Topper Returns!

So, I think I need to start making myself a schedule for these here pizza blogs.  The entries so far have a little too much time between them...

Anyway, that being said, today I will be reviewing the surprisingly tasty franchise pizza place, Toppers.  The location Pizza Club visited this past week was at 120 South Halsted, in lovely Greektown.  It was not a large building, just kind of an average store front with a small seating area.  Actually, it reminded me a little of the pizza version of a Jimmy Johns.  It seemed best equipped for a lunch crowd or people waiting to pick up.  In fact, when we ordered, the cashier seemed surprised that we would be dining in.  Now, this place for being a little on the slight side, had a remarkably large menu.  They offer breadsticks, grinders, wings, quesadillas and of course, pizza.  You can, of course build your own, but if you're not feeling quite so picky, they offer nearly 20 house specialty pizzas, which lean more toward the not-so-traditional side.  No prosciutto arugula here. It honestly reminds me a lot of Ian's Pizza in Wrigleyville given the options for funky, but great pizzas.  Now, as to what we ordered...

The first of our three pizzas was a classic in the making, the starch heavy Mac 'N Cheese.  The crust is chewy, but not too heavy then topped with a cheese sauce before adding tender macaroni noodles and another couple generous layers of cheese.  All in all, this was just a starchy, delightful treat.  I would say that it could have definitely used something on top to kind of compliment the flavor a little more.  We all agreed that the cheese was amazing, but maybe some hot sauce, preferrably sriracha, would have definitely kicked this pizza into a place usually reserved for cherubs and really sweet elderly folk.  We agreed that it was a heavy but fantastic slice of comfort food.

Next on our evening of counter-style conquest was the Smoky BBQ Chicken.  This pie features a well seasoned smoky barbeque sauce, barbecue chicken, hunks of bacon and mozzarella/jack cheeses.  They definitely were shooting for a roasty, smoky flavor and I would say it hit.  I must say though that this pizza was a mess;  very saucy, very drippy cheese.  Miss Manners would be appalled, but it doesn't bother those of us who lick sauce off of their fingers (waste not, want not).  Overall, we agreed that it was a tasty pizza, but far from the best.

Our third, and favorite pizza of the evening was the Philly Cheesesteak.  As the name implies, they loaded up this bad boy with all the treats you would find stuffed into a classic Philly: grilled thin cut steak, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms, then topped it with a cream sauce, mozzarella and provelone.  This was definitely the most flavor packed of the three.  The cheese seemed to have more flavor than did the Mac, and the steak was killer.  Even Jeremy who doesn't even want to look at mushrooms (he dutifully picked them off) enjoyed every last bite of this pizza.  All three of us agreed that this was the best of the lot and had us feeling stuffed and happy for our ride home to the north side.  If I lived closer to this burgeoning new chain, I would definitely make repeat orders for this pie.  

So, after one of the last nice days of our delayed winter, this was a good joint to put me into pizza coma to hibernate this past week away.  I would be lying if I said I didn't have a few doubts about this place before walking in.  I expected some pretty Marlon Bland-o pizza from a place like this, but was very pleased upon walking out.  As a random bonus, we also got an order of  free breadsticks through Foursquare for checking in.  Kind of a nice add on.  We had three mediums between three of us and left with overfull stomachs and a whole pizza left over (resulting in some very impressive one-handed riding from Jeremy) and payed less than 20 each with drinks.  The only real draw back to a place like this is that the veggies were far from the freshest in the biz.  The pizzas are also a little conveyor belt, even if unique and tasty.  Overall, a great counter-style pizza place and a nice convenient delivery or carry-out pizza for anyone in the Greektown/West Loop area.  Maybe more franchises will pop up soon to cover a bit more of Chicago?

Update on January 21, 2012 by Gabe

Oh, and here is an interesting article concerning the Giordano's Bankruptcy Fiasco of last year from the Trib last week.  Pizza Gossip!