Durango Pizza -- "Deliveri staring at 3:00 pm. to close

When I walked into the vestibule of my condo building and found the following menu had arrived like a telegram from food heaven, I knew my dinner plans had been decided for me by a higher power:



I normally ignore menu leaflets, but somehow I was drawn to this one as if it had been etched into solid copper leaves. I have applied my mad photo skillz to highlight just those aspects of the Durango menu that drew my attention and distinguished it from the common pile of dirty and discarded handbills composting in a corner of the entryway. Admittedly, picking a restaurant based on the typographical errors on its menu has no basis in reason, but as you will see, things worked out well.

Anyway, as with any divine mission and/or experiment in dada automatic writing, I knew the power in this menu could lead me to the philosopher’s stone of Mexican-style pizza, or alternatively to my own heartburn-filled purgatory. I had to take the chance, and Mrs. JiLS would have to take that chance with me. In the end, I think we got a little bit of both.

The specifics. I ordered one each of the Pizza al Pastor and the Mexican Pizza for an early Sunday dinner. Here is the al Pastor:



Here is the Mexican:



The Pizza al Pastor is advertised to include “jalapeno pepper, onion, green pepper and meat.” That it did, and the meat was pork, though not really al Pastor, from what I could tell. The Mexican Pizza was supposed to include "chorizo, shrimp, jalapeno and onion.” Bizarrely, they substituted sliced carrots for the shrimp. Maybe they were Mexican carrots.

Anyway, the toppings were good enough, and the sauce was all right (hard to notice any tomato subtleties under the onslaught of peppers and spiced meats). Cheese was standard-issue Grade B mozzarella (I expected a Mexican cheese, but no luck on that count). But the most noteworthy thing about the Durango pizzas was the crust, which was entirely made of cornmeal dough. Not dusted with cornmeal – 100% made of it. That sounds very Mexican to me, and was something I hadn’t heard of before. And it was really delicious, extremely thin, flavorful and crisp. By no means an orthodox pizza crust, but very tasty. And it was also very sturdy for such a thin crust, able to stand up well to the heavy layer of cheese and toppings. (The crust also was probably loaded with lard, for those who care about such things.)

Few are called, fewer still heed the call. I may never have another al Pastor or Mexican pizza from Durango. However, I do anticipate ordering again from Durango at least once to try a standard topping selection on that delicious cornmeal crust.

Any explanation why they spell delivery with an I at the end except for one place?

No; but I think some questions are meant to be asked and unanswered.

Friday night we ordered again from Durango, this time ordering a "regular" pizza -- just cheese, tomato sauce and sausage. I'm surprised to admit that I find that Durango is now one of my short-list favorites for delivery pizza in Logan Square. This is really good pizza, if peculiar. The crust this time challenged my original estimation of 100% cornmeal; I think somehow it's a flour/cornmeal mix, but it's definitely a fantastic shortening-enhanced crust, and it's definitely delicious, crispy on the bottom, chewy and deformable in the middle, and highly flavorful. The tomato sauce was also very good, although I assume it came from a can. The cheese was a notch better than what we had on the two Mexican pies ordered last Sunday; this cheese had good texture/bite and some subtlety of flavor. There is also some satisfaction in ordering from this family business. The pizza pictured below, for example, was delivered by a charming woman and her two sons, who played a tag team game with the buzzer, the pizza box and the 2 liter bottle of RC.
Here's a picture of Friday's delivery:

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(Hi-Resolution version: Durango Sausage Pizza in All Its Glory

Do let us know how the safood is.

Considering they thought it was suitable to substitute carrots for their shrimp on that first pizza, I think it's "safe" to say I won't be trying Durango's "Safood" any time soon -- although I do like that as a trademark for some kind of Pasteurized frozen fish product that's also been tested safe for levels of bioaccumulative toxins ("Safood -- The Safest Fish in the Sea").