Food adventurer Dennis Lee's Best Day Ever in Chicago
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Dennis Lee and wife Davida Marthenze cook together. Photo: Courtesy of Clayton Hauck
,When The Takeout writer Dennis Lee isn't sharing his fascinating and hilarious culinary wanderings around Chicago, he's occasionally clocking in as a pizza maker at Paulie Gee's in Logan Square.
What's happening: In honor of National Pizza Month, we asked Lee, the author of the Food Is Stupid and The Party Cut newsletters, to share his Best Day Ever and his top picks for all kinds of Chicago pizza.
☕️ Breakfast: My wife and I would start the day at our local coffee shop, Moonwalker Cafe, maybe one of the cutest places in all of Chicago.
- And we'd play Wordle over coffee.
🛒 Morning activity: Take a long walk in a different neighborhood and imagine what it'd be like to live there, or visit a giant grocery store like Fresh Farms in Niles, to browse through food we've never seen before.
🥙 Lunch: Ragadan for Oklahoma burgers, falafel, hummus, and this wonderfully tart labneh egg salad on crisp ka'ak bread, which is crackly and studded with sesame seeds.
- Or anything from Hermosa, or the Pork and Greens sandwich at JT's Genuine on Elston, or the rib tip combo at Honey One BBQ in Bronzeville, or a shish kabob or steak sandwich at Mr. D's Shish Kabobs in Montclare. Chicago's so incredible.
👕 Afternoon activity: Browse the aisles at Village Discount Outlet and pick up some cheap clothes and really funny old t-shirts for just a few dollars.
🍣 Dinner: If it's a Friday, we like the enormous sashimi platter from Joong Boo Market in Avondale, because it's discounted to $30 from $50. Also, Korean sides, some soju or makgeolli.
- Dessert at Pretty Cool Ice Cream in Logan Square and eat ice cream bars in the car on the way back.
🥃 Evening activity: A nightcap (okay, maybe a few) at Nine Bar, and if we feel like a fourth meal before we head back home to Belmont Gardens, we could linger over a late-night plate at Three Happiness.
🍕 My favorite styles of pizza in Chicago:
- Detroit: Paulie Gee's Logan Square
- Thin: Kim's Uncle Pizza, Vito and Nick's, Trattoria Porretta
- Deep dish: My Pi, Labriola, Uncle Jerry's, George's Deep Dish and Milly's Pizza in the Pan, Bartoli's
- Stuffed: People get mad at me when I say this, but I still like Giordano's!
- Neapolitan: Spacca Napoli
- NYC: Zaza's Pizzeria, Jimmy's Pizza Cafe, Paulie Gee's Wicker Park
- New Haven: Piece Pizza, Deleite's Pizza and Mexican Food (nobody knows about this place!)
- Quad Cities: Roots Handmade Pizza
- Sicilian: Pizza Friendly Pizza
- Unique ones that have no classification: Coalfire, Bungalow by Middle Brow, Robert's Pizza, Naudi Signature