Restaurant Sat Apr 18 2009

A Pizza Coma

A couple of weeks ago some friends, Rob and Jess, were visiting from London and we were on a mission to introduce them to everything Chicago. They had been here before a few years ago but somehow didn't have a chance to try Chicago-style pizza. I usually prefer thin crust myself, but I do love Art of Pizza's deep dish. On their last night in Chicago, we ordered a pizza to go and took it over to The Ashland.

A few nights before we found ourselves at Tony's Burritos for some late night eats and Rob ordered two burritos, saying while he was in America he wanted to eat a lot of dirty American food, like Americans. So when we told him we were getting pizzas he told us, half joking, that he wanted his own pie - piled high with meat. When we got to the bar with our pizzas (a meat lovers for Rob and a veggie pizza for the rest of us) and opened the box, they couldn't believe how thick it was. Rob immediately took out a one pound coin and stood it up vertically next to the pizza and took at least a dozen pictures to show everyone in London how thick the pizza really is.

When I was in London last fall, we stayed with these friends, Rob and Jess, and there was a pizza joint just down the street from their house called "Chicago Pizza." They're no strangers to pizza but after just one bite, Rob exclaimed that he had never had pizza before this. After just two pieces, Rob was stuffed and we told him he was falling into a pizza coma. From his spot on the couch at The Ashland he laughed and said, "I like that, a pizza coma."

— Kaitlin Olson / Comments (2)