Tuck into a thick slice of stuffed pie that features world class sauce as a standout ingredient.
Aurelio's Pizza (view on map) was sort of an acquired taste for me. For Chris it was love at first bite, but for me I was thrown off by the stuffed pizza that actually has an entire second layer of crust over the top and then sauce on top of that. It was bizarre. I also thought their plates and silverware were cheap, you could say I was a hater.
Fast forward a couple years and now I look forward to the nights we have Aurelio's stuffed pizza, which is made the "Old World Way" according to their website. It's a heavyweight, even the 13" pizza feels like you need to hold the box with both hands just in case.
The pizza itself has some of the best sauce I've had - and it takes a lot for the sauce itself to get your attention. It's very herbal and well seasoned, and this sounds weird but I think it's about the consistency as a smoothie. It's thick but evenly blended with no big surprise tomato pieces.
The crust on one of these stuffed Chicago style pizzas has to do some heavy lifting, and this one holds up under pressure and stays relatively dry and evenly cooked to the center (some grease but no big soggy wet spot in the center). The very outer edge is slightly hard with a crunch to it, and I would describe it as having a nice patina of brown on the outside while the inside is white and flaky.
There is just the right amount of sauce on top where you don't get sick of it. It really isn't that thick even though at first glance it looks like about an inch of sauce, it's just a nice even layer and because the sauce is thick and doesn't run you don't need all that much.
The stuffed crust is an entire swimming pool of cheese, and in this case pepperoni and bacon, completely sealed inside. The cheese is stretchy but not so stretchy that you choke on it. Even if you are just a pepperoni fan, try it with bacon because it was nice having the tiny pieces of meat candy as chewy treats hidden inside.
The major flavor profile is predominantly the sauce and the large deposit of cheese. The experience is like eating a nice slice of pie with a knife and fork. The sauce is like frosting on top.
I was curious about the stuffed crust construction so I rinsed the sauce off one of the pieces and saw that the golden brown crust continues over the entire top of the pizza. With layers of pepperoni sealed between cheese, it's like an edible geology class delving deeper below the surface.
When I tell people about Aurelio's I always recommend getting an Old Style Beer to get the full Chicago experience. My friend Ciro introduced me to Old Style, and I'm pretty sure it has a local following sort of like how Pabst Blue Ribbon can be both popular and appreciably cheap at the same time.