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Bob Garcia sprinkles Parmesan on a slice of The Fridge, a deep-dish pizza with Canadian bacon, sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives and onions.

Pizza pies that are Þt for untouchables

By Sarah Stanek

It's a piece of Chicago, California-style.

Pizz'a Chicago's specialty is the Windy City's signature deep-dish pizza, but owner and co-founder Art Harris admits these pizzas aren't really the genuine article. And that's a good thing, too.

"We knew when we started that it wasn't going to be authentic," Harris said. "In Chicago, it's a heavy, oily pizza. That's what people in the Midwest like. For the lifestyle out here, that just wouldn't work."

Harris and his partner Theo Reynolds instead chose to make a lighter crust and top it with some less traditional ingredients. Although it's much more common now to see a pizza topped with barbecued chicken, when Pizz'a Chicago opened in 1991, its "Untouchables" pizza was definitely different.

"It was good for people because it was more than just the pepperoni pizza they can get somewhere else," Harris said.

The Untouchables remains a favorite with customers and with Harris.

All the pizzas on the menu are named after famous Chicago people or places, like the Air Jordan, "so light it defies gravity" like its namesake, or the Joliet Jake, another favorite of Harris', topped with four different kinds of mushrooms.

Naming and creating the pizzas was the fun part. "We really had a good time coming up with the menu," Harris said.

The pizzas are made to order and take about 25 minutes to cook. They arrive at the table still in the pans and are placed on raised platters. Because the wait is long, if worthwhile, Pizz'a Chicago offers lots of appetizer options.

House salads and crusty garlic bread with or without cheese are the most popular, but Harris also recommends the stuffed mushrooms. "Excellent. Very addicting," he said.

Sodas and iced tea are served in large mason jars instead of glasses, which Harris said was an attempt at being "a little different. People really get a kick out of it."

Calzones like the Ditka and other sandwiches are also menu options, but "the pizza is still the main draw," Harris said.

Pizz'a Chicago has two other locations, one in Palo Alto and one in downtown San Jose. Business looks good at all three locations, Harris said.

At lunch time, business people from nearby corporations stop in to enjoy the $5.95 special, a personal pizza and soup or salad. Families, young people on dates and senior citizens make up the dinner crowd.

"People celebrate anniversaries here because they met here," Harris said. "It's a lot of fun when you can recognize faces."

Pizz'a Chicago, 1576 Halford Ave., Santa Clara. Open Sun.-Thu., 11 a.m. -10 p.m. , Fri.-Sat. , 11 a.m. -11 p.m. 244-2246.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 2, 1997.
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