Pizza In A Bowl / Pizza For Adults
I like to stick to Arlington Heights restaurants, but this is right on the edge of town, so I'll include it anyway.
Last night, looking for a change, we tried the new Chicago Pizza Company, on 1657 Algonquin Rd (near Golf Rd in the shopping complex with Sam's Club and Wal-mart). They advertise that they are the home of 'Pizza In A Bowl'. When I told Inga about this, she said "It sounds like lasagna". When we walked in, the host asked us if we had been there before and explained what a 'pizza in a bowl' is. The host explained that they don't have thin crust / thick crust and that turns some people off. Undeterred we went in.
The interior is dark and woody with tall booths that offer privacy from the other tables. The bar looks nice and would be a fine place to wait for a table, if necessary.
So this 'pizza in a bowl' thing, what is it. Basically I decided the best way to describe it is pizza for adults. They offer three types of pizza: sausage, vegetarian and spinach. The pizza ingredients are put in a bowl, capped with dough, and baked. The pizza comes to your table looking like a delicious golden brown mushroom or dome. The bowl gets obscured by the dome-cap. The server takes the pizza-bowl flips it upside-down on your plate, taps and removes the bowl. The dough cap relaxes and the ingredients fill the dough. The result is a pizza that is not greasy and doesn't make you feel too guilty eating. You also have to use a fork and knife, no hands with this one. The fillings are basic, but the quality of the fillings is high. The sauce is tangy-sweet from good tomatoes, not sugar, the whole mushrooms were fresh and cheese was good without being to much. Personally, I am a fan of th taste and texture of the dough-cap.
Chicago Pizza Company doesn't cater to kids and that is fine because I think most kids would hate that it is different. It also is not for the pizza and a pitcher of beer crowd or the people who think more is better (We all know how the size of portions at restaurants has gotten out of hand.) This is more in the league of wood-fired pizza crowd. Pizza taken up a level for adults to enjoy a night out. Quality over quantity.
The menu is simple but also includes sandwiches (which also looked good going by) and salads. One full size pizza-bowl with a salad I think would be fine for a couple who doesn't want to feel over stuffed when leaving. I could see myself being able to finish off a whole one by myself if motivated and in a mood to do some damage to my diet.
