Oct 27, 2023 - Food and Drink

Food adventurer Dennis Lee's Best Day Ever in Chicago

Dennis Lee in an industrial kitchen, emptying a massive jar of giardiniera into a strainer with his wife.

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.

👕 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.

🥃 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:

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