Pizza Talk: Derrick Tung — The Paulie Gee of Chicago

We learned in an earlier episode with Brooklyn pie master Paulie Gee that, when he decided to grant rights to others to use his name and menu model, he wasn’t going to follow typical franchise templates. He was mainly looking for ways to empower other talented pizza makers to be able to get into the game and achieve their own success. Enter Derrick Tung, who took the hand-off from Paulie and ran with it in faraway Logan Square, Chicago. Derrick has now made a name for himself by not only emulating and recreating the great pizzas from Paulie G’s in Brooklyn, but he also added new creations and found his own unique style and “voice” in the highly competitive pizza world. In this episode we will not only hear about Derrick’s journey and how he has successfully pivoted his business during the pandemic, but we’ll also learn how he makes his famous US Championship Square Pie with “Bacon Jam,” one of the signature items on his menu. Needless to say, when Brooklyn came to Chicago, Chicago’s already great pizza scene got even greater!