Anne's Pizza Named Best in Lane County by Register-Guard Readers

Changwong, the Eugene pizzeria owner who spent months reverse-engineering Chicago deep dish recipes, saw her E. 13th Avenue shop named best pizza in Lane County by Register-Guard readers on March 23, a recognition built on a signature pie no other restaurant in the county makes: a thick-crust deep dish layered with mozzarella and house tomato sauce and finished with a swirl of homemade Thai pesto.

Anne's Pizza / Chicago Deep Dish & More, at 682 E. 13th Ave., took the top spot in the Register-Guard's annual reader poll, which surveys Lane County residents across dining, retail, and service categories each spring. The pizza category put local independents in direct competition with regional chains, and Anne's came out first.

The win validates a business model built around two American regional traditions that rarely share a menu. Changwong trained herself on both Chicago deep dish and New York thin crust before opening on 13th Avenue, working back from a single reference point: a pie she had eaten at Gino East in Chicago in her 20s. She studied dough chemistry and sauce construction for months, drawing on the flavor logic of iconic city-style shops while bringing her Thai culinary background into the kitchen. The Thai pesto deep dish that resulted, made fresh to order with generous portions, is the item that most clearly separates Anne's from every other pizza shop operating in Lane County.

The shop runs Wednesday through Sunday, opening at 4 p.m. and staying open until midnight on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. That late-night window captures the University of Oregon crowd and post-show traffic from the Hult Center downtown, and it signals where the restaurant's peak business falls. Orders come in through the Slice app for delivery and curbside pickup, alongside walk-in dining.

The timing of the recognition carries practical weight. Spring break and the early tourism season bring visitors into Lane County from the coast and the Cascades, and a "best of" designation tends to generate a measurable lift in takeout volume and new-diner foot traffic in the weeks after publication. For an independent restaurant absorbing the cost pressures that have closed competitors across Oregon, including sustained ingredient inflation and rising labor costs, a countywide reader vote is also a cash-register event, not just a trophy.

Anne's Pizza is open Wednesday through Sunday starting at 4 p.m., with orders available through Slice for delivery and pickup.