Piece Bar / Pizza Place / Restaurant

Wicker Park / Bucktown, Chicago –

A blend of microbrewery and pizzeria, Piece has helped revive the popularity of thin crust pizza in a deep dish city, all the while serving an extensive list of in-house craft beers.

A piece of pizza combined with a peace symbol marks the modest entrance to the venue, where groups of hipsters in neon sneakers add colorful accents to the minimalist space, whose décor consists of hand-written chalkboard signs touting daily drafts, specials, or the medals for the bar’s award-winning brews.

Everyone from couples and college students to families with kids in tow fill the tables, while the after-work crowd prefers hanging at the bar to watch the game over a few pints of microbrew.

Although an elevated area hosts weekly DJs, local bands, and karaoke nights, the focus is clearly on the beer and the pizza, with hungry patrons sometimes waiting two hours for the privilege of a few slices topped with everything from pepperoni to clams.

Even on busy evenings, when patrons are often stacked in like pepperoncinis in a Petri dish, the laid-back crowd of regulars knows a fresh microbrew and a slice of Piece is definitely worth the wait.