If there is one thing in the world I know about, it's pizza. If there is another thing in this world I know about, it's eating pizza. Generally speaking, I really don't discriminate one type of pizza against any other - my go-to is just plain ol', plain ol' cheese pizza. Nothing fancy and nothing extra. That being said, there is one fancy type of pizza that others just simply can't stack up to: Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. (Have I said pizza enough yet?)
On our most recent stint in Chicago, Sarah and I had the pleasure of sampling 4 different pizza places in just 2.5 days. Our original plan was to make it to 6 places, but the sheer volume of pizza you get in a deep dish pie is completely bonkers, so with leftovers factored in, we made it to 4. We hope you enjoy a little recap of our Chicago Pizza Tour!
Giordano's
First up was the ever-famous Giordano's. This pizza was completely insane. The amount of cheese on here is one thing, but the crust?! Woah. It was directly because of this crust that we had leftovers. Less like a pizza crust and more like a thick, fluffy, chewy biscuit, it really wasn't my favorite. I don't like anything to stand in the way of me eating more pizza, and the heaviness of this crust definitely stood in my way. However, with the amount of cheese on this pizza, they could have served it on a saltine crust and I would have been happy. All in all, this was my second favorite pizza of the trip.
Gino's East
Despite the fact that we arrived at Gino's at 7:30 on a Saturday night, and had to wait 2 hours for a table, THIS was my favorite pizza of the weekend. The crust here was much more like what I would expect on a deep dish pizza, and the sauce was slightly sweet and delicious. Still with tons of cheese, (though not as much as Giordano's) this pizza was fantastic. And on top of that, I saw Elijah Wood eating there at the same time. Any pizza that's good enough for Frodo is good enough for me.
Blaze Pizza
What we learned about Blaze Pizza: it's a chain, it's not Chicago-based, it's not deep dish, it's cheap, and it's delicious. We stopped at a Blaze Pizza very near our hotel for a late night snack, picked up a cheese pizza, retired back to our hotel room, and commenced watching 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.' Blaze Pizza is kind of like the Chipotle of pizza. You pick your crust and all your ingredients, they throw it in a hot oven, and within 5 minutes you're out the door with a pie. This was a perfect late night snack. My only regret is that we didn't each order our own! They're sooo thin that half of a small pie just isn't enough!
Lou Malnati's
This pizza place was perhaps recommended the most to us by friends and strangers. On our way to catch the train to the airport, we stopped off for one more small pizza to share. Luckily, at this place (unlike the other places) when they say "serves two," they really mean it. I very much liked the crust on this pizza, but admittedly, that was about all I liked. There was virtually no sauce at all. The tastes I got that had a bit of sauce on it were much better, but this was the first pizza of the weekend I felt the need to add parmesan and red pepper flakes to.
And that was it! By no means do I consider myself an expert on Chicago, or even the beautiful art of the deep dish pizza, but I think this was a pretty good start! I know there are MANY more places to explore and pizzas to be eaten. Trust me when I say I intend to do just that!
Until next time, what are your favorite pizza places? Chicago or otherwise?
Sarah & Nick
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