Purgatory Pizza, Chicago, IL

“A LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN Is there pizza in the afterlife? Chris Peckat doesn’t pretend to know. But he does have a pretty strong hunch there’s pizza in purgatory–two types, actually. At Purgatory Pizza, he’ll be serving both a thin cracker-crust (made with Pabst Blue Ribbon) and a thicker pan crust (which he won’t deem deep dish), both of which will be topped with a blend of six cheeses. Situated next to Peckat’s barbecue-and-pinup-girls joint, Risque, Purgatory has been decked out with references to Dante’s Divine Comedy; Peckat has painted the floor of the place to look like hell and the ceiling to look like heaven. ‘I thought it was a fun theme to go with,’ he says. We’re not sure what’s so fun about death and hell, but as long as there’s pizza involved, we won’t complain.”    –David Tamarkin, Time Out Chicago, April 1, 2008

Contributed by Charlie Russell-Schlesinger (Bowdoin, ’08)