Chicago’s Pizza may be the only pizzeria in Chicago to offer gluten-free pizza in three Chicago styles: thin, stuffed and deep-dish. All three are made with this spot's own gluten-free dough, which it's perfected over several years, practically making them pioneers in the field of gluten-free pizza-making. For toppings, you can’t go wrong, but the prosciutto and goat cheese on thin crust is something special. Chicago’s Pizza also offers cheesy garlic bread, pasta and sandwiches on gluten-free focaccia. They’ll even wrap that housemade gluten-free pizza dough up into a calzone. Bonus: They deliver until 5am, so even gluten-free eaters can be late-night pizza gluttons.
When you follow a gluten-free diet, for health reasons or trend reasons, you’re going to miss pizza. It’s one of the hardest foods to replicate, since gluten is the protein in wheat that gives dough its elasticity. Creating a quality gluten-free crust requires some chemistry and some magic, along with the usual culinary prowess.
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I've been eating a gluten-free diet for seven years, and in that time the availability of gluten-free pizza has expanded greatly. More often than not, though, the pizza is built on a premade, store-bought crust, the quality of which varies from, “This kind of tastes like real pizza,” to “Is this a Frisbee?” While disappointing, sometimes quality cheeses and toppings can make up for a lackluster crust, and those who don't eat gluten are happy to have the opportunity to hold a slice like a gluten-eater.
But recently, some pizza joints started making gluten-free pizza dough in-house and giving it the same care they give their usual pies. Having the crust isn’t everything, though—a pizza kitchen full of flour can mean the difference between high dining and disaster for gluten-free diners, so cautious customers should always ask their servers about the potential for cross-contamination. These five pizzerias have done a great job and prove that gluten-free pizza can be more than marinara and mozzarella on cardboard.
