Great Lake Pizza

Posted by Edmund in Chicago, Featured Articles, Pizza, Restaurants | 0 comments

Cuisine: Pizza
Location: 1477 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago 60640
Price: $21-$22 for a whole pie. Must buy a whole pie

Having done a tour of the local big-name pizzerias in Chicago, I am shocked at just how much the city loves its deep dish. It doesn’t matter if deep dish pie is too heavy, and it doesn’t matter if it takes 15 minutes longer than a traditional pizza to cook. When you come to Chicago, you’re not even going to really find normal crust pizza because here, everything has to be bigger, bolder, and better.

Needless to say, I was surprised when I heard about Great Lake Pizza, which has received the honor of best pizzeria in the US from GQ’s Alan Richman. Not only is this tiny (nearly infinitesimal) pizzeria the only one of Chicago’s prestigious pizzerias to make the cut on Richman’s top 25 list, but it doesn’t even serve up deep dish! How can the best pizzeria in the city run counter to every commonsense notion about Chicago, and how can it be the only pizzeria in all of Chicago to be comparable to the best of the best in America? That mystery is just asking for a food bust.

Thus, saving the best for last, I decided to head over to Great Lake Pizza. When I finally got to the restaurant, though, I didn’t find much other than a little shop with its blinds down and a window display of chocolates, random bags, and clothing. The restaurant doesn’t even have any signs suggesting that it’s a pizzeria of any kind. I was a little early, and literally nothing seemed to be going on inside. It couldn’t be a pizzeria, I thought.

So I went across the street to Pasticceria Natalina to get the city’s best cannoli while I waited for the shop to open. I asked the kindly, young owner, Natalina, about the little pizzeria to see what was going on with it. As soon as I did, she immediately burst into a eulogy of Great Lake, saying the pizza was a sensation of pure bliss that was easily the best pie in the whole city. She said it so emphatically that I believed her whole-heartedly and hurried over right at the opening to get one of the few spots.

Even then, I ran into a small line of hungry clients already waiting for the tiny store to open its doors. The seats are so coveted, in fact, that there is nearly always a wait, often one exceeding 2 hours. Luckily, I was at the front of the line, so I was granted immediate entrance when the doors opened.

As I entered, I realized just how small and simple Great Lake is. The tables are made of simple wood, the chairs are made of plastic (and some are even just wooden stools), there are soft towels instead of napkins, and part of the restaurant is taken up by a display of fresh gourmet goods up for sale, like tomato soup, sea salt, and chocolate. In turn, it feels more like a gourmet gift shop than a pizzeria. It is in fact so small that you must go through the whole kitchen into the back to the very end of the restaurant just to get to the bathroom, which is smaller than a closet. But really, like all the pizzerias in Chicago, this isn’t the place you go to for ambience.

There is thus a reason why Great Lake Pizza is packed with two-hour long lines on a daily basis. There are only 3 tables: 2 two-person ones and one larger one with 7 seats. The oven capacity is, moreover, just a few pies, and every single pie is hand-tossed and baked by the owner of the shop. This is pizza at its simplest and most classic.

The selection points the same way. While most pizzerias these days are trying to innovate to draw crowds through an endless variety of unique toppings and combinations, Great Lake screams straight at its clients, with its quaint Italian-American vibe, “My way or the highway!” The family-run pizzeria only gives 3 options for pizzas and just 4 for beverages (orange soda, wine, beer, and water). This place is so hometown, so authentic, and so Italian that you can’t even get coke here! Somehow, that just doesn’t seem right in this masterpiece of American culture, Chicago, though I’m a personal fan of the idea.

And substitutions? Don’t even try it. The owner has specifically crafted each pizza to perfection, and if you don’t want his view of perfection, just don’t order the pizza because he’s not going to give you what you want. It might be a bit extreme, considering the limited number of options, but it’s refreshing nonetheless to see an owner who’s fighting the ever-growing trend within our mass market society toward complete customizability. This is pizza for the true gourmand, not for the average consumer.

It shows, too, as the one pie I tried—a classic cheese, mushroom, and herb pizza—was one of the most refreshing, freshest pizzas I’ve ever had in my life. I may not rank it as my personal favorite pie in America, since I’m more a fan of overloaded, meaty pizzas, but it is by far the most technically excellent pizza I’ve ever had. It comes with a perfectly cooked crust that has an intense crunch yet retains so much chewiness that it’s incredible. That crust, moreover, is dusted with cornmeal (?), giving it a fantastically gritty texture. Finally, the herbs are perfectly integrated throughout and perhaps even infused into the crust itself, so in every single bite I was fuming out a fresh blast of basil.

Topping that pie off with an old-fashioned Italian orange soda just took me back to my memories of childhood and added that extra, slightly out-of-place touch that made this experience even more memorable, if that is at all possible.

In turn, I just can’t praise Great Lake Pizza enough. It may be small, and it may be simple. Everything, though, is so nearly flawless about the pie that $22 for a simple cheese and herb pizza seems like a complete steal. This is not just pizza; rather, it’s a revelatory experience, and one that any true pizza lover must try at some point. It easily wipes the floor with deep dish pizza.

What I Tasted

1) Aranciata orange soda by San Pellegrino

I’m not exactly a huge fan of orange soda, but I do like the idea that the one soft drink beverage here is a semi-authentic Italian orange drink, with a very fruity, pronounced orange flavor. It doesn’t accompany pizza well at all, but it’s a nice touch, especially for people who grew up with this type of fresh pop that you just can’t find these days.

2)  Pizza w/ Tomato, Homemade Fresh Mozzarrella, Dante Aged Cheese, and Herb, as well as Cremini Mushrooms as an add-on

This pizza is near perfect. The crust is the first thing you’ll notice. It’s tough and crispy enough on the very bottom that you can’t even pierce it with a fork or cut it with a knife, yet everything above that very bottom layer is so doughy and airy that you feel like the dough is extremely chewy. Especially at the end, you get a great crunch that’s so intense that even as you munch it, you hear the crackle on each chew. The bottom is even better. I think it’s been dusted with cornmeal, so you get a really fresh-tasting, zesty grittiness that just adds another level of texture. In terms of thickness, the crust is half-way between thin and thick, so you get the best of both worlds with the fluffy and the crunchy. One complaint, though, that some might level is that it’s a bit salty, but I noticed the saltiness just in a couple bites. Also, since the crust is so thin at the tips, it can soak up the sauce a little too much and become soggy. Finally, it can be just slightly burnt at times. Really, though, it’s about as perfect as it gets.

But it’s not just the amazing crust that makes this pie so special. It’s also the fresh ingredients. I’ve never even tasted zest so intense on a pizza before. When they say “herb,” they mean not only that the pie itself is covered with greens (basil I think), but that those greens have been infused into the crust and maybe even the sauce. While going to the bathroom, I snuck a peak at how the pies were made, and it seemed as though the main baker/chef was grinding herbs straight into the dough that he had just hand-kneaded. Needless to say, in every bite you get a blast of fresh greens, leaving you with a fantastic, long, pleasant aftertaste sans the oiliness of most pizzas.

As for the tomato sauce, you can taste the actual tomatoes in it, as though it’s been freshly made that day. It isn’t sweetened at all (big plus) or overly seasoned, which is nice, since the herbs are so intense and zesty that you don’t want the tomato interfering. It’s also only laid on lightly, so it doesn’t suppress the other amazing flavors or the phenomenal dough.

Finally, the cheese is right on, without adding too much heaviness or oil, but rather contributing a gooey texture that helps to hold everything together. Like the tomato sauce, it’s not overdone. It’s lightly sprinkled on so that you get some in every bite without being overwhelmed.

I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Mr. GQ, Alan Richman. The crust is the best I’ve ever tasted, the herby flavor is the most pronounced I’ve ever had on a pizza, the ingredients are some of the freshest, and you can actually taste everything.

Scores

Ambience: 1.5/5.0 (not factored in)
Service: N/A
Taste: 4.9/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score: 4.6+/5.0