![]() |
photo c/o Stella Barra |
Stella Barra is one of Lettuce Entertain You's newest restaurants and it is the third Stella Barra location in the US (with the first two in southern California), but it is quickly becoming a Chicago favorite. Chef Mahin and his partner Francis Brennan began working together at high end LEYE restaurant L2O and have gone on to open Stella Barra, of course, as well as Do-Rite Donuts in the Chicago Loop. They mutually found the inspiration to open a laidback pizza restaurant from their own great memories of their favorite no frills northern California pizza spot. These guys are passionate about food and it totally shows-- from the cool urban details of the restaurant to the unusual and creative combination of items on the menu.
We started pizza class with a lesson in dough and crust making-- and even the details that went into that were pretty remarkable. The chefs use a flour blend that has this great nutty flavor that is super unique in a pizza crust. And when each of us arrived we had a ball of dough to work with that had been prepped way in advance to allow the yeast to ferment properly. The chefs helped us stretch our dough and even gave us a lesson in tossing (which I find frightening) before we got to customize our own pizzas.
![]() |
photo c/o The Kittchen |
As if serving us wine and then making and tasting our own pizza wasn't enough, the Stella Barra staff brought out a ton of other menu items for us to taste including smoked grapes and a super creamy burrata that they serve on their appetizer menu and a few of their signature pizzas. I was really excited to see my favorite Stella Barra pizza arrive at the table-- I ordered it for dinner when Alex and I first visited and couldn't get enough: butternut squashi, taleggio, fresh herbs, candied bacon, and fresno chiles. It's an amazing combination of sweet/salty/savory/spicy. I'm pretty sure it is the only pizza I will ever order at Stella Barra because it's just that good.
And if you stop into Stella Barra for dinner and don't have room for dessert, then you are in luck. In the vestibule that they share with Summer House Santa Monica, is an amazing little bakery counter where you can grab sweet treats to go on your way home! I am a huge fan of the oatmeal apple pie cookie, the fleur-de-sel chocolate chunk, and also the Rice Krispie treat chocolate chunk. All of the cookies are huge, soft, and rich... just what you want!

Thanks so much for a great evening, Stella Barra Pizzeria!
No comments:
Post a Comment