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.

Gino's North [Meeting #79]

Gino's North [GoogleMaps]
1111 W. Granville Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
773-465-1616

CPC invaded Gino's North on 4/28/09.

Review submitted by Amanda

Gino's North is an Edgewater institution that does not look like much from the outside. The establishment has existed since the 1930s or 40s, but was a bar known as the "Snowdrop" back in those days. For years the bar existed as an Edgewater dive popular with locals. It's not clear when pizza became a feature, but around 30 years ago a woman named Peggy started working there and become known for her crust, lovingly featured on the restaurant's website as "Peggy's Famous Homemade Crust." The previous owners renamed the restaurant "Gino's North," and it is allegedly unconnected to the more famous "Gino's East." About three years ago the current owners bought the restaurant and invested in the interior, which features several half-moon booths and a long art deco style bar with a statue in the middle. Gino's North is not ideal for large groups, as CPC discovered when our gang of fourteen trickled in and waited for tables.

Because the restaurant is not set up in a way to accomodate large groups, we split into three tables and each table got to choose the toppings. Gino's North features deep dish and thin crust pies, each with Peggy's dough. My table ordered one deep dish with sausage, and one thin crust with pepperoni, artichoke, and sun-dried tomatoes. (I got a lot of ribbing for that last combination, but I was only trying to be creative). Our pizzas took over a half hour, perhaps even forty minutes before they came out. The Bulls/Celtics game provided some distraction, and we were concerned when a table that had ordered before us got there pizzas first. However, our pizzas arrived not long after that.

The deep dish arrived first. The deep dish is not like a traditional Chicago deep dish pizza. In my (albeit limited) experience, a real deep dish pizza has a thicker crust. This deep dish is almost like a pan pizza, but a very deep pan. Peggy deserves her local renown for the crust. Although the lighting was dark, we could tell the crust had a golden yellow hue indicative of corn flour, and perhaps olive oil. The crust was solid, with a nice crisp on the outer edges. Also noteworthy was the sauce, which was not very sweet, and nicely spiced. The distribution of sausage of evenly balanced, but not overpowering.

The thin crust was experimental in toppings. Artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and pepperonies, admittedly, do not go together intuitively. However, I liked it. They are all strong flavors, and there was something about the pepperoni that was really delightful -- it was almost like a salami. Like the deep dish, the thin crust had great flavor, and although I would have liked to see a little bit more of char to the edge, there was still a good crunch around the edges.

Overall, it's definitely worth a trip to Edgewater to try the pizza at Gino's North. If you see Peggy, a petite blonde in the back who looks like she knows what she's doing, tell her the CPC says, "Hey."

Overall, Gino's North is a solid neighborhood pizza place worth a visit if you're in the area, aren't with a big group, and aren't a stickler f0r extra-friendly service. If you meet those criteria, you're sure to enjoy it. 

Chicago Pizza Club gives Gino's North a 6.6.