Pie Town Pizza

Democrats and Republicans? Arabs and Israelis? Longhorns and Aggies?

Amateurs. If you want to see true adversaries, put a thick-pizza person and a thin-pizza person in a room. The fur may not fly, but the pizza sauce certainly will.

And Las Vegas is pretty much a thin-pizza town, as I hear all the time from thick-pizza lovers decrying the dearth of their favored pies across the valley. There are Chicago-style pizza spots here and there, but they never seem to be just what the supplicant is seeking.

Likewise, while it came highly recommended, Pie Town Pizza's pizza wasn't quite what I was seeking. But more on that later, because I loved everything else about the place.

The Gold Coast Garlic Knots ($3), for example. A good garlic knot is a rare thing, and these surpassed good and nudged right into wow-wow-wow-wow-wow. Stretchy and yeasty, slightly cheesy and -- most of all -- very garlicky, they were so good that I'll consider takeout next time I'm doing an Italian entree. With a little cup of a nice rich marinara, they were food from the gods, especially if your gods' surnames end in vowels.

One of the drawing cards for Pie Town Pizza is that it specializes in everything Chicago, and so there also are Chicago dogs and Italian beef sandwiches and Wrigley Fries and on and on. (And a muffuletta -- what, from the Windy City by way of the Big Easy?) And Eli's cheesecake ($3 a wedge), individually vacuum-packed to survive the trip, and our piece of the chocolate-chip variety survived it pretty well, all things considered.

And a Pepperoni Pizza Puff ($3), which wasn't familiar to me since I'm not a native daughter but which apparently is a Chicago institution, put forth by a company called Chicago Ave. Pizza. It's sort of pizza toppings wrapped up in a flour tortilla -- about what I'd guess a pizza-flavored Hot Pocket might taste like. I'm guessing it's an acquired taste.

And then the pizza. We had a 12-inch with sausage and mushrooms ($19), and it had more of that nice hearty sauce (although it was separating a bit), plenty of cheese and lots of mushroom slices and nubs of Italian sausage. And the crust certainly had been worked into a pan configuration, coming up on the sides. But here's my complaint: Yes, it was deep-dish. But no, it wasn't thick.

The atmosphere of the place is great. It's in a narrow storefront in a strip shopping center on the edge of Henderson, and the walls are covered with bricks and two huge murals with photos of famous Chicagoans, some of them in the "Who knew?" category. There's a basketball key painted on the floor, an embossed tin ceiling and lots of other touches to subtly transport customers to a little joint in some Chicago back alley -- although cleaned up and shiny, in the finest Las Vegas tradition.

Service was great as well. You order at the counter, and the woman who took our orders was personable, efficient and -- something I've learned not to take for granted these days -- smart. Food arrived promptly and hot.

But considering the restaurant's motto is "It's all about the pie," I was sorry it wasn't more Uno-esque.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.