza with so few ingredients could be so flavorful. I guess that says a lot about the quality of the ingredients. The pizza is big enough to share with another person along with a salad or appetizer but eating the entire pizza yourself as an entrée would not be a problem.

For desserts, we had the panna cotta and the pistachio gelato. The panna cotta was simply scrumptious. This creamy, egg-less vanilla bean based custard that is topped with caramel sauce is a worthy, if not superior, comparison to flan or crème brulee. I would actually describe this dessert as refreshing. The pistachio gelato made me look around and ask myself, “Where am I? Am I in Chicago or Vivoli’s in Florence?”

The service is somewhat offbeat but very attentive. It is offbeat because this is a “real” Italian restaurant and I would expect nothing less than this type of service. This is the kind of place where your waiter notices the attractiveness of the women who just entered the restaurant or complements you on your own date. Like I said, this place is truly Italian.

The food is reasonably priced. Our total bill was $57 plus tax and tip for a salad, pizza, 2 desserts and three glasses of wine.