North Side Review: Robey vs Pie Hole

By Andrew Jenkins in Food on Nov 17, 2006 6:35PM

So it was one of those weeks. Typically, Chicagoist will cook something healthy and maybe even decent-tasting for dinner after work. But work was a total bummer this week, so we resorted to take-out. Lots of take-out. Enough take-out that we were able to compare two of our favorite North Side pizza delivery spots: Robey Pizza Company and Pie Hole. Over time, we’ve pretty much exhausted the menu at each place and come to enjoy them both quite a bit. This week, though, we passed up some other enticing specialties for each place’s version of the four-cheese pizza. Aside from the similar number of cheeses on each pie, the differences between the two pizzas and their respective homes are pretty evident.

Robey Pizza is a Roscoe Village favorite and also one of the links in the Spare Time Inc. chain. The management group also operates Robey’s neighbor the Riverview Tavern along with the Daily Bar & Grill, Firehouse Grill, Southport Lanes and a few others. Robey might very well be the best food option out of the lot. Their pizzas come in one size (12-inch) and come piping hot out of a wood-burning oven. The Robey crust is a good thin-to-medium thickness with crispy edges and a nice smoky flavor. The four-cheese that we enjoyed this week blended asiago, Parmesan, provolone and mozzarella, along with diced tomatoes. The asiago was a nice thought, but we suspect that the cheese ratio on this pizza was a little mozzarella-heavy, as nothing else could be readily tasted. We also thought the tomato topping kind of negated the idea of a “cheese” pizza, but in this case the tomatoes were juicy and welcomed.

Owned by Mitch Einhorn (of Twisted Spoke) Pie Hole has some clever special pies and topping choices (homemade meatballs, red and green pesto, jalapenos). Pie Hole’s crust is a nice middle ground on the thickness spectrum — not quite crisp but also not thin enough to be folded. This four-cheese is a little more daring in its blend: goat, Gouda, smoked cheddar and Parmesan. The goat and smoked cheddar were most prominent here and won the attention of our taste buds. The red tomato sauce was applied sparingly, giving way to the large mounds of goat cheese. Compared to Robey, we thought this pie was more intelligently created. The cheese was not merely melted together forming a thick top layer, as it was at Robey. Instead Pie Hole did well to keep the goat cheese and smoked cheddar somewhat separated, giving each slice two distinctly different flavors.

In the end, both Robey and Pie Hole build a better-than-average pie, and we’ll be happy to continue ordering delivery from them for years to come. Our pizza from Robey cost a very reasonable $8.95 for the 12-inch standard. Pie Hole, on the other hand, gets a little pricey, charging $19.50 for our medium (14-inch). In their defense, the goat cheese, Gouda and smoked cheddar were of excellent quality and must run them a bit more than the traditional mozzarella. In terms of delivery, Robey will bring the stuff to your door for an extra $2.50 while Pie Hole only charges $2.00 and is open until 4:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Robey Pizza Company is located at 1954 W. Roscoe; Phone 773-248-7800; open Monday-Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Pie Hole is located at 737 W. Roscoe; Phone 773-525-8888; open every day from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. (with the exception of the late night Fridays and Saturdays, of course).