If Chiditarod season is a season to brag about my friends, I’m going to take a minute this year to brag about a friend that hasn’t raced with us during Chiditarod – time to brag about Dave. Dave owns Windy City Pie,  a Chicago Deep Dish Pizza restaurant in Seattle. HIs pizza is really, really good, and if you’ve ever mentioned that you’re visiting Seattle in my presence I’ve probably told you about Windy City Pie. I eat way more deep dish in Seattle than I do in Chicago, despite living in Chicago (or sometimes pizza that came out of a suitcase from Seattle), because of Dave. Dave and I have known each other since college, and I distinctly remember him returning from study abroad and making pizza upon his return.  He’d spent some time learning how to make deep dish pizza with the available ingredients while overseas. 

His pizza is so good that it got the attention of renowned food writer J. Kenji Lopez Alt. I got the privilege of meeting Kenji at Wurst Hall in 2018, when Kenji was a fan of Dave’s pizza but they weren’t really friends yet. Dave had flown to San Francisco with pizza in his carry on for Kenji, and was SO nervous we were going to embarrass him in front of an icon (which, fair…) . Fast forward a few years, Kenji now lives in Seattle, still really enjoys Dave’s pizza and has more regular access to Windy City Pie that doesn’t require it to come out of a suitcase to enjoy it, and Dave now plays tour guide to show off the best of Chicago Tavern Style Pizza for critical pizza research. 

Dave may not have run Chiditarod with us, but he HAS helped with our Chiditarod fundraising. Back in 2021 he helped deliver Malort and Deep Dish Pizza as a thank you to my stepbrother who was helping us with our live stream fundraiser dance party during the pandemic. And he also introduced me to Kenji, who’s donating books to this year’s fundraiser to help us address food insecurity in Chicago in novel (and ridiculous) ways! 

Was this a humble brag that I’ve gone to the Weiner Circle with Kenji after hitting multiple pizza joints for pizza research? Maybe. Was it me burying the lede that Kenji is donating a set of signed copies of his books AND a thank you video to our Chiditarod Fundraiser? Sure was. 

Our auctions close THIS FRIDAY at 9pm Central (February 27). Check them out, and our raffles, here: 

Auctions and Raffles

Or just donate!

Don’t forget to submit for matching funds if your employer matches your donations – forward confirmation of matches to [email protected].