To learn how to make a Chicago- or New York-style pizza, Anne’s Pizza co-owner Lew Blond did what any pizza lover would do: study the art of those regional pizzas while in Thailand.
Named after Thai chef Anne Changwong, Anne’s Pizza opened in Eugene’s University District in October 2025. Blond’s pizza joint is the second in the line of Anne’s pizzerias, with the mother store based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Although separated by the Pacific Ocean, Blond is passionate about staying connected with the Eugene community.
With battle wounds from years of street skateboarding-related injuries, Blond found his passion for pizzamaking while on a monthslong trip skateboarding through Thailand. Through a mutual friend, he met Changwong and began working long shifts in her kitchen, an experience of learning the exactness of her recipes and her work styles. The sort of grueling experience he jokes “turned me into a grown man.”
“She saw how much I cared, how dedicated I was to learn,” Blond says. “And I think after seeing me show up day after day, she was like, ‘OK, I trust you.’”
For Blond, he says working with Changwong was learning from a culinary expert. For several years, she worked as a fine dining chef in Barcelona, Spain, and more recently, she’s been working in Chiang Mai. But she gave up the fine dining menus for the two distinct U.S. styles of pizza, as she kept hearing from ex-pats who were longing for New York- and Chicago-style pizzas during the COVID pandemic.
The Chicago deep dish is a bold pizza to take on. An inversion of the ordinary pizza, the Chicago deep dish is crust, cheese, toppings and then sauce. It’s a pizza that means the sauce better sing because it can’t hide underneath greasy toppings and cheese.
And Anne’s captures the complicated dish. The pizza has a buttery, rich crust and sauce full of herbs. As for the topping, the sausage deep dish features meat from Long’s Meat Market, a combination that can’t fail. As Blond tells me, if you get this pizza, “You’re a happy camper,” and he’s not wrong.
The price difference between the New York-style whole pizza and Chicago pizza style might cause someone to second guess their decisions. But it’s the difference — four times as much work — that a labor intensive process causes.
“It’s a flaky pastry crust, and we cook our sauce for eight hours,” Blond says. “It’s a special style of pizza that is authentic to Chicago, and we’re the only place in Lane County with this type of pizza.”
Being raised in Austin, Texas, he says he has an affinity for funky communities like Eugene — and what happens when the people who make the communities get pushed out by the high costs of living.
Blond is a self-admitted pizza snob, but he says he also loves the cheap pizza that’s kept him fueled during his peak skateboarding days. And he thinks of Anne’s as a place that’s sort of in the middle of the pizza spectrum. He still cares about the quality, but he also doesn’t want the pizza joint to be a fancy restaurant. With graffiti on the wall and episodes of Futurama on the TV screens, he says he wants Anne’s to be a mellow place that can be anyone’s spot.
As the University District neighborhood continues to undergo big changes, Blond wants Anne’s Pizza to be a place for the community. He has high hopes for tiny punk rock shows in the diner and is always ready to close his doors to support larger causes, like the Jan. 30 general strike against ICE.
And leading Anne’s Eugene kitchen is a way not only for him to be connected to pizza but to the larger community of people who come to the pizzeria.
“I just love making pizza. It’s super fun,” he says. “I can be more intimate with the customer while making the food. It’s a different style than a normal restaurant. Here, I can make the food and talk to the customer and make them feel like it’s a small, warm place they can be.”
Anne’s Pizza is at 682 East 13th Avenue. Hours are 4 pm to midnight Thursday through Saturday, 4 pm to 10:30 pm Sundays and Wednesdays, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Phone is 541-658-8062, find on Instagram and online at AnnesPizzaChicagoDeepDishMore.com.