Pizza Around Illinois: Quonset Pizza

Waukegan 3/24/23

Quonset Pizza

Waukegan (Lake County)

March 24, 2023

META-SPIEL readers, I looked to you for input, and got a smattering of recommendations back for where Pizza Around Illinois might visit. The only place which got multiple recommendations was, to my amazement, in Waukegan… and located inside of a Quonset hut. So we better start with that.

WorldAtlas helpfully answers the question: What is a Quonset hut?

A Quonset hut is a simple semicircular prefabricated structure made from corrugated steel.

Here’s their example:

So the idea here is that a Quonset hut is cheap and fast but still sturdy because it’s steel. This can be good for temporary structures, and can also be good for no-frills warehouses and maybe some other things too. But maybe not the kind of structure you’d have in mind for a pizza place. (Or a world-famous recording studio - the Quonset Hut Studio in Nashville, where Owen Bradley helped to create what’s become known as the Nashville Sound.)

I found a nice little writeup on the early history of Quonset Pizza and about Quonset huts generally. The hut itself has been bricked over for a long time. But the interior was refurbished years ago, and the domed ceiling is still very visible, as part of a cool retro vibe that defines what’s probably been the hippest place in Waukegan for over 75 years:

The retro decor is accompanied by fully leaning into being a Waukegan institution, as this old photo of the Genesee Theater suggests:

Interestingly, it seems like Quonset Pizza went up at a time when it was on the outskirts, as to get there we drove though neighborhoods of early split-levels. It anchors the local community in a way that, maybe, only a pizza place can. Add it all up and the vibe is retro, but also one where it seems like half the people there are regulars, as though it were a neighborhood dive.

You know what else is retro? The pizza.

Quonset does an old-school thin crust pizza. As we did before, we went half onion and green pepper, half just cheese… although the veggies clearly took over more than half of this pizza!

You know what’s awesome about pizzas like this? Look at 6 o’clock above and how there’s a ridiculous tiny piece of pizza there. And you know what never, ever, ever gets old? Giving your kid the tiniest piece of pizza.

This is solid thin crust pizza. It’s not quite Chicago tavern style, I don’t think, because it’s not quite as crispy a crust. Reviewers cite a higher quality cheese here, and I think that might be right relative to some tavern styles. We also seem to have an emerging pattern in reviewing these pizzas: I tend to think that the veggie slices are equally good to the cheese pieces, but the family disagrees, always leaning toward the cheese. Though I should note: onions and green peppers are kind of compromise toppings. I like them, but I’d probably also add jalapeño, and when available basil. She’d prefer banana peppers and - dear god - green olives. “The problem is, I don’t think I like bell peppers on pizza, because it waters down the sauce.” And he would order… pineapple or something. Whatever he could get away with. And then pick the pineapple off. Because… because.

Quonset Pizza actually has a very thin menu to match the pizza. It’s not a full Italian place, there’s just a couple of sandwiches and a couple of appetizers. The focus is clearly on the pizza, and the thin pizza is all you get. Granted after 75 years they’ve gone through multiple owners, but if you’re really just going to do one thing for so long, you better do it well, and they do.

So if you’re like us and find yourself on the way from Chicago to Milwaukee, divert a little east and head into overlooked Waukegan, and get a pizza in a Quonset hut. Where else are you going to do that?

Where will we pop up next for pizza? You tell us!