Chicago pizza?

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
1

I’m headed to Rockford, IL for work on Monday with a couple of coworkers, but we’re getting in early enough to do a tiny bit of siteseeing in Chicago before we drive to Rockford. I’m thinking we could hit a Chicago pizza place to get it from the source. Current benchmark for me is Zachary’s in Oakland.

Can you berserkers suggest an establishment?

Thank you!

Adam

2

i just went to pizano’s, not as good as zachary’s. Giordinnos is supposed to be an establishment too

3

Giordano’s is great - and a personal favorite. Just make sure to go to the one downtown on Rush - it’s better than any of the other locations. I’m also a fan of Lou Malnati’s.

4

Ugh, Rockford? That’s tough.

My favorite is Lou Malnati’s. Some people prefer Gino’s, some Giordano’s and some Malnati’s. I don’t know many who prefer Uno – maybe if you go to the original one in Chicago though…

5

Pequod’s in Lincoln park makes the gold standard deep dish, IMO. I agree with Tim that Malnati’s is the best of the franchises.

Or look to Piece if you want non-deep dish (they brew some worthwhile beer too).

6

Adam…we live 3 blocks from Zachary’s…let me know when you are down here.

Seriously I have eaten at Due, Uno, Gino’s, Giordana’s and Malnati’s…Malnati’s is the best of the bunch.

7

Adam

Chicago Pan or Deep Dish Pizza is worse than waterboarding… just sayin’

As for good pizza, current popular places are Great Lakes Pizza, Coal Fire Pizza, Spacco Napoli (though I heard it is not as good since the original pizza person left to open her own place)…

You seriously should skip the Pizza idea and go to Hot Doug’s… that is something special…

8

Scott is obviously a member of the anti flavor police…

Chicago deep dish pizza is very good when done right…and Lou Malnati does it right IMO…I do prefer thinner crust pizzas but can appreciate alll

9

Thanks for all the advice - I would absolutely go to Hot Doug’s if it were up to me, but my coworkers have less exotic tastes than I do, so I figured pizza’s the way to go. I like all kinds of pizza if it’s good - and a good deep dish like Zachary’s beats almost all pizza made in Seattle.

Tony, I’ll absolutely call when next I’m in town.

10

If you like Pequod’s then you must try Burt’s Place in Morton Grove.

IIRC Burt was the guy that made Pequod’s what it is…
Check out LTHforum for details on how to “deal” with eating at Burt’s Place…

I’m also +1 on the anti-deep-dish pizza wagon

11

Lou Malnati’s

JD

12

Yet, he is right…

13

Chicago deep dish rocks.

I’d avoid Gino’s East these days … since they changed the formula to reduce the amount of cheese significantly, it hasn’t been as good. I’ve liked Giordano’s and the original Uno or Due lately.

14

If you are describing the sensation you feel in your stomach after you have eaten one, I totally agree [tease.gif]

15

[berserker.gif] Hilarious. Love it. I’d still rather make my own pizza at home now. I want to build a brick oven … but eh. I’ll just order more Flannery instead.

16

There is a time and place for Deep Dish pizza-(kind of like when your old college buddies come into town and you decide to get shit faced on Jagger shots or something). The notion that all we eat in these parts is deep dish, is just that, A NOTION. We have in fact, become a very nicely diversified city of very very good pie. That being said- I still believe there is plenty of room to bring some good NY style on board. As it is- my favorites are Coal Fire-Spacca Nap- Pizza DOC-
Have not gone to Great Lakes YET.
For neighborhood: Pat’s and John’s are great. When I order neighborhood pie-I always ask for easy cheese and it ends up being pretty pretty pretty good.

BTW- The Original Lou’s on the North West Side is where it’s at for Deep Dish… neener

17

My little secret— in the 900 N. Michigan Ave building (Bloomingdale’s etc), on the 5th floor of the mall, is Frankie’s Scaloppini. Yes, it is a Rich Melman shop… and it is good for pasta and, uhhh, that scaloppini stuff.

Amazingly crisp, (thin) brick oven pie, fresh toppings, and the pizza is placed on a stainless steel screen on the plate to keep it crisp to the last bite. [thankyou.gif]