Pequod’s Pizza

Pequod’s Pizza, named after the ill-fated ship in Moby-Dick, was founded in 1971 by legendary Chicago pizzaiolo Burt Katz. Katz later opened another pizzeria named after the first mate in Moby-Dick—Starbuck’s—but trademark issues forced him to rename it Burt’s Place. During my grad school days, @pequodspizza (along with @burtsplacepizza) was a favorite, so I was glad to revisit a couple weeks ago.

A lot of people think Chicago-style pizza is all the same: some sort of cheese casserole (the least astute of this crowd will also say things like “it’s just for tourists”). Setting aside the increasingly appreciated but still criminally underrated Chicago thin crust style, there are three primary types of Chicago deep-dish: 1) Stuffed pizza, with two crusts (@giordanospizza), 2) Deep dish (@ginoseast , @loumalnatis), and 3) the thinner “pan pizza.”

Pequod’s is the quintessential pan pizzeria. They pioneered a style that I would call a cross between Chicago and Detroit. The defining feature is the crust: about two inches high with a caramelized top, achieved by baking mozzarella along the edges of cast-iron pans (as they do in Detroit). This creates a crispy, flavorful edge that sets it apart from other buttery or biscuity deep-dish crusts in the city. The crust itself is ethereally light and airy on the inside, which balances the weight of the robust tomato sauce (with two types of tomatoes) and plentiful mozzarella (a John Hancock-esque engineering marvel). Pictured first here is the pepperoni—with the pepperoni baked under the cheese—as is necessary for it not to burn in the long bake (25 minutes at 600 degrees). But if you want the most Chicago-style slice, I’d recommend a pie with “sausage boulders.”

As Burt Katz once enigmatically mused “No man eats the same pizza twice: for he is not the same man and it is not the same pizza.” Is Pequod’s still as good? Better? ...I cannot say. But, to me, it’s still at the pinnacle of Chicago deep dish pizza.