Pizza, pizza

Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with My Sun Day News.

Jim grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. It was an Italian/Polish neighborhood and his family was the token Germans they allowed in. As a result of this ethnic rich neighborhood, he grew up with the best food in the world. He didn’t have to look far to find a great pizza joint. Then he met me, a suburban girl, and he had to share with me Chicago’s culinary delights. One of my favorite places was Leona’s on Irving Park Road.

We were surprised when we found out that there was a Leona’s pizzeria in McHenry. We decided to fire up the “Way Back Machine” and go back in time for a good Chicago pizza.

We have to admit when we pulled into the parking lot we were not impressed. Let’s just say the building could use some TLC. Not only on the outside, the same is true for the inside. It is a smaller restaurant than you would expect, with nine tables, mostly high tops, and a large bar. There was also a couple of tables in the gaming section.

We sat ourselves down and checked out their menu. The last time we went was about 35 years ago and at that time they offered Nancy’s favorite appetizer, which was the Kickass Garlic Bread. This was a head of roasted garlic served with Italian bread. Unfortunately, they don’t offer that now, and we noticed their menu drastically changed with the times. They now offer four different styles of pizza. One is the Chicago-style thin crust pizza. They also offer a Sicilian pizza which has a thicker but light and airy crust. Then there is the Leona’s stuffed deep-dish pizza. Last, but certainly not least, is the Detroit-style pizza, which is a rectangular thick crust pizza with an airy and spongy dough (Focaccia bread consistency) and a unique crispy caramelized cheese edge.

To start off, we decided on the Sicilian Garlic Bread ($7.25) for our appetizer. This was bread with garlic butter, Romano cheese, and served with marinara sauce. We added an upgrade of mozzarella cheese ($2), and after one bite, Nancy quickly forgot about her roasted garlic from years gone by. She was in heaven and so was I. It was moist, light, airy, and oozed garlic butter when you sunk your teeth into it.

There were many varieties of pizzas for our brains to process, but we finally made our decision. Since you can’t have too much leftover pizza, we went with the 12” Thin Crust Sausage Pizza ($15.29) plus the Detroit Style 10 x 14” Mike’s Hot Peppi ($24.99) pizza. This was pepperoni, Mike’s Hot Honey, and crushed red pepper. That’s a lot of “pizza pizza”!!!

Truth be told we were disappointed in the thin crust pizza. It was just average, not like we remembered. But the Detroit-style pizza was a different story. Last year we tried a Detroit-style pizza for the first time and fell in love. We weren’t expecting this large of a pizza. Supposedly it serves two but could easily serve three really healthy appetites. The dough was indeed airy and spongy and the pepperoni cups were charred. Even the caramelized cheese edge was out of this world. The sweetness of the hot honey took it over the edge.

We skipped dessert since we were taking home enough pizza for two more meals.

FYI: This restaurant is handicap accessible.

We wish this restaurant had some ambiance since we loved the pizza and garlic bread, but the restaurant itself could us some sprucing up.

The price for going back in time for “Pizza Pizza” was $61.06. Having enough for two more meals, priceless….

Jim’s take: Which is better? Chicago-style or Detroit-style? I’m so confused.

Nancy’s take: I love Chicago-style when I have a taste for it. I love Detroit-style when I have a taste for it, and I love deep dish when I have a taste for it. He’s confused??? My blonde brain is ready to explode!!!

Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@gmail.com

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