Arris’ Pizza Review

Matt & I went to Arris’ (http://www.arrispizzaonline.com) on Valentine’s Day because we realized we’ve always ended up eating pizza on that day somehow, so we decided to make it a tradition.  Plus, we’ve always wanted to try it because we heard it was really good.

The atmosphere was more casual than I thought it would be.  Nice casual decor of the Greek/Italian cafe variety.  We sat at a tall table off on the side by ourselves – it surprisingly wasn’t that busy for a Saturday V-Day evening.  Prices for a medium pizza range from $10-$14.  We ordered a half & half pizza.  Here’s the names and what was on them:

Heart of Zeus (Zeus) – Artichoke hearts, roma tomatoes, feta cheese and Greek sausage
Yo-Jo’s – Feta cheese, pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms & green peppers

I had never had Greek-style pizza before, but according to Arris, it’s a really (REALLY) thin, crispy crust with loads of huge chunks of toppings.  We saw them lining up all the crusts with sauce on pans, waiting for orders so all they had to do was add the toppings.  There were no thicker crusts that I saw or that were mentioned on the menu, but I also didn’t ask about it either.

When the pizza came, there were huge chunks of artichokes and golfball-sized sausage balls on the Zeus half.  I really prefer my toppings on anything to be spread out evenly, so I spent quite a bit of time cutting sausages and artichokes and dispersing them more evenly in smaller chunks over the pizza.  The artichokes were really tart, especially in combination with the feta cheese.  The flavors weren’t really balanced & I hardly ate any.  (And this was the half that I had wanted to order the most.)  The Yo-Jo’s half was pretty good and a bit more balanced with tart-sweet-salty-accents.  I ate more of this than the Zeus, but it was still getting to be too much tart with the olives & feta. Also, the crust was incredibly crispy and thin, and quite tasteless if you happened to have a square from the edge.  I really thought they could have done something to jazz it up a bit, such as adding olive oil & Greek spices either in or on it.  Just because you want to have “authentic” food at your restaurant or home doesn’t mean you can’t THINK about ways to improve the food.  It’s perfectly okay to vary from the standard recipe to make it better! And it’s ok to make mistakes when you cook this way (at least when you’re at home – experiment a lot more with a restaurant!)

I don’t remember very well since it was 2 months ago, but I also believe there wasn’t any sauce on the pizza…I could be wrong.  Just be warned that the pizza might not be what you’re expecting.  This was partly why I was so disappointed.  I shortly lost my appetite for the pizza (a rare occurrence) & we took leftovers home, where I still could hardly handle the Zeus slices.  I was really disappointed that we had spent so much money on a pizza experience that wasn’t as professionally gourmet as I had thought it would be – especially on Valentine’s Day.  If I ever go back, I would order the Gyro like I almost did in the first place (I just got pizza cuz it was our tradition).  Depending on how that was, I may or may not change my recommendation for Arris; Pizza: Beware of what you order, and don’t go in with any expectations.

Arris’ Menu

Chicago Food Tour: Vienna Beef Hot Dogs

So there are about a million hot dog places in Chicago, and Matt researched some before we left.  He was serious about his dogs.  He decided on two places that we had to visit, and Vienna Beef was one of them.

Vienna Beef hot dogs, Chicago, IL

 Yeah, it is a hot dog factory.  The dogs here have natural casings, Matt said.  I didn’t smell anything funky when we walked up to it.  Of course, I couldn’t feel my nose either after many blocks of walking from the train, so there could have been a smell and I just didn’t know it.  But wow, the prices at this place were surprisingly cheap considering this was Chicago.  I think it was maybe $5 for two Chicago-style hot dogs, plus about $3 for a big thing of chili fries. 

Chicago-style hot dogs at Vienna Beef

 Yep, that’s it.  Apparently, Chicago-style hot dogs have the dog, mustard, tomatoes, onions, little hot peppers, relish, a ginormous pickle spear, and celery salt on a poppyseed bun.  That’s right, NO KETCHUP.  I don’t like ketchup, so that was fine with me.  The tomatoes were much better than either ketchup or BBQ sauce…and I like me some BBQ sauce on my dogs.

That dog's goin' down!

Matt's big bite

 

It had a funny hole on the end...

Mmm....

 

To be honest, it was kind of hard to eat a pickle spear and a hot dog on the same bun.  We made some at home after we got back from Thanksgiving, and cut the pickle spears in half and shared them.  Much easier!

There was also too much celery salt on it for my tastes.  It is a strong flavor!  (Great on seasoned potatoes, though.)

Ah-mazing chili fries!

The chili on these fries was soooo good!  It is some of the best chili I have ever had.  It was very flavorful and savory.  I definitely didn’t want to know how much grease was hanging out in my arteries after this meal.

A cool bridge nearby

So, if you’re craving hot dogs, Vienna Beef is a pretty good place to go, especially for the price.  They close at like 4pm though, so make sure you get there early enough to get a tour of the factory!  We didn’t, but I’m kind of glad.  I’m not sure I would have ever eaten another hot dog in my life.  There are some things in life a person just doesn’t need to know.

Vienna Beef is located at 2501 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL, 60647 (Google won’t let me link to a map for some reason, so just look it up).  They sell their hot dogs all over the place and have stands all over, but this is where they make them.  I think you can even order some online.

Chicago Food Tour: Pizzeria Uno

It’s finally here!  The moment you’ve all been waiting for!  Introducing….CHICAGO FOOD TOUR on Pure Tastes.  Yeah!

We went up there a few weeks ago to visit my sister.  We decided to take pics at every restaurant we went to and review the food.  Now next time you go to Chicago, you will know some places to stop and eat some mouth-watering tastiness!

Stop One: Pizzeria Uno, the original Chicago-style deep-dish pizza

My mouth waters just thinking of it.

On our audio tour of the John Hancock building, the second tallest in Chicago (and a cooler view than the Sears Tower, I might add), we heard a little tip from David Schwimmer.  That’s right.  I said David Schwimmer.  He was the host of the audio tour.  (A surprisingly comforting voice, I thought.)  Now you all know what he’s been doing since “Friends” ended…Anyways, he said there was “a place on the corner of Wabash and Ohio” that was the inventor of the original deep dish pizza.  He didn’t really say the name of the place (for silly legal reasons, I assume), but we walked down there later and found it.   If David Schwimmer says it is good, it truly must be tasty. 

Pizzeria Uno, The Original Chicago-style deep-dish, on Wabash and Ohio

We wanted lunch, so we went in and found out it was a 40-minute wait.  The good part was that they took your order and you paid with the host whenever you put in your name, because the pizza took an HOUR to cook.  Matt thought it must be a good deep dish with a lot of stuff on it if it took so long to cook.  We saw another place down the street called Pizzeria Due (not realizing at the time that it was an offshoot of Uno’s because they had no room to expand in the original building).  The wait there was a long time, too, and we had to go to my sister’s senior recital.

Pizzeria Due, an offshoot of Uno's in Chicago

So we went back to Uno’s on another night.  The wait wasn’t as long during the weeknight as the Saturday lunch had been….and it was SOOOO worth it!!!!!  We got “The Numero Uno” which I think was like a supreme.   Pardon my on-camera flash:

"The Numero Uno"

The crust was grittier than what you’d get at a Pizza Hut or Little Ceasar’s, but of course…how could you change a classic?  I think there might have been quite a bit more cornmeal in it.  Of course, it was deep dish so it had that delicious crispitty-fried crust, but soft on the inside.  Let me think now…what was on this sucker…I believe the cheese was on the bottom, then pepperoni and sausage, then sauce, then mushrooms, onions, and green peppers.  This was followed by a healthy dose of Parmesan cheese by ourselves at our table. 

Catherine dousing the goods with Parm

This was seriously the best pizza I’ve ever had from a restaurant.  I could only do two pieces and that was overkill.  Matt finished his, too, but my sister Catherine (probably the smart one of the bunch) took the last half of her second slice home.  (I got jealous when I saw her eating the leftovers the next day.)  Now, Cat goes to school up there and she says there is some other place that parades itself as the original Chicago-style, but we think they are lying.  It begins with a G, but I can’t remember the name.

Uno's Pizzeria at night

Here is a map to Uno’s if you are in Chicago.  It is a must-eat!

A Visit to Trolley’s

Matt & I went to Trolley’s yesterday for a meeting.  It was the first time we’d been there.  We started off by splitting the Downtown Nachos with our groupies.  It had white queso, onions, jalapenos, and sour cream on the side.  It wassupposed to have chicken on it, but didn’t, so we asked the waitress to bring it out so we could dump it on top.  The chicken didn’t taste that great…I’m not sure it was really seasoned, which is something you definitely have to do with chicken.  Even a little salt and pepper…?  But no.  They were also extremely skimpy on the queso, which was a shame because it was really good.  I think it had chili powder or taco seasoning in it.  Odd…but good.  Any ideas on how to get that similar flavor, but with fresh ingredients?

I then had the Philly Queso.  I know…it’s like the cheapest meat, but Phillys are soooo good.  There were green peppers and onions on it, with more white queso that had a different flavor than the nachos (I think).  I was disappointed in the amount of meat on the bun for the price.  I was also disappointed in the bun itself, which was practically like just a soft hamburger bun.  It really needed something heartier (especially at $8.95!), like a tangy, firm ciabatta.  Ohhh that would have been so delicious.  I asked for some horseradish sauce, but there wasn’t a whole lot of flavor to it.  It was mostly a tangy mayo-type sauce.  Bummer.

On the upside, they had some pretty decent sweet potato fries.  They were covered in sugar and cinnamon, which was kind of a surprise to me.  I kinda wished I’d put salt on them to get that sweet and salty combo, but I didn’t think of it at the time.  Matt put salt on his, like always, and…like usual, he liked it.  We’ve made them before but not like that (recipe below!).  I dipped them in the horseradish sauce….meh….didn’t do much…and Matt’s BBQ sauce, which was a pretty good combination because it was good BBQ sauce.

Overall, I wouldn’t necessarily reccommend Trolley’s for a fantastic, special place to eat, especially with all the other choices downtown.

So!  Here is our version of sweet potato fries.  They’re not really fried fries, but baked, mostly because frying scares me, it’s easier, and healthier.

Ingredients:
a couple of Sweet potatoes (don’t use old ones)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Cracked pepper
Fresh basil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and cover a baking pan with foil.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them evenly into steak slices.  Put them on the pan in one layer.
3. Drizzle fries with olive oil and toss to coat evenly.
4. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes.
6. Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with fresh basil.

You could try it with the cinnamon and sugar combo.  Tell us how it turns out!