We tried out Redflame Pizzeria at 2417 N. Clybourn last night after driving by it multiple times over the last few months. They have about 8 or so interesting microbrews on tap, I had a Dogfishhead 60 minute IPA and a Lagunitas Dogtown Pale Ale with diner. There was also what looked like a pretty good size wine list but we weren't in a wine mood so I can't say much about that.
We stared out with a bruschetta trio, one was whipped goat cheese and caramelized onion marmalade, one had sundried tomato pesto and one had tomato, basil and parmesan. The topping were very good but the bread was not toasted much at all. Didn't have the crunch I expect when eating a bruschetta.
The pizzas were excellent though. They use a two step cooking process, first the dough is grilled then the pizza is put under a broiler to cook the toppings. The result is a pizza with a nice char on the bottom and a crust that has a great crispness on the outside but is nice and chewy on the inside. Unlike NY or Neapolitan style pies, the crust is thicker and can support the toppings all the way out to the end of the slice. Compared to other thin crust pizzas I like such as Coalfire or Sono Wood Fired pizza, there was a LOT more toppings. I was expecting something along the lines of Sono Wood Fired, where I can easily eat one pizza by myself, so we ordered two. By the time we were stuffed there was still the equivalent of an entire pie left. The pizzas we ordered were the big MART and the wild SHROOM pies. Big MART comes with a red sauce (choice of regular or spicy, I ordered mine spicy), house made Italian sausage, pepperoni and cheese. The spicy sauce had a nice kick to it, the meats were top notch and it was topped with a lot of a good quality cheese. Wild SHROOM had a base of whipped garlic goat cheese, mushrooms, thyme and topped with the same cheese as the big MAR. Both pizzas were excellent, we do plan on going back soon!
