(Images: Windy City Pie)
“In my opinion, the best part of my pizza is that caramelized cheese on the edge.”
As we celebrate the return of Bill’s Off Broadway with its new brick and mortar pizza and bar goodness (and get ready for Pizza Crawl 2015), it’s probably not totally surprising that a former Amazon techie is the man behind Windy City Pie, a days-old 12th-avenue based delivery-only venture promising hearty and authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza.
“I don’t believe anybody is doing deep dish well here and as an ambassador of the much more flat midwest, I want to bring my cuisine to Seattle,” said Dave Lichterman, a Capitol Hill resident and owner/sole-employee of the new business.
The premise sounds almost too good to be true.
Born and raised in Chicago, Lichterman, who has contributed to CHS in the past as a photographer, grew up on deep dish pizza but it wasn’t until he went to study in Argentina for a semester in 2005 that he began to make his own. He had time on his hands because classes were canceled due to a major teacher strike and he wasn’t too taken with the “very bad” local pizza, which was made of pre-made dough and a watery cheese that was substituted for mozzarella.
While Lichterman admits that his first foray into pizza making now a decade ago was “not good,” he says “I am really proud of the pizza I have today.”
A big inspiration for him has been Burt Katz, a legendary Chicago pizza chef who appeared on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Katz pioneered the use of the caramelized cheese edge on deep dish pizzas, a feature Lichterman includes on all his pizzas. “In my opinion, the best part of my pizza is that caramelized cheese on the edge,” Lichterman said. “It’s delicious, it’s really something else.”
Many customers would appear to agree. Lichterman says orders have been pouring in since Windy City Pie opened and many raving customers have taken to social media to voice their delight with Capitol Hill’s newest business. Since he is a one man operation, Lichterman fulfills each order himself and delivers it to the customer (there is no dine-in option at the 12th avenue location, which is just an industrial kitchen).
Prices range from $21 to $29 for a pie serving 4 adults. This isn’t instant gratification. Windy City currently asks that you try to order your pizza one day in advance so plan ahead. You can also arrange to pick-up your pie yourself at the 12th Ave kitchen.
For now, Lichterman says he’ll stay with delivery/catering, cautiously testing out Seattle’s appetite for deep dish, but if things work out, he may upgrade to a food truck or a restaurant. “That would be pretty awesome,” he said.
To learn more or place your order, visit windycitypie.com.
Capitol Hill food+drink notes by jseattle
Windy City can’t be a stop on the tour but Capitol Hill pizza will be in the spotlight at this weekend’s 2015 Pizza Crawl:
We’re stoked to organize the second Pizza Crawl! For those that weren’t there with us last year: a pizza crawl is like a pub crawl, but instead of pubs we go to a string of pizza parlors. In-between the different pizza parlors you’ll witness some of our favorite musicians playing live guerrilla fashioned sets in select urban locations. Later on in the evening there is a secret after-party with more live music. A $5 cover will get you into the show and dinner (pizza, of course).Live guerrilla sets from:
Wretch
Zen Mother
Natasha El-Sergany
Adam Levitt
Domesticates
WLISPS
Contact MikeAfter Party (secret location):
$5 cover – free pizza from Windy City Pie – byob/whateverDJ Diogenes
Visuals: Coldbrew CollectiveLive sets from:
Prison Food
FREE PIZZA (aka Funky Photos)>>>
Mr Tangles and Friends
Nightspace
AirportThis year ZAPP will provide maps (limited edition of 100 so plan on getting to the crawl early!). There are also 4 handbills designed by a few members of the Intruder Comics crew that will passed around at different shows and events leading up to the crawl. We’ll be sharing their designs online in the coming weeks as well as the local events you can find us at to snag a collectable handbill.
We’ll post the meet-up/pizza locations for the crawl closer to the event.
- 2015: the year of Capitol Hill pizza:
- Undaunted by Seattle wage debate, Ian’s moves in where Zpizza bailed
- Portland’s Sizzle Pie bringing Burnside hip and pizza brunch to E Union
- Dino’s Tomato Pie — a ‘walkable pizza bar’ — to join E Olive Way’s food+drink neighborhood
- Still Liquor folks bringing pizza to Minor and Pine
- The romance of Ernest Loves Agnes coming to 19th Ave E
- Annnd, yes, Bill’s: Bill’s Off Broadway is reopening after a two year construction hiatus
- But, of course, here’s what you’ll find someday at the site where you used to find Piecora’s.
- The story behind the legend of the Capitol Hill Pizza Crawl, here.
- Daniel Rosero tells us his Vaca Loca Latin American restaurant inside the Broadway Alley is ready for a grand opening of sorts with a refined menu and new drink offerings. Stop in.
- Now open on E Olive Way: Capitol Hill Hot Cakes.
- Here’s what Little Oddfellows looks like.
- It’s a good place to write.
- Good Citizen: still not open!
- Now open (and delicious): Lionhead.
- Catfish Corner: “looking at signing a lease on a second location, back in the Central District at 23rd and Jackson”
- West Seattle getting a Kukai Ramen, too.
- Seattle Times digs Manao: “Standing out in a town with more than 100 Thai restaurants is no easy task. But Manao Thai Street Eats on restaurant-saturated Capitol Hill, one of the latest entries into this crowded field, manages to do just that with the buzzing atmosphere and vivid flavors one would expect on the busy streets of Thailand.”
- Here’s why Monsoon was closed the other day: “Monsoon restaurant appears to have installed a large KEF without a permit.”
- When will Marx Foods open up here?
So many local foods now at @marxfoods — dropped in & spied @gnocchibarsea gnocchi, @littleuncletwit spice, @mamnoontoo za'atar.
— Rebekah Denn (@RebekahDenn) August 5, 2015
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I hope they do well, but I have to say, I sent an email last week and have yet to hear back……
Hi Greg (I assume this is Greg),
I responded to your e-mail immediately when I got it last week. Can you check your spam folder? We’re still working on a better order pipeline, so regardless of where that email is, I apologize that you didn’t get a response.
Best,
Dave (Windy City Pie)
Thanks so much for the personal follow-up! I’m very much looking forward to digging in to some serious Chicago style pie!
Great news on La Vaca Loca. Went there a couple of times and their food is really great. It’s different than all the million other places out there. Try it.
“Hand-crafted”
I absolutely hate that term.
And the fact that it’s an ex-Amazon employee makes me want to avoid it even more.
Sorry to hear those terms struck a chord with you. It was actually my (bad) experience at Amazon that drove me to want to work for myself. I’ve also been an active volunteer for KEXP for 6 years now. I do try to do well by my community. If you’ll check out the website, you’ll see I never employ the term “hand-crafted” although I am indeed using my hands.
But you’ve worked for Amazon.
Obviously, that means that you’re an intrinsically evil person and an oppressive rich 1%er colonialist conspiring to ruin our neighborhood and all that.
Actually, it sounds like you just make great pizza and also needed to pay the bills, just like the rest of us.
Can’t wait to check it out.
Sorry — headlines are pretty much always off in their attempts to sum up a full story
I’ll probably check it out if the prices are reasonable. That being said, you won’t find me there if it becomes the next hip watering hole for your former coworkers…
If its delivery and catering only (no cafe), I doubt it has the possibility to become a watering hole.
Good. It sounds like a decent place with a courteous owner. No assholes like you would be great.
Burt Katz… carmelized cheese… sounds like Pequod’s, my favorite. Sign me up.
Burt Katz… carmelized cheese… sounds like Pequod’s, my favorite. Sign me up.
LOVE deep dish Chicago pizza. Look forward to giving this a try!
So how does it work? I call/order a day in advance, and we arrange a time that you deliver the following day? And is it ready to eat upon delivery ? I checked the site but didn’t see info on that.. Just curious. (Hopefully this doesn’t double post :)
Generally, a day in advance has worked fine, but as of late, we’re backed up by a few days, so the more notice you can give us, the better. It’s hot and ready to eat upon delivery.
Thanks for checking us out!
I’m curious, having never had delivered deep dish pizza, what do you do with the pans? Do people keep them? Do they even come delivered in the pan? This doesn’t matter one way or another but I want to know!
I definitely keep the pans; I spent a long time getting them properly seasoned :)
What’s a KEF? In the Monsoon piece, “Monsoon restaurant appears to have installed a large KEF without a permit”.
Guessing Kitchen Exhaust Fan.
“Deep Dish Pizza is not only not better than New York pizza, it’s not pizza. It’s a fucking casserole.”
“This is not pizza, this is tomato soup in a bread bowl.”
Amen.