Harley Young dines Chicago style at Ancoats
Brewski, the deep dish pizza restaurant behind the Behemoth Bites brand, recently opened a second site in Ancoats.
Located on the corner of Blossom Street, the Chicago-style spot is across from Manchester’s dough roasters, Rudy’s. Each serves very different styles in their own way – deep dish vs Neapolitan – but is Cutting Room Square big enough for two Manchester pizza giants to sit just yards apart? Only time will tell.
The place used to be SecondCity Bar, a sports bar with flat screens on every wall and long tables with pull-out benches on either side so you could easily celebrate when your favorite team scored.
But American Pies has completely renovated the unit, replacing the light wood pieces with mahogany and replacing the benches with bistro-style furniture. A typical Italian-American checkerboard floor runs down the length of the bar towards the toilet, and where SecondCity’s Strongbow Dark Fruits and Amstel pumps used to be, a coffee maker sits instead. They’ve even thrown in a couple of green and white striped curtains for good measure – think a more grown-up Frankie & Benny’s curtain.
However, they haven’t given up the televisions behind the bar. Although now the Premier League shows have been replaced by NBA highlights. However, it wouldn’t be American Pies without the neon signs, which they’ve paired with a slice of pepperoni pizza lighting up the front window.
Dave and I looked at the menu; An A3-sized offering of deep-dishes and deep-fried delights, including fried chicken parm and a gluttonous BBQ brisket doughnut.
We were particularly enticed by the sound of the carbonara sticks with truffle honey and crispy pancetta (£10), so we ordered them alongside the equally intriguing ‘pepperoni chips’ served with ranch (£3).
The carbonara sticks arrived in a serving of four piping hot golden brown bars sprinkled with Parmesan and Italian seasoning that had stuck to them with a drizzle of honey.
They certainly looked inviting on their small plate, but once cut in half, the strands of pasta inside each stick of carbonara gave them an almost distressed appearance. Is there a kind of trypophobia for things with ribbons instead of holes? If so, the cross section of this side is enough to trigger it.
But I’ve learned not to judge a book by its cover (or a stick of carbonara by its…uh…innards?) and chewed on the crispy outer coating. Slightly al dente, the pasta strands were drenched in a creamy carbonara sauce, with a small piece of pancetta peeking out, adding a salty bite to each bite that was nicely cut through by the honey. A pleasant appetizer and a taster of what was to come.
As for the pepperoni chips, I envisioned fancy pepperoni-flavored chips like the Torres chips you get at high-end wine and craft beer bars (if you ever spot them on a menu served with caviar and sour). cream, order them – you won’t be disappointed).
However, what arrived was a much simpler concept; pepperoni circles are fried within an inch of their lives until they resemble a kind of jerky, served with a little ranch dressing. Satisfyingly crispy, but the ranch was a bit weak. Just like the caviar chips, I think serving them with sour cream and chives would make them an instant hit.
Tater tots. Who doesn’t love tater tots? If they’re on the menu, I’ll order them.
Fluffy on the inside, golden and crispy on the outside and lightly dusted with garlic salt, these potato bad boys (£4) were a hit with me. So much so that I tried every trick in the book to distract Dave while I devoured them.
“Oh no, did the Lakers just secure a free throw against the Bulls?”
That’s it, you’re looking at the screen, Dave.
Wouldn’t it be a trip to American Pies without their signature Chicago deep dish pie? It would be like going to Greggs and not picking up a cheeky sausage. It’s just something that has to be done.
Keeping with the pepperoni and honey theme, we ordered one of their seven inch garlic butter parmesan pies with pepperoni (£16) and hot honey drizzled on top for good measure (£1).
Controversial maybe, but I’m not usually a deep dish kind of girl. I prefer a thin and crispy floured base to a doughy one. Deep dish pizzas give me PTSD flashbacks of burning the roof of my mouth with those little microwavable Chicago Town pizzas you could get for two quid back in college.
But when in Rome…Chicago…Ancoats…
The Chicago special arrived on a deeply placed plate and was presented on its own little metal stand, presumably to prevent the lovely Wood Tables from getting third degree burns from the base. There wasn’t an awful lot of table space left at this point, so we made arrangements and changed the plate of carbonara sticks to a deep fried side and the two remaining tater tots. British tapas will eat your heart out.
The pizza base was almost cakey, doughy – a bit like the base of a Bakewell tart, but spicier. Dave took a slice and a big string of cheese followed it for about a foot before it landed on his plate.
The pull of the cheese on my slice was less impressive. I dug in and nibbled to make sure I got a piece of all the toppings; pepperoni dipped in honey, hard cheese and a thick homemade marinara sauce, parmesan and Italian herbs and finally a Bakewell base. Biting into this thing is a real mouthful. The flavors worked well together, and after all those carbs, we weren’t about to leave hungry. This short but stout seven inches is more filling than you think.
Judgment? Maybe I’m the anomaly, but I still prefer thin crust pizzas to deep pan.
That’s not to say that if you like your pizza super cheesy, deep-fried, super-stuffed, high-carb, you won’t adore this one. I can definitely see the attraction on that side of the coin. I think American Pies would be the perfect place to cure a hangover.
American Pies, 23 Blossom St, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5EP
Follow Harley Young on X @Harley__Young
Score
All rated reviews are unannounced, unbiased and ALWAYS paid for by s.com and completely independent of commercial relationships. They are a first-person account of one visit by one expert restaurant reviewer and do not represent the company as a whole.
If you would like to see the receipt as proof that this magazine paid for the meal, a copy is available upon request.
14/20
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Food
Pepperoni chips 4, carbonara sticks 6.5, tater tots 8.5, hot honey and pepperoni pizza 7
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Atmosphere
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Service