Food Nut brings us his review of Patxi’s Chicago Pizza. The Classic Chicago-style deep dish pizza is the reason to visit. Pronounced “paw-CHEESE”, Patxi’s pizza located on 441 Emerson Street in Palo Alto, (650) 473-9999, is run by a former cook and manager of Zachary’s Pizza in Oakland. With that heritage, it was time to compare it again the reference.
Decor, Vibe – The Palo Alto location was clean with a new modern feel. Lots of Stanford students were eating here. This place serves only pizza, salad, and drinks.
We tried the Caesar Salad ($5.25 or $9.50) and found it appealing but with lots of dressing. Nice anchovies on top. Pretty big salad for $5.25.
The 10in Thin Crust ($14.10) took about 20 minutes. We had half Spinach Pesto, half Hawaiian.
The Spinach Pesto side was the better of the two. Not overpowering in flavor, good crust, kinda soggy in middle. Not exactly healthy but perhaps a little less guilt. If you like artisan pizza, head to Pizzaria Delfina.
The 10in Thick Crust ($18.35) took about 30 minutes. We had the ‘Favorite’ with pepperoni, mushrooms and black olives. It was very heavy on the tomatoe quantity and flavor. The pep could have been more plentiful as I didn’t really taste it. The crust was fair, being only ok on the sides but not great on the bottom. Leftovers the next day still didn’t hit the spot.
Comparison to BJ’s Favorite deep dish pizza ($19.75 Medium) – BJ’s has a crispy bottom and side edge but softer dough and no cornmeal. They also have far far less real tomatoes. They take about 15 minutes to bake. The BJ’s pizza is good but has a lot less substance to the crust and toppings.
The thin Hawaiian had pineapple and meat that could have used more cooking.
The service was good, with our young server pretty attentive. Several wine and beer options. If I was in need of a deep dish pizza fix and did not want to drive, this is the place to go. Zachary’s and Little Star Pizza were better than this deep dish. You can also order pizza’s half-baked. I will give Patxi’s Chicago Pizza 4 out of 8 slices.