As my college friends can attest to, I'm a pretty frugal guy. While they were buying drinks and going to bars, my wallet was known as the place dollars go to never be seen again because of how rarely they saw me buy anything.
I've gotten a little better at that since then, but with that reputation, it follows that I love a good deal, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one than at Albano's, known for what it labels as the nation's largest pizza puff. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but what I do know is that it's located in the Chicago suburbs, it checked in at No. 8 on the Chowdown Countdown and it's totally worth a visit.
For those who don't know, a pizza puff is a Chicago version of the calzone, piled with toppings, cheese and sauce and cooked inside the dough. However, the difference between your standard calzone and a pizza puff is that the pizza puff is fried rather than baked, which is almost certainly less healthy but certainly not less tasty. In fact, as usually happens when you fry something, this is really excellent.
Besides being really excellent, it's really huge. As I said, I have no idea whether or not these are actually the largest pizza puffs in the country, but if they aren't, they're darn close. Albano's pizza puffs are the size of a football, as they really load on whatever toppings you ask for. On my visit with my wonderful lady Amy McFann, we went with chicken, mushrooms, olives, spinach and ricotta to pair with the sauce and mozzarella that come standard. Each bite was filled with a great mix of all of those toppings.
Notice I said we there, as in we split one. This is the way you're supposed to have the pizza puff. They are so large that the picture at the top of this blog is half of a pizza puff. Yes, half of this takes up a full dinner plate. These are not made for one person to eat. We actually had some left over after splitting it.
Surprisingly, though, while it isn't made for one person, it's priced for one person, which is the great deal I referenced at the start of the blog and why I brought up my legendary cheapskate ways. The standard pizza puff is seven dollars, with each topping costing you 75 cents. With beverages, dinner for two or more people costs less than $15. If you can get multiple people to agree on the toppings, this might very well be the best deal in Chicagoland.
Beyond the pizza puff, Albano's serves everything you'd expect at an Italian restaurant, with pasta, pizza, soups, salads and sandwiches dotting its menu. I can definitely recommend the pizzas whether you get standard or deep-dish, having tasted the quality of the ingredients in the pizza puff.
That said, unless you just don't like calzones (since you can order baked as a regular calzone), I can recommend the pizza, but I won't because of the greatness that is the pizza puff. That's the reason you come to Albano's: a unique, high-quality meal at a very low price. When you have that, that's really all you need.
Recap
Time to go: Lunch/dinner. The pizza puff is great eating for either meal, and Albano's is open seven days a week.
Wait during my visit: None. Even though it's Chicagoland, it's the land part of Chicagoland, which means the restaurant traffic isn't usually bad. Things could be a bit worse at the Cicero location, which is a little closer to Chicago proper than Lyons.
Location: Albano's offers two locations, one at 8699 W. Ogden Avenue in Lyons, Ill., and the other at 5913 W. Roosevelt Road in Cicero, Ill.
Parking: It's available right in front of the restaurant.
Cost: Very wallet-friendly. Most entrees are under $15, with the pizza puff at $7 and yielding at least two meals.
Website: Albano's Pizzeria
Signature items: Pizza puff
Yes, there's more to Ames, Iowa than Iowa State University and its wonderful buttermilk brownies. Those who know me from college are very familiar with my assertion that Iowa State will dominate the Big 12 if the Cyclones are ever smart enough to give their football recruits the brownies they serve in the press box at Jack Trice Stadium, but Ames is also home to some excellent pizza at Black Market Pizza, just north of the university's campus. Given that I've yet to review anything from the Hawkeye State, which I now call home, it's the perfect time for this review.
What sets this pizza apart at Black Market is the unusual kinds of pizza you're going to find on the menu here. Black Market is famous for taking sandwiches and turning them into pizza form. See if you can recognize what inspired their Witness Protection Pizza based on its ingredients:
Ground beef, Thousand Island sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed crust.
If you guessed a Big Mac, you're absolutely right. Other pizzas served at Black Market include taco, Reuben, chicken bacon ranch, bacon double cheeseburger and Patty melt. Every ingredient you'd find on these creations in their normal form shows up on the pizza. The Reuben, for example, uses rye seeds to mimic the rye bread one normally eats a Reuben on. It's an interesting concept that really works.
Of course, the reason it works is that Black Market uses quality ingredients and makes sure the flavors match up perfectly. In my pizza at the top, ranch sauce is used in place of tomato sauce on the pizza, and it's then topped with chicken, bacon and tomatoes. I can hear the purists howling in New York, but it's actually really good this way. A pizza isn't much different from an open-faced sandwich when you think about it, and Black Market certainly has.
If you're not up for a sandwich as a pizza, Black Market also serves the traditional thin crust and deep dish pizza those in New York and Chicago respectively have grown up eating. In fact, its Chicago-style pizzas are just as much a part of its identity as its sandwich pizzas. If you want something really different, try one of these pizzas using a sweet potato crust. Different toppings also routinely dot the specials board and are available for customers to try.
Size-wise, these aren't ridiculous sizes like at Big Pie In The Sky. Black Market serves their pizza in a standard size, with 16 inches being as big as they go. The 10-inch pizza, their smallest size, can feed one person quite well.
It's a shame that Black Market couldn't sustain a second location in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona, but some places are just meant to be in one spot. Clearly, that applies to Black Market, which has found itself a home in the college town of Ames.
Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner work well here. The small pizzas work great for a lunch serving, while one big one can feed a family for dinner.
Wait during my visit: None outside the wait for the pizza to cook. It's Ames, not nearby Des Moines. There's not going to be a ridiculous crowd unless you've decided to go when the Cyclones are playing a home football or basketball game.
Location: Black Market Pizza can be found at 2610 Northridge Parkway in the northern part of Ames, Iowa. It also delivers to locations around the Ames area.
Parking: Again, it's Ames. You shouldn't have a problem here.
Website: Black Market Pizza
Signature items: Sandwich pizzas, deep dish
Located in a shopping center in the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Big Pie In The Sky is hidden so well that if you don't know what you're looking for, you'll drive right past the Publix and miss the restaurant completely. That would be awful, because Big Pie is more than worth the short detour off Interstate 75 to find it.
Two things define Big Pie In The Sky: quality and size. The restaurant uses a wide variety of toppings, several of which aren't exactly ingredients found in your local Pizza Hut. Sharp cheddar, feta, smoked provolone and cream cheese are some of the cheese choices at your disposal, while artichokes, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes are the high-brow ingredients on the vegetable side.
That brings us to the size. When they say Big Pie In The Sky, they are not kidding. They offer their pizza in medium, large and extra large, or you can go by the slice. A medium pizza here is 16 inches. Yes, you saw that correctly. The extra large measures in at 30 inches, can weigh roughly 11 pounds and is said to be able to feed 8 to 10 people.
One of their extra larges, the Carnivore, is even used by the restaurant as a challenge. The Carnivore Challenge is attempted by two people, who have one hour to eat an extra large pizza topped with bacon, ham, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef. Do it and you win $250, which probably isn't enough to make up for the feeling that comes with eating 5 1/2 pounds of pizza.
That brings me to the slices. At the top was my choice, the West Coast Pesto, which features chicken, pesto, Romano cheese and cream cheese. The slices are taken from the extra-large pizza and cost $5 for one slice. Be warned: these are not tiny slices. That is a normal-size pizza pan that the slice is lying on, and one slice is probably going to be enough to fill most people. If you're really hungry, maybe you can put down two, but that's not likely. I almost ordered two before wisely asking the girl behind the counter, and was glad I did.
Because of its size, you're almost certain to need silverware. You can't pick it up and eat it (believe me, I tried many times) until you're about 3/4 of the way through the pizza, it's just too massive. You can try to fold it, since it is New York-style pizza, but that doesn't work much better either. Really, your only course of action is to use a fork.
It's worth it. The toppings blend so well together on the West Coast despite the unusual combination. The big surprise is how the cream cheese and pesto go together. I'd never tried the two at once before, but wow, what a pairing. It's something I'm going to have to try again, probably even on a pizza at home someday.
Big Pie does serve sandwiches, calzones and salads for those who just aren't feeling pizza. Whichever way you go, pair it with a Coke or a sweet tea (this is Georgia, after all), and you've got one excellent meal before getting back on the road in the Peach State.
Recap
Time to go: This place is perfect for lunch. It's a good dinner spot if you're feeding a lot of people, but if your party is small, lunch is the time to visit.
Wait during my visit: None. I came shortly after the restaurant opened and was served immediately. I would not guess it is always like this, but since Kennesaw's a suburb rather than in downtown ATL, the wait probably won't be too bad.
Location: Big Pie In The Sky has been located at 2090 Baker Rd NW in Kennesaw, Ga., since 2007. It's in a shopping center near a Publix grocery store.
Parking: Plentiful. With the grocery store right there, you will always find a spot somewhere.
Cost: Very wallet-friendly. The slice is a meal and costs $5. Slice and drink can be had for $7. That sounds good to me.
Website: Big Pie In The Sky
Signature items: Really big pizza
