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Suite 1 Pub & Pizza

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By MICHAEL McHALE / GZO

Friday, Aug 22, 2008 - 01:06:20 am CDT

Schoolwork used to dominate Adam Luedtke’s life.

Now cheesy, deep-dish pizzas do.

Luedtke is a co-owner at Suite 1 Pub & Pizza at 311 N. Eighth St. in the Sullivan Building in the Haymarket. After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December, he and friend Scott Thorson drove around Lincoln looking for a place to open a sandwich shop.

Suite 1 Pub & Pizza

Atmosphere: Casual

Specialty: Pizza

Payment: Cash, check and major credit cards

Cost: Deep dish, $15 to $20; thin crust, $13-$17; individual one-topping, $5.95; calzones, $5.95.

Hours: 5-10 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.-12 a.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Friday-Saturday (Kitchen closes at 10 p.m. daily), closed Sundays.

Phone: (402) 805-4135

Web site: www.suite-1.com

Notes: Delivery (474-7335), alcohol, smoking on back patio, Monday through Saturday drink specials.

* * *

Food: 3 stars

Service: 3 stars

Atmosphere: 3 stars

Vegetarian friendly: 3 stars

The Last Bite: Suite 1 Pub & Pizza offers a variety of deep-dish servings in a cozy environment fit for families or students.

Rating system: Excellent 4 stars; Good 3 stars; Fair to uneven 2 stars; Poor 1 star

Instead, they ended up with a pizza place that offers a tasty lunch and dinner. Suite 1 opened in May and boasts a variety of styles from deep-dish chicken alfredo ($17 medium, $20 large) to thin-crust meatball sub ($15 medium, $16 large). It also serves calzones and several different types of appetizers, including Italian quesadillas ($7.50) and fried vegetables ($5.95). There are also plenty of  vegetable toppings for those who don’t eat meat.

“We started putting things together,” Luedtke, 25, said, “and we ended up going with just pizza because there’s already a lot of sandwich shops in town.”

Luedtke spent his college days working at places like Carlos O’Kelly’s Mexican Café and at several different fast food restaurants. But owning a new pizza eatery has been a new experience, and he said he stays out of the kitchen for the most part.

Thorson, meanwhile, does most of the cooking. The 35-year-old lived in Chicago for a while and worked at area pizza restaurants. He learned to cook Chicago-style deep dishes and a number of Italian dishes.

He isn’t afraid to experiment, either. Every Saturday morning Thorson and Luedtke scour the Haymarket Farmers Market buying all kinds of ingredients. Then they offer a farmers market specialty pizza throughout the week, which comes with toppings, such as black peppers, green peppers, onions, Italian sausages and anything else they find at the market.

A co-worker and I stopped in about noon early this week and found the atmosphere to be surprisingly comfortable. It’s tucked away in the basement of the Sullivan Building (A large “Suite 1” banner hangs from the railing along Eighth Street), and several other diners were there. But the dining room is long and spacious, and the dark lighting makes it easy to feel like you have privacy at your table.

We tried the medium thin-crust barbecue chicken pizza ($15) and a personalized medium Chicago-style deep-dish with pepperoni, hamburger, bacon and extra cheese ($17).

The barbecue chicken was a bit sweet for my taste — but I’ve never been a huge fan of barbecue chicken in general. The deep dish had plenty of cheese and toppings.

The service was quick and easy with only a handful of customers ordering food. While waiting for meals customers can watch the small TVs perched near the ceiling or check out the pool tables and arcade games that sit conveniently out of the way of the main tables. Or they can gaze at the south wall filled with classic posters of The Beatles and other bands performing in their prime.

“We kind of wanted to go with things we like,” Luedtke said, “and things that reflect our personality.”

Suite 1 also serves drink specials Monday through Saturday and offers smoking on a back patio. And it hosts live music Fridays from 9 p.m. to midnight. Luedtke said the restaurant sticks to mild or classic blues suited for a family environment.

Suite 1 is a good place to try different pizzas. And if you like a quiet and comfortable setting, it’s a solid restaurant to visit.

Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or mmchale@journalstar.com.


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woohoo wrote on August 22, 2008 6:57 am:
" after having Chicago style pizza in the windy city, I definetly will try this place. Just hope they have good beer on tap, or at least inbottles. "

 beer wrote on August 22, 2008 8:00 am:
" to "woohoo" - they do have a decent selection of beers on tap, including at least a couple of the empyrean varieties.

i really like this place; my only complaint being the pizza options are limited. i haven't tried personalizing any yet, though, so maybe i'll do that sometime. the crust somehow manages to remain pretty firm and slightly crispy on the edges, despite the amount of liquid you'll see in the bottom of the pan after you take out a slice or two.

i think (and hope) this will be a very busy place on gamedays. "

 spell checking wrote on August 22, 2008 8:14 am:
" One of my coworkers brought back a menu from this place. After spending 15 minutes proof reading it and correcting the spelling and gramatical errors i decided that i don't want to go there. If the menu is this sloppy you can't expect anything better from the food. "

 A wrote on August 22, 2008 8:30 am:
" Nice that the guy making the pizza is actually FROM Chicago! And I really like that he's using local ingredients. That's very unique! "

 MC wrote on August 22, 2008 8:52 am:
" I have been hear several times, eating and drinking. I have not ben dissapointed at any one of my visits. I am a huge pizza buff and I do say that their deep dish is some of the best I have ever had. You have to look for it since it is down stairs but I glad I found it.

Also, I have taken my family in their a few times and it is a good place for kids. "

 beerorkid wrote on August 22, 2008 8:58 am:
" woohoo, they have 12 beers on tap, including local favorites as well as a good selection of bottled beer. Really good pizza that is a refreshing change for our town. Don't forget their Chicago dogs as well. "

 Scott B wrote on August 22, 2008 9:02 am:
" I love Suite 1. The Deep Dish is amazing! "

 yummm wrote on August 22, 2008 9:16 am:
" They do have great beer on tap, last time I was there they had hopiluiah. The Pizza is sooo good too the kind I got had avacados. "

 JB wrote on August 22, 2008 11:50 am:
" "If the menu is this sloppy you can't expect anything better from the food."


Really? I guess I was unaware that food quality had anything to do with spell checking and grammar. Silly me.

Does this mean that Microsoft Word can make a mean sandwich? I'm kind of hungry. "

 sausage wrote on August 22, 2008 11:53 am:
" i'd recommend the sausage supreme (i think that's what they call it). they use sausage patties - just like deep dish in chicago - and it's really really good. "

 the Marquis de Nook wrote on August 22, 2008 3:34 pm:
" Without a doubt this will be the best place to pregame for the Huskers. Has a "speak easy" feel to it. You can escape from the old maid and go "underground" to unwind with your buddies or mistress...
Food is fresh; the pizza is not greasy unlike most places attempting to make Chicago style or even simple pan pizza - amazing how easily this can be messed up. Plenty of space, a huge beer selection and beatnik decor. Go Big Red! "

 good wrote on August 22, 2008 4:38 pm:
" their dogs are great "

 si wrote on August 22, 2008 4:58 pm:
" very good food, had it delivered twice "

 CornHuskerLIFE wrote on August 22, 2008 6:03 pm:
" The beer selection really is impressive. I was there before they were serving pizza and it was just a bar - they had more variety than I've seen at most places. Good deep dish pizza & good beer - I'm definitely going to have come back... will probably make this my new game day place for the football season. "

 Place is solid. wrote on August 22, 2008 8:50 pm:
" I like it a lot. I work downtown and discovered it early on, and was pleased to see the activity there today. They've got some great music in the place, too -- someone's got some good taste in tunes. Plus, I like to wave to my vegetarian friends as I descend down the steps to get a hamburger pizza. "

 suitefan wrote on August 23, 2008 7:18 am:
" Suite 1 is a fantastic addition to the Haymarket. The pizza is AWESOME, the atmosphere is causual and fun. I'd go there every day if I could handle the calories... "

 nic wrote on August 23, 2008 10:47 am:
" hey guys dont know it you have it but i got a challenge for you.. I WANT SOME GOOD SPAGHETTI PIZZA....i can only get it back home and if i ask for it here people look at me like im nuts....i know how to make it just let me know if you need the recipe.. i hope you do. thank the lord some one from back home is going to show these folks how you really make pizza. "

 Michelle wrote on September 16, 2008 6:43 pm:
" We were very excited to eat here after reading all the rave reviews but after actually eating here we wondered if all these reviews posted here were posted by actual patrons of Suite 1 or if they got all their friends, family & employees to post comments. If you’ve ever been to Chicago and eaten real Chicago deep dish pizza you’d know that Suite 1’s version is not even close.
We ordered a medium sausage deep dish, two side salads & sodas. Our waitress was good and checked back often, that was pretty much the only part of our experience that was what it should have been. The crust on the “deep dish” pizza, from what we could tell, was just a normal pizza crust formed up around a deep dish pan, the toppings were the normal amount of toppings for a pan pizza and the tomatoes on top had not been drained which made the pizza sloppy & wet, really wet, the last few pieces in the pan had completely soaked up the tomato juices which made the crust totally inedible.
By the end of our night and $30.00 later we were totally disappointed and still hungry. It seems that our Chicago deep dish pizza cravings will continue until we go back to Chicago for REAL deep dish pizza.
As for Michael McHale’s 3 stars for the food and 3 stars for the atmosphere, are you serious? I’m pretty sure I could make a better deep dish at home and the atmosphere is a dark, dingy basement that leaves much to be desired. Have you or Jeff Korblick ever given any place you’ve reviewed a 2 for the food? I’m sure a 1 is unthinkable! I wonder why you even have them in your rating system. You should change your rating system; 3= the best place I’ve eaten since last Friday and, 4= the best place I’ve eaten since the Friday before that. If you would be honest about these places that you "review" maybe the places that are REALLY good would get more business and weed out the not so good places. But I’m sure you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, after all they’re going to be in the paper for all to see so better stick with the 3 / 4 rating system!! "

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