CARY, IL —When Jerry Czerwinski first opened the doors to his local pizzeria 2 ½ years ago, he never had plans to advertise his take on Chicago pan-style pizza to the masses, choosing instead to keep things on a word-of-mouth basis.
Czerwinski opened Uncle Jerry’s Pizza in 2021 after perfecting his pie for 15 years since moving his family to Cary from Chicago’s North Side, where the former union carpenter with more than 40 years under his belt grew up eating Lou Malnati’s, Burt’s and Pequod’s. But when Czerwinski found that there was no pizza like he had grown accustomed to eating every Friday night within an hour of Cary, he went to work to create his own.
Never in his wildest dreams that a chance review with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy would change everything.
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Portnoy, whose video pizza reviews can prove to be a game-changer for local pizza joints like Czerwinski’s, recently made an unannounced stop at Uncle Jerry’s. Portnoy, whose reviews always include the phrase, “One bite — everyone knows the rules” — left Uncle Jerry’s after giving the pie a review of 8.3, which provided a boost in business unlike any other Czerwinski has seen before.”
The review has been viewed 358,000 times on YouTube in the past two weeks and has received 13,000 likes. But Czerwinski said he initially couldn’t believe the words coming out of Portnoy’s mouth. Portnoy described Czerwinski and his family (wife Nancy and children Paige, Casey, Cyle, and Chloe) as a “Dead Head” kind of a guy, an homage to Jerry Garcia (tie-dye shirts and all), and described the Cary location as a “cool, weird, unusual place” that is Midwest nice.
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Portnoy did not return a message from Patch seeking comment on the Uncle Jerry’s review.
“I was like, did I hear (the score) right?” Czerwinski told Patch on Monday. “I was like, ‘That can’t be.’ I just wasn’t sure. Sometimes I don’t hear things. As a carpenter, my ears ring and so it was surreal. I never really believed it until I saw the review myself.”
He added: “That’s almost like the ultimate pizza test right there when that guy comes into your door. Right now, it’s kind of like the Michelin star of pizza.”
(WARNING: This video contains language that may be considered offensive to some.)
Czerwinski, the “Uncle Jerry” of Uncle Jerry’s Pizza (located at 311 W. Main in Cary) says he set out to make pizza for his family rather than driving the hour required to track down the pizza he grew up on back in Chicago. In 2002, he started experimenting with his own pizza creations and kind of stumbled upon his crust by pure accident. Not wanting to try to replicate Lou Malnati’s or Pequod’s — two big hitters in the Chicago pizza game — Czerwinski based his style of pizza on what people told him and what others who had more pizza-making experience than he did advised.
After much trial and error, Czerwinski describes his pizza as having a Chicago, Roman-style fermented dough with Pequod’s or Detroit-style edge, featuring caramelized cheese along the edges. The pizza has been a hit with local customers, who made Uncle Jerry’s one of the area’s go-to pizza joints and which kept the family’s own pizzeria’s business “better than average.”
“I never really knew what we had or what we were doing, and so I was never really thought I should advertise like a regular place,” Czerwinski told Patch. “We just kept it on the lowdown and kept it word of mouth so it would stay manageable. But it blew up, and it was great. But now that (Portnoy) has come, he has introduced more people to coming there, that is a whole new group that is coming in and checking us out.”
He added: “Our business is out the door.”
But that changed when Portnoy just “showed up” while on a tour of pizza places located between Chicago and Madison. Portnoy, whose opinion of Chicago-style pizza has varied from place to place, never gave any indication he might be stopping by and was suddenly through the front door, giving Czerwinski no time to prepare for what he calls the ultimate final exam.
Czerwinski said he had seen Portnoy’s pizza reviews in the past and said he appreciated the way that Portnoy helped out local businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But he said that nothing could prepare him for Portnoy’s visit, which he said came after several people reached out to Portnoy, suggesting he had Uncle Jerry’s to his list of pizza places to review.
Czerwinski said he was on the fence over whether he wanted Portnoy to actually show up. He said that even though local customers have raved over his pizza, Czerwinski has remained skeptical of his product, worrying that despite the reviews, that his pizza “just isn’t good enough.”
Portnoy, who described Uncle Jerry’s as a “wholesome American story”, disagreed, using some colorful language to describe a pizza that is uniquely Uncle Jerry’s.
“That’s deep dish, but not,” Portnoy said after taking one bite. “I love it. I love it.”
He added: “I have no frame of reference, but I just love this pizza. I don’t know what else to say: I love it.”
“It was kind of surreal when he was standing there,” Czerwinski told Patch. “It was like judgment day. It was like, ‘Well, here it is — the final exam just walked through the door.’”
Czerwinski said despite the pressure of trying to create a pizza that would pass the Barstool test, he did his best to treat Portnoy just like any other customer. Yet, considering the ways the Barstool Pizza Review results can impact a local pizzeria’s business, Czerwinski said he knew what was riding on Portnoy’s opinion.
Czerwinski described the process of waiting for Portnoy to deliver his verdict like “having a baby” as the anxiety and nervousness of waiting for Portnoy to offer his opinion of the pizza as almost too much to take.
But since Portnoy reviewed Uncle Jerry’s, business hasn’t been the same. Czerwinski said on Monday that in just the last week alone, employees at his shop have sliced (literally) a ton of cheese — going through 40–50-pound cases of cheese just to keep up with the demand. Czerwinski said that while he has never gotten too many complaints about his pizza, the fact that it has been featured on Barstool’s platform will keep the people coming.
In the days after Portnoy’s visit, the increased demand for Uncle Jerry’s pizza caused the shop to run out of supplies, which forced the store to close temporarily. In the weeks since, Czerwinski said he has been busier than he’s ever been, which has served as a reminder to the former carpenter who never had any intention of going into business for himself that he made the right choice.
“I never wanted to get into the restaurant business, but pizza has a connection with people,” Czerwinski told Patch. “But it’s an honor to be part of that and to be the person who makes people happy. It’s an incredible experience to give people what they want so much and it’s really enjoyable to make connections with people.
“It’s a lot different than I thought it would be. …I just get a lot of people who spread the word and now, I just feel like it’s going to be spread a lot more. It’s going to be a lot busier from now on.”
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