When you’re a disciple of Paul Giannone, the Paulie of Brooklyn pizza spot Paulie Gee’s, you eat a lot of pizza. Just ask Derrick Tung. As owner of Paulie Gee’s new Logan Square satellite (2451 N. Milwaukee Ave.), Tung is a pizza obsessive, a man who sniffs out cheese, sauce and dough like a beagle hunting for truffles.
But Tung, a lifelong Chicagoan, hasn’t always made pizza for a living. He used to work in health care — a 9-to-5 job he found not-so-inspiring. “I didn’t go to my job singing and whistling,” he says. Then, he had his first taste of wood-fired, Neapolitan-style pizza at Naperville’s Pizzeria Neo. Can pizza change your life? Absolutely.
“I immediately started thinking, How can I start making (pizza) at home?” Tung says. “I wanted to build a wood-fired oven, but (my wife) wasn’t having it, so I sold it to her as a trailer that I can take out on weekends to sell pizza.” Before long, the newbie pizzaiolo began selling wood-fired pies at markets from an oven-trailer hooked to his car, under the name Za Pi. “I was looking forward to Wednesdays, when we’d make dough, and weekends, when we’d make pizza.”
Meanwhile, he also became a forum regular on Serious Eats, a website for the food-obsessed, where he began talking to Giannone. “I was looking for a mentor, and (Giannone) had a similar background as me — just a normal guy with no formal training who transitioned into the pizza business,” says Tung. Soon enough, he left his old job behind, working first for a Naperville pizzeria before eventually partnering with Giannone to open the first Chicago branch of Paulie Gee’s.
Only two months into the operation, and the pizzeria is already making a name for itself with its Logan Squares, Detroit-style pizza topped with creative ingredients — think an elote-style pie with roasted corn, cilantro and a chili-coated lime, or the Italian beef, loaded with giardiniera, white cheddar and provolone and paired with a side of au jus. When not testing new pizzas with his team, Tung hunts down slices of all styles from all over Chicago, always on the hunt for new tricks and tastes he can bring back to his own kitchen to try.
With that in mind, I approached Tung with a proposition: As part of the Tribune’s month of uncovering the best pizza in Chicago, would he introduce me to his favorite local haunts? Suburbs only — Tung lives in Woodridge, and I’m much less familiar with the spots around there than I am with city pies. He agreed. Joining us were his wife, Cathy, and newborn daughter, Abigail, who wore a ribbon decorated with smiling cartoon pizzas as she slept through our cheesy trials. Appropriate.
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Over a meandering afternoon (four hours, four pizza stops, five pies), Tung introduced me to some classic, straightforward pizza as we talked about what he looks for in a pie, the hardest part of being a business owner and his philosophy on bad pizza.
Little Pops Pizzeria
Our first stop was Little Pops in Naperville, a family-run operation owned by Mike and Vicki Nelson. Opened in 2014, the shop features a by-the-slice counter and a recently expanded sit-down dining room to the left of the original space, with exposed brick walls adorned with photos of the Brooklyn Bridge and New York skyline.
The joint’s large, foldable slices are a family recipe (Little Pops has locations in New York owned by other family members), true to New York-style. We split a cheese slice, which “is a good, easy pizza,” says Tung. “Nice crisp dough, simple, fresh sauce.” The white pizza — ubiquitous in NYC, featuring mozzarella and huge dollops of ricotta seasoned with dried herbs — is straightforward and balanced, says Tung. 1819 Wehrli Road, Naperville, 630-210-8084, www.littlepopspizzeria.com.
Al’s Pizza
Blink and you might miss this cash-only spot on Warrenville Road, a short drive off Interstate 88. Sharing space with a local bar (enjoy either’s wares in the other, if you want), Al’s combines the feel of an old-school diner with someone’s living room. The kitchen is smack dab between the entrance and the dining room, which seats between 20 and 30 people, with dark red booths along the outer edges hugging green walls half-paneled with bright wood. “(The building) is so nondescript, you’d never know how good it was just looking at it,” says Tung.
“The hard part about the pizza business is consistency and staff,” says Tung. “Who is on the oven? Who is making the dough? Is it going to be consistent? Al’s is always consistent.” We ordered a sausage pizza. The cracker-thin crust was like a shard of gypsum crystal, crackly and flaky, yet strong enough to hold back the molten lava of well-seasoned red sauce. “The sausage is so flavorful, like little pinches of meat spread evenly over the pie. It’s one of the best sausage pizzas around.” As you pay up, witness the charming tradition of the cashier imploring the pizza crew to “say thank you, boys!” Thanks erupt in unison as you step back out into the noonday sun. 28W241 Warrenville Road, Warrenville, 630-393-9630, www.alspizzainc.com.
Aurelio’s Pizza
Just one of many dotting Chicagoland, Aurelio’s is the only multi-location spot we hit up. “You guys use fresh mushrooms, right?” Tung was hoping to top our next pie with the earthy ingredient but was turned off the idea upon learning that Aurelio’s uses the canned variety. “I always ask — canned mushrooms taste spongy and like metal to me, but I love mushroom and sausage pizza.” We opted for another sausage thin-crust pie, with cheese coating the quarter-sized sausage nuggets. It was just all right.
“But I operate on the rule that pizza is like sex,” says Tung. “Even when it’s bad, it’s good.” The sauce was too sweet, and the crust needed a boost of salt. The sausages were a bright point, but the cheese was just too greasy — overall, no balance to the pie. Maybe better to stick to the original Homewood location, where one of my colleagues enjoyed his sausage pie. 6430 Main St., Woodridge, 630-968-0077, www.aureliospizza.com.
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Papa’s Pizza Place
Family-owned for 35 years, Papa’s Pizza Place was our last stop, and a delightfully old-school one at that. Located in a small strip mall in Woodridge, the restaurant serves pizza by the slice (among other things), but walk past the totem pole (huh?) into a dining room straight from the ’70s. Think glass-partitioned booths, giant overhead white globe lights, wood-paneled walls, Eagles blaring. “It’s so close to home,” says Tung, “we collect their coupons for a free pie.” We switched it up with a pepperoni pizza, the tavern-style cracker crust evenly browned, with coins of meat peeking from beneath the otherwise even coat of cheese. The sauce could have been more flavored (“it needs salt,” said Tung), but the pepperoni was savory, peppery and sharp. 83rd Street Center, 8258 S. Janes Ave., Woodridge, 630-985-0101, www.papaspizzaplace.com.
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