PCOC Meeting 6/29/07 Pizza Metro

PCOC is back. After lengthy legal disputes with the country of Italy and some posers who have attempted to start their own pizza "club" in Chicago, PCOC is ready to wade back in to the delicious world of Chicago's pizza.

For the curious out there, I must regrettably report that due to the terms of the settlements in the various legal actions, details of the disputes are confidential. I can say that the settlements did firmly establish PCOC as the only true and viable arbiter of pizza in Chicago. In addition, as a result of the time spent with PCOC's lead negotiators, Former Secretary General of the United Nations, and newfound piehound, Kofi Annan and Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio "baby, let's ahide the pepperoni" Berlusconi, PCOC has two new very distinguished honorary members. Thanks again Kofi and Sil - you two are the best.


In order to get things back in gear, the Prez and General Counsel Bruz had lengthy discussions over a period of several weeks finally determining that an unusual Friday night PCOC meeting was necessary to maximize attendance and underline the celebratory nature of the reunion. As we have entered the approximately 2 & 1/2 week period of near-perfect outdoor pizza and beer consumption conditions in Chicago, the meeting place for the reunion was the beer garden of the Bucktown Pub on Cortland and Paulina. For our pizza, we decided to give Pizza Metro a shot (http://www.pizzametro.com/).


Pizza Metro makes what it calls Roman-style pizzas in rectangular sheets. PM estimates that a half sheet serves 2-3 and a whole sheet serves 4-6. For our group of 15 or so we ordered 4 whole sheets as follows:

• one sausage, green pepper, & onion



• tomato & basil



• sausage



• 1/2 potato & rosemary and 1/2 sausage & pepperoni
  

A whole sheet from Pizza Metro is probably the equivalent of an 18" round thin crust pie, so you can imagine how much pizza we are talking about here. As I mentioned earlier, Pizza Metro refers to its pizza as "Roman-style." From the experience of this piehound, Roman-style pizza is characterized by being served in rectangular sheets, with a crust that is not thick or thin, and for certain unusual ingredients like the potato & rosemary combo that Pizza Metro features. So it seems that PM is keeping pretty close to the roots. (Brief PCOC History lesson: Some astute member of PCOC noted that Pizza Metro also presumably is trumpeting its Roman roots with its logo of a pie-hungry wolf on its menus. With this logo, PM is likely invoking the historical protector of Rome, the she-wolf who suckled abandoned babies (and pizza innovators) Romulus & Remus, the founders of Rome. And this makes me wonder, what kind of pizza do wolves like? I'm thinking a deep dish with all the meat in the kitchen kind of thing but who knows.)

Getting to PCOC's verdict on PM's pizza, it seemed the consensus was that the pizza was OK, but was pretty dry and all the pizzas across the board needed more sauce. One member went so far as to say that our pizzas tasted like "a paper plate with melted cheese on it." Despite the dry pies, PCOC went to town and nearly finished the whole load. This surely is a testament to the faith and optimism of the PCOC membership that the next piece of pizza will be better than the last. Or it is further evidence of PCOC's sweaty-fat-man-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet pizza eating habits. Regardless, this feat of eating was made possible for many members by the liberal use of hot sauce on their pie. As one member said "it makes it wetter - I mean better" (this comment of course resulted in various inappropriate statements from the members both related and unrelated to pizza). Although never formally considered by PCOC, I can securely say that PCOC will now always place hot sauce in the same lofty pizza-condiment universe as red pepper, parm, oregano, and giardinera.

As for your author's opinions, I too thought the pizza was dry but that the other pieces of PM's pizza puzzle (crust, cheese and toppings) were pretty solid. In particular, I thought the toppings seemed very fresh & were full of flavor. I thought the rosemary was a great ingredient and that the potato rosemary may have been the best pie we ordered. If ever ordering from PM seriously consider giving it a shot.

All in all, based upon the strength of the fresh and flavorful toppings and the unique Roman/sheet style, I'm planning to give Pizza Metro another shot sometime in my pizza future. With this opinion I might be in the minority of the august and piecritical membership of PCOC though. One thing is for sure, if I ever do order Pizza Metro again I will ask the pieguys back in the kitchen to go heavy on the sauce.

In PCOC news, it was determined that, on a trial basis, meetings will now be held once a month or about every 3 weeks with an occasional weekend pizza & beer extravaganza mixed in for good measure.

More updates on PCOC's future plans to follow.