South Side Cheap Eats: Phil's Pizza

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 5, 2006 7:18PM

Phil's Pizza was hipped to us by our long-suffering pal Tomatoist (by the way, please keep us updated on the tomatoes), who attended IIT and was well-versed in the cheap eats of Bridgeport long before Chicagoist even had a Bridgeport Bureau.

Growing up, there were places like Phil's seemingly on every other corner. We had Father & Son Pizza, which had a gigantic delivery area that seemed to cover the entire northwest side of the city. Their ad in the Yellow Pages consisted of two giant heads; the father had a mustache and an Eddie Munster "widow's peak" hairline (also known as "the Ditka"). Friday nights were pizza night in our household, and we ordered either from Father & Son's or La Villa on Pulaski. Hell, even Leona's had a good pie twenty years ago.

Phil's reminds Chicagoist of that, and none too soon, as we trade nights in with a pizza for grilling in the backyard. The picture accompanying this post shows Phil's medium sausage pizza and a six-pack of Pepsi. The total cost with tip to the driver is $22. That pizza gave Chicagoist three days of meals. It even passes the "cold" test: Phil's pizza tastes just as good refrigerated as it does fresh from the oven. It's perfect hangover food. Our one hangup with Phil's is that they only take cash, so it's safe to say that they're fully stuck in the mid-1970's. Nostalgia is sometimes a good thing, and every bite of Phil's Pizza takes us back to when we were seven or eight years old.

Phil's Pizza is located at 3551 S. Halsted. They're open Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m. until midnight, and until 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Their phone numbers are (773) 523-0947 and (773) 548-3203. A reminder, they only take cash.