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.

4 comments so far

1. Comment by Jim D
   2 June 2009

   Congrats on living near such great ‘za!

   I have to say… your story makes me reflect on some wonderful, just outstanding pizza I had once at a brick oven place in Vermont… the night before a friend’s wedding… Have not been able to find or duplicate it.

   Crud, that was 11 years ago already.

   :)

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2. Comment by Jim D
   9 June 2009

   I mean, happy years, but still.

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3. Comment by Christine C.
   9 June 2009

   Ha! I’m in denial. Though it would be fun to host another pizza party, especially without pressure :P

   What’s pizza like in N.C.?

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4. Comment by Jim D
   11 June 2009

   There’s a limited national chain, ZPizza, that I’d never seen before coming here. They do amazing things with the crust – something about Montana winter wheat – that I consider not so much a departure from the NY style as a further evolution of it. All chewy and crackly.

   Apart from that, most of the pizza I eat here in NC comes off my own stone. Practice is in the process of making perfect; we’re not there yet but we’re enjoying the ride.

   Non-chain local pizza is blah. One place (this isn’t strictly about pizza but it will illustrate) made me a “meatball calzone” with one whole, uncut racquetball-sized meatball bulging in the middle. Uh…

   Oh, and I’ve had to learn how to make my own bagels.

   The biscuits and barbecue are fantastic, though, and I don’t mind not owning a snow shovel!

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