SoCal provides innumerable options for great, authentic cuisine from all over the world, so, seriously: What's up with its pizza?

Generally, it does New York-style badly, and Chicago-style not at all. So, when I saw Fresh Brothers Pizza advertise Chicago-style pizza, I was pretty excited.

Unfortunately, I have to echo the other reviewers who have commented that the pizza served here really is not in line with what "Chicago-style" generally means. To the uninitiated: Look up "Chicago-style pizza" on Wikipedia and you will see photos, none of which bear any resemblance to Fresh Bros. pizza. In my mind, Chicago-style pizza should be heavy as a brick, with a buttery, somewhat crispy crust and lots of chunky tomato sauce. This pizza isn't even all that thick, has a soft chewy crust, and has almost no tomato sauce. In each of these respects, it is inferior.

I wonder if this really is the same pizza Fresh Bros. serves at its Illinois locations. I read on their Web site that the owners were attempting to give their Chicago pizza recipe a "fresh California twist." Maybe they didn't notice that we already have California-style pizza here; what we're missing is Chicago-style.

This place is clearly benefiting from locals' ignorance of what truly good Chicago-style pizza tastes like. Done right, OF COURSE pizza can be worthy of five stars! That that is even a question is a sign of how we live in the pizza wilderness here in SoCal. If you absolutely need Chicago-style pizza, try maybe Masa up in Echo Park, it's not fantastic but I have yet to locate a better place for Chicago-style in SoCal (do NOT get me started on BJ's pizza, which is nearly inedible). In the meantime, let's all pray that Zachary's -- a Bay Area chain that proves you really can do Chicago-style with a California slant -- opens in SoCal.