More than a couple times, people asked me with sincere concern or at least sincere curiosity, what I would do all winter without pizza farms. But I was never worried. As 2017 Pizza Farm season wrapped up, I knew I was moving to Chicago, a land known for pizza and with a noteworthy food scene. I also knew I would be working at a food co-op, an industry with close connections to small and local farms. I knew that the Off-Season might not include any Pizza Farms, but there would be plenty of pizza to eat and plenty of farmers to meet. So now that we are through the winter and my first Pizza Farm trip is hopefully just over one week away, I will try to give a quick summary of how I made it through.
One week after my final 2017 Pizza Farm trip, I arrived in my new home of Chicago. I was greeted with a Nick’s Special pizza from the neighborhood joint, Nick’s Pizza and Pub in Lincoln Square.
Less than a week later, I enlisted the help of my brother and sister-in-law to run an errand near the West Loop. To make the most out of our evening, we stopped for dinner at Bonci USA. For anyone that has visited Rome, going to Bonci is extremely nostalgic. As soon as I walked inside and looked upon the rows of rectangular pizza varieties, I was struck by how much it looked like a Roman pizzeria. The toppings and the combinations included some very classic Roman styles. Even the way we ordered, pointing and using hand gestures to indicate size, felt like I was back in Rome. We sat close enough to the door while enjoying our Roman pizza that I heard several other people walk in and have a similar experience, making comments such as, “When I lived in Rome there was a place just like this down the street,” or, “This was my favorite kind when I lived in Rome”. Aside from the simple pleasure of seeing Roman style pizza and seeing all the Italian names of the toppings, the pizza itself did not disappoint. We ordered more than we could finish, but we were happy to take some extra home.
My next pizza came from Corridor Brewery in Lakeview and to prove that I love pizza morning, noon, and night, I ordered a breakfast pizza off the brunch menu.
To finish off my first month in Chicago, I went to a family favorite in Ravenswood, Spacca Napoli. This is considered by many others outside of my family, too, to be the best Neapolitan pizza in Chicago.
As winter progressed, my pizza eating schedule slowed down a little bit. I wasn’t able to keep up the weekly forays that I managed in November. In part, I believe this was because I ended up working two jobs and the only two food co-ops in the Chicago area – Sugar Beet Food Co-op in Oak Park and The Dill Pickle in Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. 
Getting out to dinner for pizza became significantly harder, but as I mentioned above, meeting local farmers became quite a bit easier. I’ve been scheming about ways to make Nodding Onion Farm into a pizza farm. At the very least, I believe I convinced them to do a pizza themed CSA week. There are many urban farms in Chicago and it would be great to do some collaborating to create an urban Pizza Farm Night.
My pizza eating slowed down, but it did not stop! While apartment hunting in Logan Square, I met for some pizza at Reno. We went with a classic margherita and a more unusual combination in honor of Wisconsin that included brats, cheese curds, and a beer sauce. I also ate some take out from Roots and tried some of the more unique toppings that they had to offer.
Later on, I returned to Bonci to once again relive my days in Rome. This time, the mortadella stole the show.
In early January I moved into a new apartment in Humboldt Park and the night I moved in a friend brought over some slices from my new neighborhood joint, Dante’s Pizzeria.
Although I didn’t take any pictures, I tasted some amazing housemade flatbreads at Autre Monde in the suburb of Berwyn at the Sugar Beet staff dinner, with delicious toppings including duck sausage and pistachios.
My sister-in-law was kind enough to host the first Homemade Pizza Night of 2018 at her home in Lincoln Square. She experimented with some cold-fermented dough. Most of the toppings came from the local producers sold at The Dill Pickle. Over all, the night was a great success!
On one of my few evenings off in the month of February, I met up at Ugo’s Kitchen and Bar in Logan Square and not surprisingly ordered pizza.
Despite my crazy work schedule, I requested a day off to go to Milwaukee to see my friend’s band play. While I was there, I decided to have some pizza at Classic Slice.
Also not pictured, but important to mention, because it may have been my only Chicago pizza in the month of March, was a BBQ chicken pizza from Galileo’s Cafe in the Adler Planetarium for the Ides of March edition of Adler After Dark.
And then, finally, in April, after living in Chicago for almost exactly 5 months, I had Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish. For a few brief seconds I considered not overeating and saving one of my pieces for the next day’s lunch, but I quickly abandoned that silly idea after devouring my first slice.
And lastly for now, a co-worker introduced me to half-price wine night at Paulie Gee’s in Logan Square. It looks like this place can deliver a delicious Neapolitan style crust and they can be pretty creative with the toppings, so even though we ended up trying a Detroit Style Logan Square pizza, I feel determined to come back and try something new in the near future.
In summary, it was a long, cold winter with many challenges, but it certainly was full of pizza and farms and the anticipation of future pizza farms. One of the things I am most excited about for 2018 Pizza Farm Season is introducing the scene to so many new people. Pizza Farms are something I love to share, because Pizza Farms are the best! I’m looking forward to a great season.
You are making me hungry even though I just ate dinner! Way to make the rounds in the Windy City!