 |
| The shop front - very forgettable. It hides a true gem. |
I wrote in my Facebook entry about the Great Lake. I said something along the lines of '...Great Lake is the best kept secret in town.' and a response to that was that the Illinois Lake society said the same line before requesting a donation! So... The name - Not the most unique. The place - could be passed by in a flash - and given full curtains, no signage indicating any presence of a restaurant, and pretty much the silence, one would not know if the place was open or closed... But the experience - Unforgettable. It is indeed true that Simplicity is the key to excellence.
So we decided to venture and try this wonderfully kept secret (not so secret now). We arrived, not knowing if it was the right place or not and when we finally decided to open the door and step in into a 12 seat tiny place, we were greeted by 10 pairs of eyes and an 'invisible secret hand shake'. The pizza maker and the pizza oven where visible a few feet away so we knew we were in the right place. We ordered quite quickly and took a seat at a communal table, together with a wonderful suburban couple (running away from the kids); another couple with foreign accents; two 20 somethings women, enjoying BYOB root beer and us - the delimillis (multi-national Asians, art and food loving bloggers).
 |
| The waiting starts... |
 |
| Only two choices of beverage: Orange soda or water. |
We took our seats and waited. All or our hearts (also the ones from the 10 other pairs of eyes) skipped a beat as suddenly plates with cutlery were brought to the table, as the oven seemed to open and close in a flash. The first to get their pizzas were the child escaping couple - who were feeling even guilty to start eating as we all stared (our eyes suddenly joined the group of 10 in instant admiration of all things pizza). Soon enough we all got our pizzas and... HEAVEN. Absolutely fantastic - Artisanal crust, with farm cheese, tomatoes and the freshest red onions thinly sliced. Cooked into a bite that tasted of French onion soup with heirloom tomato, and basil mist. Refined and rustic, the ying and the yang of Great Lake. Best part was sharing the experience with the fellow diners, who were equally impressed and sharing their thoughts...
Our experience was a highlight and an adventure which we tried to capture through photography. Verdict - a Must. Decision - Will Try Again. Final Comments - not only Two Thumbs Up but 10 Eyes Wide Open and Smiling! - Connie
 |
The pizza finally arrived. Just look at that crust!
We had the Tomato Sauce, Farmers Cheese and Dante Cheese Pizza: eden foods organic tomatoes, cedar grove organic farmers cheese, wisconsin sheep dairy co-op (wsdc) dante aged sheep's milk cheese, california olive ranch (cor) arbequina extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs, sel gris de guérande (grey sea salt).
Plus one extra order of tropea onion.
|
 |
No guessing if we liked it or not. ;)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment