Ciao Bella Pizza Is Another Cross Cultural Surprise In Albany Park

• Mike Sula
• Tirolese pizza, Ciao Bella Pizza

One of the first food stories I ever wrote was about a pair of Argentine buddies who made terrific gelato and not so terrific pizza in a run down Lawrence Avenue storefront. The Penguin is, sadly, long gone but Lawrence Avenue is still capable of cross-cultural surprises. Witness Albany Park’s Ciao Bella Pizza, a bare-bones strip-mall joint flanked by shuttered businesses, run by a pair of Egyptian cousins that specialize in wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. Don’t let that throw you. Though pizzaiolo Meme Allam was born and raised in Egypt, he emigrated to Italy after college and spent nearly a quarter century tossing pies in Milan. A few months back he teamed with his cousin Eddy and installed a clay wood-burning oven in a dingy storefront that, appropriately enough, used to be the home of a Korean pho restaurant.

• Mike Sula

• Il forno, Ciao Bella Pizza

• Mike Sula

• Ciao Bella Pizza

Ciao Bella Pizza, 3737 W. Lawrence, 773-236-8799, ciaobellapizzapasta.com