May 25th, 2016
Chicago, IL
The next stop on our Pizza Road Trip was Chicago. Since there were so many pizza places on the Daily Meal list that were in Chicago, we planned to stay in town for several days. We had a cute Airbnb in West Town, some friends to see, and lots to do and see in between eating ALL THE PIZZA. It was our first time in Chicago and we didn’t want to waste a minute!
We were a little surprised when we saw that all of the Chicago pizzas on the Daily Meal list weren’t deep dish! After hearing how filling a deep dish pizza could be, we strategically planned so that we only were eating one deep dish per day. On our first night in town, we decided to try our first deep dish while also meeting up with a friend from high school for dinner.
We chose our first deep dish to be at Pequod’s. Knowing that we were in for a big meal, I talked Eric into walking to the restaurant from our Airbnb, which was only about 2.5 miles or so. Well, about 15 minutes into our walk it started downpouring. We were going to be late for dinner if we stopped, so we just kept walking with our one, useless, umbrella.
We were soaked by the time we got to Pequod’s, but at least we weren’t late! We had about a 45 minute wait to dry off before we were even seated, but we did get to stand indoors. Eventually, the three of us got a booth and we ordered a deep dish pie with spinach and onions. It was clear why there was such a long wait to be seated – deep dish pizzas take FOREVER to cook. We were probably waiting another 45 minutes for this pizza to come out of the oven.
I’ll get more into some details of the differences between deep dish pizza styles in the next posts, but I have to mention the crust on this pizza. This is what really makes Pequod’s deep dish stand out from some of the others. You can see in the picture above that the crust looks almost burnt. It doesn’t taste burnt, though, it tastes delicious. That crisp comes from extra cheese that is placed between the back of the pizza and the well-seasoned cast iron pans, which “caramelizes”. The bottom crust is dense and thick, and it makes for a wonderful base to the heavy amount of sauce. We were a little hesitant about the onions being cut so thick, but they actually complemented the sauce really well.
You have to eat this pizza with a knife and fork, as much as it pained us to do so. We had no problem finishing the whole pizza between the three of us, though. Whoever said that you would be full for hours after eating just one slice was definitely lying. Or they just hadn’t met people like us, with bottomless pizza stomachs.
I’m not sure if it was because we had to wait so long for it, or because we were so wet and tired, but we knew when we left Pequod’s that the other pizzas in Chicago had a lot to live up to. I think the wait is part of the experience here. It ended up being our favorite of all of the deep dish pies that we tried.
To visit:
Pequod’s
2207 N. Clybourn Ave
Chicago, IL 60614