 Pequod Pizzeria
The "Chicago's best pizza" discussion is certainly fruitful, though it's as futile as trying to pilfer a pierogi from some poor Polack's picnic pouch on Casimir Pulaski Day. What good can come of it? Everyone's got their own idea of Chicago's best, and they literally all call themselves that on their signs and boxes anyway, including the one actually full-on named Chicago's Best. Then you get into the strata of stuffed vs. deep dish, deep dish vs. tavern, thin vs. cracker … why, it's enough to make Jane Byrne scream "stuff THIS deep dish, Harold!"
My, we sure do eat a lot of pizza in Chicago. And contrary to all the assholes who insist "people who live here don't really eat deep dish," we certainly do, and some do actually prefer Lou Malnati's and, yes, even Uno's. But there's only one place that's still spoken of with the same reverence now that it's mentioned in every guidebook as when it was only whispered about amongst those in the know, and that's Pequod's. The original one tucked into a cozy residential street in Morton Grove.
Everything about the place is pretty much the same as you remember, whether you discovered it in 1976, 1986, or 2006. True purists might argue that it's "not quite the same" or whatever, but even if so, it's certainly still quite that fuckin' good. The carmelization they get on those pie crusts, gah damn! Gimme mo'! And still in the same homey, supper-club-style atmosphere, with the most salt-of-the-earth servers, and those whale-shaped wooden serving boards.
Small pan sausage and onion, with a Coke, about $27 with tip. Man, this hit the spot. I ate half of it there and almost a third slice, but took the two remaining slices home—or at least intended to, as I just went ahead and ate that third slice in the car on the way home. And while I realize this was basically like eating a full pan of lasagna in the span of basically two meals, I am unashamed. Because, to answer the question you just shouted at me, "That is correct, sir, I have no shame."
Review by Pumboo Dongo-Dohnoh, September 2019 |
