Friday, May 20, 2011

Pequod's

Holy water buffalo, it's been a minute! Please forgive my absence from pizzaphilia, but I'm back to finish what I started. Last, but certainly not least on my Chicago stops is the legendary Pequod's Pizza.


If there is one thing I've learned from my Chicago pizza expedition it's that the city has an eclectic if not totally badass cross section of pizza styles. I've shown you deep dish, stuffed, Neapolitan, coal-fired, thin crust, New York-style, New Haven-style and artisanal, but forget all that. This is pan pizza.


What is pan pizza, you ask? The defining factor that sets pan apart from something like an otherwise similarly thick pizza like deep dish is the crust. Instead of pinching and pulling the dough up the side of the pan to create a crust, the pizza is topped and built all the way to the edge. The result? In Pequod's case, it's a caramelized latticework extending above the rim of the pizza.


Beautiful, isn't it? I almost didn't want to cut the pie in fear of crumbling this work of art, but my stomach got the better of me.


This pizza hands down ranks as the best deep-style pizza I had in Chicago, eclipsing my previous favorite, Lou Malnatti's. If the picture above isn't evident enough, full disclosure: I ordered sausage on top. Necessary? Hardly. Worth it? Totally.


The location I visited in the Lincoln Park neighborhood isn't the original. Burt Katz opened Pequod's in nearby Morton Grove over 30 years ago in 1970. Eventually, Burt sold the place and peaced out to start Burt's Place which he still operates today. The ownership may have changed, but the recipe and trademark crust remain the same.


This is the cleanest "cut away" I could snap in an attempt to reveal the dough to sauce + topping ratio. Pretty damn thick, but ultimately none too unbalanced. After my third slice I should have stopped, but who wants to take home one measly slice? More importantly, who could live with themselves letting it go to waste?


The aftermath. Until we meet again, Pequod's...

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