George's Deep Dish [Meeting #126]

George's Deep Dish
6221 N. Clark Street (Map)
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 801-1551

CPC brought George's Deep Dish to AJ & Amanda's house on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Photo: George's Deep Dish

Deep dish pizza is a beautiful thing. That's been true since it came on the scene and it's even more true today when the term can be used to justify any number of variations of thick sauce-on-top pizzas. But over time, some of the legends have started to fade. Uno's was still solid when I last had it several years ago, but I don't know anyone who goes there. Gino's East is a joke these days, though it still packs in tourists and people who are able to convince themselves they're eating what they loved years ago rather than what's actually going into their mouths. Lou Malnati's and Pizano's can both still make some great pizzas, though Lou's has expanded so much that there's consistency issues. Pequod's is still plugging along and can be very good if you order right. None of this is new; it's been true for years.

Photo: George's Deep Dish

What is new is that over the last several years, for the first time in a very long time, some new deep dish places have come along to rejuvenate the scene. And what's been special about that is that people have really put some effort into the crusts, which has never been a focal point of the longtime deep dish favorites (with the important exception of Burt's Place, which is no longer what it was since Burt died (RIP)). 

Labriola was probably the first one to deliver a version of the Chicago classic with a truly delicious crust. And there have been others since. But last year, George Bumbaris, gifted Chicago with what is surely the greatest deep dish crust in the history of professional pizzerias. But wait, there's more. The sauce and toppings just as good. This is some stellar pizza.

Confession: We had to cheat a little bit with our ordering. George's only serves a limited number pizzas each night so they limit orders to two pizzas per person. Because apparently pre-teen children count as people, we had 10 people RSVP yes to this meeting. Two pizzas is not enough for that many people so we cheated a little bit by having one of us order 2 pizzas and one of us order 1. Sorry about that. Not really. Did you know we're the mother fucking Chicago Pizza Club, tasting and chronicling and rating for almost 20 years? We're special.

Anyhow, we picked up our pizzas in Wisconsin Edgewater and brought to AJ and Amanda's home to savor these delicious pizzas. 

There are 8 pre-set toppings combinations on the menu at George's, with each available in 10-inch and 14-inch versions. Each of those pies is named after a famous real or fictional George. Weasley's Spicy Red Top comes with the fantastic sausage, roasted red peppers, spicy cherry peppers and ricotta.

Clooney's ER has more of that top notch sausage along with some high quality pepperoni and beef meatballs and bacon

For our third pizza, we built a simpler one with just pepperoni and cremini mushrooms to accommodate the children, although it was so good, the adults happily ate most of it.

The toppings are so good at George's that it'd be a winner even on a mediocre crust. But this is the best bread base of any thick pizza in Chicago. According to this Instagram post, the dough uses natural fermentation and a little bit of added yeast. That means is kind of sourdoughy, but not really. A kiss of tang if you will. Texturally it's somehow tender and chewy at the same time. Just truly great stuff. 
George's is carry out only but it travels very well.