(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
  Airport

  This 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:
  

  Bill’s is back

  • 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