This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
As I pulled up a seat at the bar, I overheard a man a few stools down asking the bartender, “What are those fancy mugs for?” He was pointing to the rows of personalized pewter steins above the beer taps. “Oh, to get one of those, you have to complete 10 of our beer tours,” she responded. “That’s 110 beers per tour, times 10 tours, so 1,100 beers.”
Okay, I have visited this Old Chicago dozens, maybe hundreds, of times through the years, but definitely not that many. For this visit, though, I decided to try and experience it as if I were a first-time guest.
The bartender offered a few beer samples from the 36 taps, so I tried Left Hand’s Death Before Disco, from the Halloween Mini Tour Challenge Beer List. It’s an American Porter with deep chocolate notes—pretty tasty, but the sample was enough for me. It got me looking at the Halloween Tour though; it includes eight seasonal beers and four “spooky” limited-edition cocktails, like the “Bloody Brain,” Sambuca and Bailey’s “stabbed” with grenadine. If you complete the tour, you receive a T-shirt, and the entire restaurant is decked out in Halloween décor to get you in the spirit. Also, if I were a beer drinker, I would totally appreciate the way the menu has all the beers separated into categories—“hoppy and bitter,” “malty and roasted,” etc.
First up, an appetizer. Again, trying to pretend as though I hadn’t been in before, I asked the bartender for a recommendation. She said the Italian Nachos ($10.59) are pretty popular, so I gave them a try. OC’s house-made pasta chips are thin and crispy, topped with mozzarella, provolone, pepper jack, pepperoni and Italian sausage (I opted to leave off the pepperoncinis), served with a side of marinara for dipping.
When the platter arrived, I was disappointed to see that the chips on one side were very dark brown and burned looking, although the cheese on the opposite side of the platter seemed undercooked and not as melty as the rest. I dug in anyway, but was dismayed that I had to hunt around for the sausage, finally discovering just four or five little chunks that looked undercooked.
Had I not enjoyed this appetizer on previous visits, I might not have known that there was supposed to be more sausage than that. I wasn’t thrilled with the nachos but ate enough of the good parts to get pretty full. The Chi-Town Trio ($12.19), is also a favorite, with a smaller portion of Italian Nachos, Pepperoni Rolls and Cheese Garlic Bread. I might have chosen the sampler platter if I weren’t planning on ordering pepperoni pizza.
Next up, an entrée. The Old Chicago menu is pretty extensive for a pizza joint, with two pages devoted to pizza and calzones, a page of pastas, plus salads and sandwiches. You can create your own pizza or calzone from the impressive list of toppings (eight meats, 11 cheeses and 20 “veggies and more” including both normal ingredients (black olives, onions) and more unusual ones (avocado, cilantro) alike. You can also choose from four crust types: hand-tossed ale crust, Chicago thick crust, tavern thin crust or gluten-free crust.
Prices vary greatly depending on the crust type and the size, with small pizzas starting at $9.79. There are also mini Tavern Pizzas for just $5. On the pasta page, the Oh My Spaghetti Pie ($14.79) caught my eye; you can order it with Italian sausage, applewood-spiced chicken or meatballs. It’s baked with Alfredo sauce and lots of cheese and is served with soup or salad.
I’ve tried all the crust types and most of the toppings over the years, so I have to say, I’m somewhat of an expert on the subject. I’ve always found the toppings to be plentiful and well distributed, the cheese to be perfectly melty, and the crust to be evenly browned. However, on this particular visit, since I was a bit full from the nachos, and I had saved a little room for dessert, I didn’t really feel like ordering an entree. So I deputized some of my fellow diners to share their thoughts about the pizza.
I found one man about halfway through his Meat Me on Chicago thick crust, topped with Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, Andouille sausage and pepperoni, garnished with green olives and fresh basil. He gladly offered up his opinion: “It arrived hot, the crust is perfect, but some of the pepperonis are burnt to a crisp and I wish the green olives were sliced and spread around more.”
Nearby, an acquaintance of mine graciously offered me a small slice of her Chicago 7 on hand-tossed ale crust. This well-known OC classic is topped with six ingredients—pepperoni, Italian sausage, red onions, mushrooms, green peppers and black olives—so either it used to have a seventh ingredient or the cheese counts as an ingredient. I accepted the slice, even though I really don’t like mushrooms and was still saving room for dessert. Lucky for me, the small piece I tried didn’t seem to have any mushrooms, but that was actually her main complaint; she couldn’t find many mushrooms either. She also thought that the other toppings weren’t evenly distributed, as she had one piece without either type of sausage on it at all.
Finally, I asked for the opinion of a man and woman enjoying the Double Deckeroni—twice the normal amount of pepperoni, plus hot sauce mixed into the red sauce. He thought it was plenty spicy, but she was asking for a side of hot sauce to make hers even spicier.
At last, it was time for dessert. I had heard about OC’s legendary Big Cookie (okay, I admit, I’ve had it before). Chocolate chip cookie dough is baked in a deep-dish pizza pan (6” for $4.29, serves 1; or 9” for $5.29, serves 2-3; topped with vanilla ice cream for an additional $1.59). It takes a little longer to arrive than most desserts, but the wait is worth it and the body can definitely use some time to digest all that pizza. My cookie arrived piping hot, with the edges just browned enough for a little crunch and the chocolate nice and melted. I was so engrossed, I forgot to snap a photo.
On my made-up scale of 1 to 5 forks, I give the pizza 4.5 forks (no one likes uneven toppings) and the dessert 5 forks. Sadly, the appetizer gets only 2 forks, although if I ever order it again and it arrives burned like that, I will ask for a remake. Service gets 4 forks (I think the visual flaws of the appetizer should have been obvious to the person delivering it and the bartender passing by) and the overall atmosphere gets 5 forks, mostly because of the festive Halloween decorations that made my visit seem like a party.
