The Cook County Department of Corrections might not be the best place to get a meal. But it is getting a little better for some.
For the last decade, the basement has housed a different kind of kitchen. Inmates work together, chef smocks over Department of Corrections sweats, to cook up what some of them say is the best pizza in Chicago.
Soon, that pizza will be available to those beyond the barbed wire.
The pizza is the product of Recipe for Change, a nonprofit founded by celebrated chef Bruno Abate that occupies almost 13,000 square feet in the Cook County Jail, offering culinary certifications, art and life lessons to a handful of medium-max inmates, in hopes they’ll never have to come back.
The local chef and restaurateur plans to employ about a dozen former inmates on a rolling basis — many just out or on electric monitoring — so they can make a steady wage while figuring out what comes next.
The food truck, serving pizza, panini and salad, will be stationed outside familiar grounds for those working it: Cook County’s Criminal Courthouse, 2650 S. California Ave., across the street from the jail.
Abate hopes to open in the spring. And he hopes the food truck shows there’s still possibilities for those stuck in the cycle.
This isn’t the first time this pizza is getting notoriety. The program has been going on for several years. Check out this deep dive (pun intended) with some high praise into the pizza from The Daily Show from almost seven years ago.
Deep dish isn’t THAT bad. Is it?
