Evanston Lunch Group™ - Lefty's, Wed 6/19, 12:30 pm

Basically, Steve Dolinsky explains it all. So the Evanston Lunch Group™ will convene at a venue in the town to our north, Lefty’s, for John Munao’s version of Burt’s Pizza 2.0.

As usual, all are welcome — just let me know ahead of time so I can give Lefty’s a heads up.

Lefty's Pizza Kitchen
1156 Central Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
(847) 920-5401

Wednesday, June 19
12:30 pm

In

EC

Yes. I’ll be there.

I've been wanting to try Lefty's. Count me in!

Hi,

I will pencil this in, but I may have to drop out just before. Day time is sometimes complicated around here.

Regards,
CAthy2

OH, I'm in. Put me down for 1, maybe 2.

I’m in.

Dave148 wrote:In

EC

Out

I will take Dave's place.

-Will

Cya soon!

nr706 wrote:Cya soon!

This is next Wednesday, right?

The GP wrote:This is next Wednesday, right?

Brain Fart x 2 … will explain later.

The GP wrote:This is next Wednesday, right?

C2 and I were discussing the lunch at Lefty's at the Small Household Food Exchange last Sunday, and for some reason we ended up talking about it as if it were this week. As a result, we both showed up at Lefty's today. We didn't realize our mistake until we saw Mary's post.

As a result, we got a preview of what the group could experience next week.


The thin crust, available by the slice, was a good as any cracker-crust style I've had. Crisp, with fresh toppings.


The pan pizza, ordered with sausage, mushroom, and mixed bell peppers, reminded me very much of Burt's 1.0 — maybe not quite as thick a crust, but again, lively, fresh toppings. Note the caramelization on the crust's edge.


Slight downside — the fresh ingredients (I'm primarily blaming the peppers) gave off some liquid. The first slice was great, bottom of the crust crisp, but a second slice, after sitting in the juice for a while, lost some of that crispness.

That's nitpicking. Overall, it was definitely top-tier pizza, and a great experience. Also, it didn't hurt that I could get Sketchbook beer (Snowy Owl Red Rye Ale) on tap.

See y'all next Wednesday.

And it looks like I will never get to attend an event. I need to take my mom to her eye surgery! Catch y'all on the next, I suppose.

We will be there.
Robert and Catherine

Hi,

I had my lunch at Lefty's last week, so I will not be attending this time around.

Have fun!

Regards,
CAthy2

Happy to say that I'll be able to attend.

George

In with a +1.

Did I preview and not hit post? I plan to come, slight chance +1.

We thought the pizza was okay - not terrible, not great. The biggest deficiency, in our view, was the crust, which seemed to lack flavor. The sauce and ingredients were just okay; the onions were too sparse, and the bell peppers should have been cut up smaller. We both greatly prefer Lou Malnati's for pan pizza as well as for thin crust; for our fan of the charred crust type pizza, Pequod's wins her vote.

Here's what we had.

Extra large thin crust with sausage and mushrooms:

Large pan pizza with all pepperoni, half onions, the other half mushrooms:

Extra large pan pizza with sausage and bell peppers:

Hi,

When Tom and I shared a pan pizza during the pre-lunch, I thought there was too much sauce and the crust was undercooked (or affected by the sauce).

From posts on LTH over the years, I have come to appreciate a light touch with the ingredients.

I liked our thin crust pizza with sausage much more. The fennel in the sausage was very apparent, which was fine with me.

Regards,
Cathy2

We ordered the pan pizzas well done this time. It made a difference — no issue with juice affecting the crust. A little strange that the sausage pan pizza we ordered was a little short on sausage, but the pepperoni pan pizza had a generous topping of pepperoni.

I liked the pan pizzas in general, especially the caramelized crust, which I thought had pretty good flavor (respectfully disagreeing with Ken).

But I do think the real strength is the thin crust. I brought home two by-the-slices for Moetchandon. Good flavor, a little bit gooey cheese. Remarkably, (to me, at least), even though Moetchandon didn't retreat the pizza slices on the pizza stone in the over (she microwaved them), the crust was still crisp. (Pizzas by the slice are typical wedges; our thin crust for the group was tavern/square cut.)

I should also note the group's ordering prowess — only two pan pizza slices left, I think all were adequately sated, and the tab was $12 pp.

I liked both styles, though I would prefer the deep with about 25% less dough. I agree that the sausage was top notch. I brought one home that we will reheat tonight. I have found the best way to reheat by the slice is on a panini press. Gets the crust nice and crisp. Since I have a whole uncut one, I will probably do it in the oven straight on the rack.

-Will

My favorite also was the thin crust with sausage / mushrooms. Good, well-balanced pizza.

As nr706 noted, ordering well done fixed the too-much-juice problem on the pan pizzas. However, the crust became hard. Cutting the pan pieces was a bit of a job -- someone suggested bring a reciprocating saw!

Also, the large chunks of pepper were irksome though they did look pretty. When you got a piece of pepper it felt like eating salad. A finer dice would have distributed the flavor better.

Even though the thin didn't have as much caramelized crust as the pan, based on this experience I would go for the thin crust for its better overall flavor.

George R wrote:My favorite also was the thin crust with sausage / mushrooms. Good, well-balanced pizza.

Odd you should say that, because we both thought the big problem with the thin crust pizza was its LACK of balance. Good pizza should strike a good balance among the crust, the tomato sauce, the cheese, and the toppings. On the thin crust, was there ANY tomato sauce? We tasted none. And the cheese overwhelmed everything else there. It was like a big, gloppy, gooey piece of melted cheese. Our least favorite of the three pizzas. À chacun son goût...

We enjoy the thin crust as well, though we have noted a heavier hand with the cheese of late. We ordered earlier in the week through their website. On the web order form there is a "Special Instructions" section which includes, among other options, "Light Cheese" and "Cooked-Well Done". We opted for "Well Done". We may give "Light Cheese" a try next time as well.

reheated my uncut deep dish sausage right on the oven rack last night and it didnt leak at all which kind of surprised me. It crisped up nicely and I thought it was better than when served there. I still think that there is too much dough, but the sausage is great. Wife and daughter didnt love it though.....wife not a fan of deep dish and daughter said not nearly as good as malnatis.

-Will

great reviews. Sorry I was not able to join you, maybe one day - in my retirement years.
The pizza has been uneven recently, but still heads above anything else in my neck of the woods.