Capo's

Just a couple blocks from Capo's, the original Tony’s Pizza Napoletana reigns for best all-around pizzas, from New York to Neapolitan. As a 13-time World Pizza Champion, Tony Gemignani has done the impossible: win the 2007 World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Italy, the only American and non-Neapolitan to do so at the time. What makes Tony’s special is the painstaking detail to which each style is prepared, right down to flour and ovens used. His brick-walled, red-booth-lined restaurant Capo’s opened in 2013 as a tribute to all three Chicago styles of pizzas and expanded to also focus on Detroit-style. Consulting four of Chicago’s legendary pizza families (Marc Malnati of Lou Malnati’s, Leo Spitziri of Giordano’s, Jeff Stolfe from Connie’s, Tony Troiano of JB Alberto’s), Tony chose three ovens (one wood-fired and two brick, heated to different degrees depending on recipe), and is the only West Coast restaurant using Ceresota flour from one of Illinois’ oldest mills, a staple of Chicago’s most revered pizzerias. I like the old world atmosphere better than at Tony's around the corner, though Tony's is where you get all the other styles of pizza. But Capo's is a pizza lovers' destination in its own right... and, dare I say it, even better than the best I've been to at a few dozen Chicago pizza legends over the past 20 years. Insider tip: don't miss the Italian Stallion pizza, which I prefer in cracker-thin form, showcasing Chicago-style Italian beef (which Tony also does to perfection), heightened by a drizzle of horseradish cream and insanely good sweet-hot peppers.