What better thing to do on a Friday night than get pizza with your besties? When my intern texted me saying "get to Pequod's at 5:30," he knew I was an easy sell. Pequod's is widely considered a Chicago institution, and their menu features both deep dish pan-style as well as thin crust pizza (my favorite!) They originated in the suburbs and a few years after the original owners sold the restaurant, they expanded to a second location in Lincoln Park. A 2006 fire at the Chicago location closed them for a few months of renovations, but the restaurant now is gorgeous - it's gigantic, and in addition to the main dining room, it also features a second level with larger seating areas and at least one other bar. Their beer list was a bit short, but we ordered a pitcher of Allagash for the table and settled on an order of cheesy garlic bread, a medium cheese thin crust, and a sausage pan pizza.

One cool thing that I noticed was that Pequod's has a sort of priority seating list that you can sign up for starting 24 hours in advance. Luckily there was plenty of room when we arrived and we were seated right away, but that's definitely something I'm tucking away to remember next time we want to go out!