Great Lake Pizza in Chicago

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Went to Great Lake pizza today. I entered a cautious skeptic; I left an enthusiastic convert. (This is the place Alan Richman in GQ named ‘best pizza in America’).

Today was a great time to go, having heard about the lines. It is raining and a brisk 48 degrees–the place was almost full at 6pm (I counted 12 seats)–just two seats were vacant which we quickly took.

Everything is done in an unhurried, relaxed and informal manner. They offered three pizzas–but the best was the plain cheese pizza with cured ham added just after it came out of the oven. (I think they use Benton’s from Kentucky). Fantastic. Just the right crust; perfectly cooked; fresh mozzarella was terrific, and the salt and aroma/flavor of the ham just made the pizza sing. Perfect ingredients on a perfect crust.

I’m on a pizza high after eating there.

They encourage BYOB for a $1 recycle fee. Not much room at the tables, but certainly room to bring your own stem(s) and a nice wine to go with great pizza.

Not only is the pizza amazing, the atmosphere is something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. People just doing their thing, unhurried, seeming to not have a care in the world. The room is–very “gezellig” which is a dutch word hard to translate but meaning a “cozy atmosphere.”

Gotta love that place.

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Glad you enjoed -t, Wilfred, but sHhhhhhhh

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Yes, I know. I thought about that too. But after Alan Richman wrote his piece…

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Yep, they’re putting out some nice pies for sure. I would not hesitate to say that I think it’s the best pizza in Chicago at the moment. Especially after my last trip to Coalfire was a little mediocre. There’s clearly a lot of love that goes into the crust at Great Lake, and they focus on higher-end toppings as well. It makes a huge difference. And I’m also a fan of the unhurried atmosphere, even though I had to wait close to two hours for a table (and that was when arriving at 5:30 on a weeknight!).

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Sounds like a place to check out. (Benton is from Tennessee BTW).

Wilfred, you friend Todd has caught on a new restaurant here called Bocado after Trois closed. So far it has been well received. I am going to check it out next week.

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Please tell Todd hello!

I think it was Newsom’s (and one other) purveyor from Kentucky.