Fat Chris's Pizza and Such — Restaurant in Lake View Township

We stopped in for dinner. Honestly wasn't expecting much based on photos from a friend on Facebook, with a big roll of brown paper towels on the table, but gotta say I was pleasantly surprised.

This is a no frills place....you order at the counter, it's BOYB and there are brown paper towels on the table (the kind you see in a bathroom dispenser). That aside, the food is pretty good. We ordered the Detroit style pizza, Chubbies (Pepperoni Rolls) and a Pizza Turnover.

Gotta say that when I saw Chubbies on the menu, the first thing that came to mind was something of a sexual nature, then mini pizza rolls. Wrong on both accounts. The Chubbies were actually big ass rolls filled with meat and cheese, covered in garlic. We got the 6 to an order and only ate three between the 3 of us.

The pizza was very good as well. We got "The Goods", Detroit style (cheese, red sauce, pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, black olives, and banana peppers). For those you who don't know what that is, the pizza has a crust that is extra thick, yet super-crispy on the bottom. And it is square shaped. In the days when I got this in the Motor City, these pizzas were cooked in industrial metal square pans that were used to hold metal parts. Not sure if they are doing this here, but Fat Chris has gotten the crust right. The crust is chewy and crunchy at the same time. Also the sauce is on the top and I love it!

The turnover was nice too...I didn't get it but had a taste of my daughter's. She got pepperoni and brisket. I love the fact that Fat Chris let's you pick your toppings for the turnover. Next time, I think I will get one with brisket, green peppers and onions.

Noticed that there were quite a few delivery guys in the joint, so I am thinking that they are going to make their business on take out. Also wanted to point out they they do a lunch buffet...not sure if it is every day or Mon-Fri, but it is $11 (all you can eat pizza, salad and fountain drink), kids 6-11 are $6 and 5 and under eat free.

We had plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. They have desserts but didn't get to try those....next time. Also please get some real paper napkins. Next time I will be...

Wow, I'm impressed.

I've been on a hunt for all the best pizza the last several weeks, and I've been trying new and old spots almost every day. Fat Chris popped up on a list of the best Detroit pizza in Chicago and I thought I would give it a try.

So far my experiences with Detroit style have been mixed. The best of them - Five Squared, required an absurd two week wait. The others were good but didn't quite hit the mark. Professor Pizza was so cheesy and saucy that the crust became soggy and impossible to eat by hand. Pizza Friendly was more Sicilian than Detroit, and I wasn't a fan of the sauce. Jet was just me being silly and desperate.

So I went in with tempered expectations and the belief that perhaps Detroit style isn't really a thing in Chicago.

Fat Chris proved me wrong.

Without having to wait for two weeks, without even having to wait an hour, I got the best Detroit style pizza I've had to date. It had a strong but supple crust that was easy to pick up, and nicely toasted and buttery. It carried the ingredients well. The cheese and sauce ratio was perfect, not overwhelming the crust and making for perfect sized, balanced bites. The sauce was delicious, not too sweet, not too bland. They were one of the only places to remember to add the extra bit of sauce at the end.

The cheese was high quality and the caramelized cheese crust that, along with the extra ladel of cold sauce, separates Detroit style from Sicilian style, was a delightful treat that was beautifully charred without being burnt. It was pretty damn ideal.

I'm the sort of person who always found NY slices to be obnoxiously overrated slices of cardboard dipped in OIL - even in NYC. Chicago deep dish is delicious but often so heavy that I don't feel good about myself after. A Detroit slice done right is everything I love about deep dish but done with restraint. At its best, it's one of my favorite styles of pizza.

I'm happy to say that Fat Chris is my best in class for Detroit Style pizza, and had earned its place on my Chicago pizza Mt. Rushmore. I will...

I'm updating my review on this one. Fat Chris's still nails it on the Detroit style. They might be the best for this style and therefore are my favorites in the city for that style of pizza. Their Chubbies are a must try, fun pepperoni roll.

The latest experience we decided to try the gluten free deep dish for some of those in the group who were insensitive. This was very disappointing. A $3.00 upcharge, for a pizza that is around half the size of a 4 slice Detroit style but about the thickness of a pita (1/4".) I wish I had taken a picture, however I was so frustrated with it that I just wanted to move on. If their regular Detroit Style wasn't so good, I'd maybe drop it down to 3 stars, and it may be a little bit before I order again. For what you get, that gluten free "Detroit Style", there shouldn't be an upcharge at all, and if it was $10-12 after a couple toppings we probably would have been ok, but for $21 there are several other options in the area that provide a larger and better gluten free pizza.

-----Original Review Below----- Detroit style pizza was on point, and the chubbies were an interesting concept that were amazing.

The only thing keeping this from 5 stars were the wings. We ordered both boneless and bone in and they were both very soggy, undercooked but not (raw undercooked). Wings should be very crispy, and the regular wings seemed like they were never crispy in the first place. Even baking them for 30 minutes didn't crisp either up. The sauce was also pretty bland, they don't need to be insanely spicy but there should be a kick. Also for carryout and delivery orders wing sauce should be standard on the side to keep them as crispy...