{"id":17169,"date":"2017-05-26T13:36:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T18:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=17169"},"modified":"2019-10-15T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T21:49:06","slug":"cheap-trick-piece-brewery-and-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/cheap-trick-piece-brewery-and-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Trick is Serving Pizza and Beer in Wicker Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"cheap<\/a>
Greg Kot (left); Rick Nielsen (right)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What’s more Chicago than pizza, beer and rock royalty all under one roof? You probably recognize Rick Nielsen as the\u00a0legendary lead guitarist of Cheap Trick, the Rockford-born Rock and Roll Hall of Famers that gave us “I Want You to Want Me” and “Surrender.” Sure, you\u2019ve seen him shred a five-neck guitar, but did you know Nielsen also owns Wicker Park hot spot\u00a0Piece Brewery and Pizzeria<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The North Avenue pizza joint is known for house-brewed beer as killer as its creative pies \u2014 think three different styles (red, white and New Haven) with toppings like clams or \u201cHot Doug\u2019s famous Atomic sausage.\u201d They\u2019ve also got chocolate pizza for dessert, a Nielsen favorite featuring Nutella and mascarpone cheese.<\/p>\n

Wednesday night, Nielsen sat down with Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot at Piece for \u201cCheap Talk,\u201d a public Q&A hosted to raise funds for WBEZ radio. Conversation weaved from Piece\u2019s garage dirt-floor beginnings, to the moment Nielsen knew he was born to perform: starring in a production of \u201cThe Barber of Seville\u201d at three years old. It probably didn\u2019t hurt that he was born to two opera singers, either. Compared to his loud and wacky Cheap Trick performance wardrobe, Nielsen\u2019s outfit for the event was pretty tame, until you caught a glimpse of his footwear \u2014 a multi-colored slipper-sock combo. Some things never change.<\/p>\n

Of course, it would be impossible to sum up 40-plus years of Cheap Trick via hour-long Q&A, but Nielsen talked about experimentation with sound and style, his songwriting process and playing everywhere from bowling alleys to Japan\u2019s Budokan with Queen. He also mentioned the band\u2019s upcoming record \u201cWe\u2019re All Alright!\u201d which Kot assured is a \u201ckick-ass rock album.\u201d Look for that release this June.<\/p>\n

\"cheap<\/a>
Photo Credit: Piece Brewery and Pizzeria<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you didn\u2019t know Nielsen had stake in Piece, you could probably guess by looking around. Guitars and Cheap Trick memorabilia hang on the walls, right alongside a slew of awards. Yes, let\u2019s not forget Piece\u2019s other claim to fame: beer. The brewpub has won dozens of awards from both the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup for its home brews like the \u201cDysfunctionale\u201d and \u201cDark n Curvy Dunkelweizen,\u201d both of which are on tap right now. You can even take home a growler, or if you\u2019re lazy, order it for delivery with your next pizza.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re looking for a not-so-typical sports bar, pizza haven, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll brewery, Piece is the place. You might get lucky and catch Nielsen there grabbing a bite to eat or taking the stage for Saturday night, live-band karaoke, in which case, you should probably get up there and request \u201cDream Police.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s more Chicago than pizza, beer and rock royalty all under one roof? You probably recognize Rick Nielsen as the\u00a0legendary lead guitarist of Cheap Trick, the Rockford-born Rock…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1597,"featured_media":17172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26144,6],"tags":[249,1165,1264,253,282,96,560],"class_list":["post-17169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-cheap-eats","category-category-restaurants","tag-beer","tag-chicago-pizza","tag-chicago-restaurants","tag-craft-beer","tag-pizza","tag-restaurants","tag-wicker-park"],"yoast_head":"\nCheap Trick is Serving Pizza and Beer in Wicker Park | UrbanMatter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Did you know that Piece Brewery & Pizzeria in Wicker Park is owned by none other than Illinois-born Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen? 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