By Brenna O’Dea
Do you like pizza?? Silly question. Of course you do. And if you don’t…well we can talk about those strange circumstances later. For the pizza lover in all of us, we are THRILLED to bring you our collaboration with Piece Brewery & Pizzeria, Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Doug Sohn of Hot Doug’s, and Stephanie Izard of Girl and the Goat. Mouth watering yet? Ours is too.
This palate pleasing partnership began back in 2014 thanks to two incredible Chicago chefs whom we are lucky to call our friends, Christine Cikowski and Joshua Kulp. Both Executive Chefs and Managing Partners of HBFC, they put their brilliant minds together and created a fundraiser that would blossom into something even more successful and delicious than we ever imagined.
In 2015, Stephanie Izard and Doug Sohn hopped on this tasty train. In case you have been living in a deep dark cave for the past decade and don’t already know her name…Chef Izard was the FIRST FEMALE EVER to win Bravo’s Top Chef. She has since pioneered restaurants that have come to be known as key Chicago hot spots, including Girl and the Goat and Little Goat. So far I have only been lucky enough to visit the latter, and though she be but little, this goat is FIERCE. I gobbled up every last bite of my “okonomiyaki,” AKA “Osaka street food with pork belly.” Every now and again that dish visits me in my dreams…and I float away on a scallion pancake cloud. Chef Sohn, or as you may more affectionately know him, Hot Doug, was the owner and chef of just that, Hot Doug’s, the hot dog joint bringing you more than the classic Chicago variety. Escargot, foie gras, pork belly, duck sausage, whatever, and we mean WHATEVER type of meat you craved, Hot Doug’s probably served it up on a bun with all the fixin’s.
We are beyond grateful to these incredible chefs for devoting their time and talent to us and helping us raise $22,493.21 to date! That’s a big deal! That’s like ordering over 2,000 hot dogs from Hot Doug’s. Unfortunately, we can’t go blowing these donations on deliciousness just for ourselves…we’ve got the share the wealth and share the love. 10% of all funds raised from this special pizza creation go to us here at Pilot Light. This money helps us develop and implement our food education lessons in Chicago schools. We could not do this without YOUR help and collaborations just like this one make our mission possible.
So get in on this pizza party before it’s too late. For the rest of January AND all of February AND all of March, enjoy a slice of the good life and support a good cause. The special pie is made of Piece Pizza’s white pizza base, and topped with Honey Butter’s pimento buffalo fried chicken. They finish it off with some scallions and some extra pimento buffalo cheese sauce…I mean, come on, it really does not get much better. Dinner for one? Pick up a small pie ($17.49) or maybe a medium ($20.49) if you’re feeling ambitious. Or stay large and in charge ($23.49) and feed the whole family. Unfortunately there is no extra large option. That amount of amazingness would be DANGEROUS.
Now, earlier I mentioned all of you non-pizza-lovers out there…somewhere in the galaxy. Have no fear! You can still be a part of hot-out-of-the-oven history. THIS THURSDAY January 19th from 6-8pm, come hang out at The Roof Crop at 1516 West Carroll Avenue for our open house EXTRAVAGANZA. Enjoy a live demo of a Pilot Light lesson from Chef Kulp, and school-themed cocktails from Chef Matthias Merges’ Billy Sunday. Of course, pizza will also be present, courtesy of Piece (notice a theme goin’ on here?), but if pizza ain’t your thing, join us for a sip, and see how we operate in the classroom. We could be coming soon to a school near you! P.S. tickets are only $5…talk about a delicious deal.
2017 is already flying by. Make sure you pop over to Piece for some of the flavorful fun. It will be one pizza night you can enjoy totally guilt free because with every ooey gooey bite of goodness, you help Pilot Light bring food education to even more little ones than last year. Fork & knife, crust first, folded up taco style, however you devour, it is sure to be delicious.