The kind of neighborhood pizza joint with a token old Italian man reading a newspaper in the corner, Mr. V’s is pushing its mid-40s at the end of a strip-mall in Forest Glen. If not dotted with kids on bikes counting change for a $3.75 slice and soda, or post-work Metra riders making a pit stop on their way home, the delivery boy is heavily deployed by those looking to score its signature, Sicilian style bakery pie, cut in brick-sized chewy blocks of fresh basil and roma tomato-chunk heartiness.

Priding itself on can-less veggies and daily shredded cheese, the Sicilian is a little pricey at $24 (one size only), but the other three styles – pan, double thick and thin – start at the $9-$12 range for a 10-incher, with some alt-ingredients like roast beef and cauliflower amidst all the standards.

While the rest of the menu deals in hot dog-stand prices in everything from, well, hot dogs ($2.95 with fries), to pan-fried chicken ($9.40 for 2.5 pounds), breaded perch and cod ($8.95 a pound), slabs of ribs ($9.45 per half slab), all your sticks and rings and fried ‘shrooms (under $3) and some pasta dinners (under $7) that come with both a salad and garlic bread.

Average cost: <$10

Centerstage Reviewer: Gavin Paul