Chicago, ILTavern-Style Pizza

The Ashburn room has been feeding Chicagoans since 1949, at this address since 1965, and Time Out calls it the king of thin crust pizza done Chicago style. The Infatuation puts it second on its tavern-style ranking and describes a cracker crust that is very thin and crispy under bubbly browned cheese and spicy tomato sauce. Old Style on tap, the Bears on the television, a full room of revelers. Order the sausage and drinks by the pitcher, because the wait for a pie runs long on weekends.

A Logan Square bakery and brewery whose everyday pizza has a puffy sourdough crust, except on Tuesdays, when owner Pete Ternes runs a tavern-style special. Chicago Magazine describes artisanal Midwestern flour, sourdough and cinnamon notes, dough hit with cornmeal and rolled as thin and crackly as parchment. The Infatuation adds that the sauce runs sweeter than the house red. Order the Tavern special with sausage, kale, caramelized onions and an espresso maple glaze. It is dine in only on Tuesday nights, with no takeout.

Bridgeport's house pizza since 1960, cash only and counter service under a tin ceiling. Time Out records the move off Halsted Street in 2008 and the detail that matters: the owners took their old Blodgett ovens with them, which is why the crust still comes out the same. The Infatuation describes pies that are beautifully greasy under thick sauce and a blanket of cheese, on the more substantial end of the tavern-style range. Order the sausage with giardiniera.

Open in Lincoln Park since 1950, and The Infatuation's reference point for the form: cut into small squares and spread with a thin layer of tangy sauce that keeps the crust crisp rather than soaking it. There is a dining room, but the guide prefers carryout here because the pie reheats well. Order a pie for carryout. Note that this Pat's has no connection to the South Loop pizzeria of the same name on South Clark Street, which the same guide ranks separately.

A Rogers Park sports bar under a neon sign that has been announcing neighborhood birthdays and engagements for seventy years. The Infatuation writes that the pizza outlasts even the sign: very thin, with a crackly crust whose underside keeps some airiness and chew rather than snapping like a cracker. Order the Deluxe, which carries sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers and mushrooms over zesty tomato sauce and cheese. The room is large enough for a group, which is not true of most places on this list.