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![[Fabians happy Hour]](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/390569026_9664513f57_m.jpg )
Fabian’s Chicago Style Pizza Place
691 North High Street
Columbus, (Short North)
614 221 8240
I made my first trip to Fabians in October 2006 not too long after the restaurant opened. I recently made follow up trip to see how things are going.
I sampled the Chicago style (?) pizza . Well, it is thick crust pizza with good quality toppings bought from suppliers in Chicago – but it is not Chicago style in any way.
Also sampled was the so called Italian Beef . Any native of the Windy City would smack you in the face for calling this a “beef”. This was an oven roasted pseudo French dip with banana peppers – no giardiniera to be seen. For $7, with a very average side salad – an OK sandwich – but not an Italian Beef.
My main concern is the faux Chicago style menu. I do not mean this as a negative review – the food is good. A few items are slightly overpriced but not offensively so. While some ingredients are authentic Chicago – the end result is not Chicago style anything.
A strong positive – there are reasonable Happy Hour prices which is the best way to experience Fabians.
Here is a Chicago food primer so that when you go to Fabians – which I encourage – you will be able to objectively decide if Fabian’s is or is not Chicago Style food.
So – some information on Chicago style pizza –
Food Timeline on Chicago Pizza
And now on to the Italian Beef (Where’s the beef?)
Pat Bruno is the authority on Chicago Food – here is a Beef overview –
Pat Bruno – Hemispheres Magazine June 2006
And Chicago style Hot Dogs – (Note: Fabian’s Hot Dog is $7 with a salad… Huh?)
Wikipedia – Chicago Style Hot Dog
Ok – so now you know just enough to make an informed decision – go forth and eat – and let Columbus Underground know what you think
I enjoyed their pizza, but as a guy who used to do a monthly road trip to Chicago for Giordano’s…gotta agree, not the real deal.
Being a chicago native I agree whole heartily that you can’t find a decent place in cbus for chicago style pizza. Your best bet is just to get a crew and have it shipped to you from chicago. We ordered 2 pizzas from giordannos with 4 peeps it was $13 per person. Not bad considering its the best thing known to man.
yeah, but they don’t ship any meat pizzas do they? I looked a while ago and thought that was the case.
Anne & I tried this place out a few months ago, and I thought it was alright. I was more impressed with the way they revamped the space than I was the food, but I thought it was a nice added staple to the Short North since there’s a lack of good sit-down pizzarias in that area.
No they definately ship meat pizzas. We got one sausage and one vegi. Do it up! Its really worth the money that you spend instead of the whole 7 hour drive thing to Chicago. I am going back in a month or so, might have to stock up.
Giordano’s is also my fav pizza in the world. But I still think that place up by Polaris does a “decent” copy of Chicago pizza. Not the same thing for sure, but closer than anything else I have had in Columbus.
I think anyone who’s been to Chicago will agree that this doesn’t quite qualify. So maybe in that case they’re actually doing themselves a disservice, because everytime this place gets brought up they dwell on authenticity and just touch on whether they actually enjoyed the food.
I personally enjoy that they’re another “deep dish” option in a city more well known for its thin crusts. Actually went there this weekend to find they’ve really dressed the place up and changed the menu a bit. We got the stromboli which was pretty good. Came with a salad which as mentioned earlier was nothing special – but who goes to a pizzeria for salad? :)
Noticed they do half price pizzas on mondays. That’s $9.50 for a pizza able to serve a small army!
I just went to the website and could only find three pizza types to order: cheese, vegy and spinach. No sausage : (
http://www.giordanos.com/shop/home.php?cat=1&sort=productcode&sort_direction=0
Wholly Joes is the closest to the real deal in CMH.
For thick crust – Adriaticos does a great job.
that’s what I was talking about above.
by Sir Thomas the Alcohol Man
October 11th, 2007
Last November, the Short North got something it didn’t have, a casual place for pizza and beer. “We saw a niche that needed to be filled since the closing of Brian Boru’s,” said Chris Wank, “Just a neighborhood restaurant and bar.”
Inside, the decor is movie-themed with plenty of Chicago flair, including a large hand-painted mural of that city’s skyline that greets visitors at the door. The wood floors and brick walls give the space a cozy feel.
The entertainment starts with a huge TV behind the bar, with two more 32-inch screens coming in the very near future. There’s also a “video crack” machine up front and Golden Tee, bubble hockey and a pool table in the back.
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