Geppetto's Pasta & Pizza, Oak Park

Geppetto's chefs feed hungry local diners and Chicagoans fresh off the nearby Oak Park Green Line stop with authentic, appetite-annihilating Italian food. They customize their pizzas from the crust-up, creating thin-, stuffed, and pan-crust pies crowned with such toppings as crab meat and shrimp, giardiniera, fresh garlic, ricotta, and smoked gouda. The chefs even create pies using gluten-free dough whenever someone requests it or sends a note to the kitchen via paper airplane.

The food whizzes also whip up classic Italian entrees, such as chicken vesuvio, and what is perhaps their most popular pasta dish—baked spaghetti. The creamy dish features a mixture of lean ground chuck, italian sausage, italian herbs, mozzarella, and marinara sauce.