America’s Best Pizza is in My Hood

Filed: May 19, 2009 at 6:32 pm |

The June issue of GQ magazine, the one with the disturbing story about former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s need to pepper military intelligence briefs with Bible quotes, is drawing attention in Chicago for another reason: pizza.

Writer Alan Richman traveled across the United States in search of the 25 best pizzas (slideshow) and found his number one pick less than two miles from my home: Great Lake, a 14-seat restaurant tucked away on a side street in popular Andersonville.

There are many restaurants within two miles, but the fact that there is a pizza place that sells a “cheese pie prepared with fresh mozzarella made in-house, grated Wisconsin sheep’s-and-cow’s-milk cheese, and aromatic fresh marjoram instead of basil,” described as “slightly shy of unbelievable,” and I haven’t tried it yet, is pretty remarkable.

(For the record, I did try to try it once, but a family emergency note was taped on the door. We promised we’d be back. That was last summer.)

I’m a pizza snob, except when I’m in New York, when any slice that flops will satisfy. Living in the home of deep dish pizza can make a Bronx girl a bit homesick, and I’ll pull over for a sign that says “pizza by the slice” or “New York Style,” often to great disappointment. It’s puzzling why Chicago pizza restaurants think it’s acceptable to cut a round, thin crust pizza into squares, as though a hungry Little League team is waiting to devour it.

Still, Chicago has some excellent deep-dish alternatives: Crust, unique for its organic certification; and Apart Pizza, which offers slightly less flop and more arugula than a traditional New York slice but is still competition-worthy.

Last summer we visited a Vermont favorite, American Flatbread in Waitsfield. As is customary, we spent a few extra hours drinking outside with other dinner guests before a table was available. On another night, we watched the sun set over Stony Loam Farm, waiting for our curried squash pizza (the day’s special) to bake in a wood oven. Pizza on Earth is a tiny take-out hut at Stony Loam. A few picnic tables scattered outside provide seating on warm nights. The ingredients are locally sourced, and the farm provides the produce, including squash. We left with two pies and a fistful of garlic scapes, wishing we lived down the road.

Two miles in Chicago — 1.7 door-to-door, according to Google — is practically down the road.

*Great Lake doesn’t appear to have a website, but here’s a photo of the menu board.