Chicagos Favorite Deep Dish Chicago Pizza
The average American eats 46 slices of pizza a year, but how many slices are people getting from Pequods? As one of the top 5 pizza places in the United States, we love our pizza, and youll love it, too! Craving just the right amount of cheese and caramelized crust? The high-quality ingredients are not limited to the Chicago pizza basics like pepperoni or sausage. Visitors love our caramelized crust and that we dont use an excessive amount of cheese on our Chicago deep dish pizza.
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Labriola Ristorante & Cafe
North Side, River East
One of the best deep-dish pies is hidden right in the of middle of Chicago. Instead of flaunting a traditional golden-brown crust that soars in height, Labriola’s deep-dish pizza is made with a thinner crust that almost resembles the outside of a dark loaf of bread. The sauce is chunky, the mozzarella is sharp, and if you order Danny’s Special, its most popular pizza, you’ll get a taste of some of the crispiest sausage in town.
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Mike Gebert is a James Beard Award-winning food video producer and writer, and founder of SkyFullofBacon.com. Follow him on Twitter .Amy Schulman is an editorial production assistant who shamelessly eats pizza for breakfast. Follow her on .
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Our Favorite Gourmet Frozen Pizzas To Order Online
It’s delivery, but even better.
Thanks to the internet, the best pizza across the country — from Chicago deep dish to square Detroit style — is available to almost anyone, so why settle for your usual local pizza delivery when you can order gourmet pizza online?
Chances are if you order a cheese pizza from a chain or the neighborhood joint on Super Bowl Sunday you’re going to end up waiting two hours for it to arrive while everyone stares at the empty bowl of wings. But with a little bit of expert planning, you can order a frozen pie in advance that’s even better than delivery — and far surpasses what you’re going to find in the frozen food aisle at your local grocery store.
That Famous Scrumptious Burnt
When you order, your pizza will come out piping hot, gooey, and crispy but never too hard or crunchy and it will have a generous amount of toppings. Sometimes one slice is just enough due to the exceptional flavor and great balance of toppings and sauce. Chicago has many pizza joints to choose from, but whether youre local or just passing through, youll find the best toppings and the yummiest experiences at Pequods. Our unique pizza delivery process is worth every penny, and our rates are reasonable, even with delivery fees.
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Review: Lou Malnati’s Frozen Deep Dish Pizza
While there are many heated debates about the merits of Chicago style deep-dish pizza versus “New York” or other thin-crust varieties, I’ve found they are similar in some fundamental ways. They contain crust, tomato sauce, and cheese – and they can be very good or they can be mediocre efforts not worth the calories. And there is no broad-brush way to approach to any style of pizza.
After many years of being skeptical about “tomato soup in a bread bowl,” I had a few trips to Illinois that gave me the opportunity to sample some critically acclaimed deep-dish pizzas in and around Chicago. At the very top of my list is the deep-dish at Louisa’s in Crestwood, ten miles south of Chicago. All the elements are in harmony on this terrific pie, but the vibrantly fresh red sauce is the most memorable.
| Deep-dish pizza from Louisa’s |
In Chicago, I sampled three other highly regarded deep-dish pizzas. While the pan pizza at Pequods was disappointing, I loved the traditional deep-dish at Pizano’s and the hybrid version at Exchequer, where a huge mass of molten cheese sits atop the pie. But Louisa’s has been the clear winner for all the deep dish I’ve eaten, Louisa’s is the benchmark pie.
| Deep-dish personal size at Pizano’s |
I loved the idea, and I have enjoyed some other frozen versions of Chicago deep-dish pizza. The 8″ version of Gino’s Eastpizza was pretty satisfying, especially in light of its $5.99 price tag at ALDI .
| Before baking |
| Out of the oven |
| Deep-dish at Exchequer Pub |
Lou Malnati’s Multiple Locations
Lou, as you might have guessed, is the son of Rudy Malnati Sr., inventor of Chicago deep dish, and the brother of Rudy Jr., friendly competitor and owner of Pizano’s. With over 50 locations in Chicago , it’s a good bet that wherever you are in the city, you can locate one of Lou’s pizzerias. Even though this is a franchise, the pizzas have a level of consistency and quality that’s much higher than popular tourist traps like Gino’s and Giordano’s. The zesty sauce and balanced use of cheese are what truly differentiate Lou’s pies.
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Taste Testing Frozen Deep Dish Pizzas
Among the many things that make Chicago deep dish special, one of the most important is that its comfort food that is meant to be shared with friends and family. Living my whole life in Chicago, I take it for granted that Im surrounded by hundreds of joints that make a great deep dish pizza. But what do CPTs customers that live elsewhere do when theyve been spoiled by our legendary deep dish? Fortunately in an effort to turn a profit, some of the best deep dish purveyors have figured out how to let you recreate their pizza in your kitchen. Skeptical that it is possible to create restaurant style deep dish in your own kitchen, both Chicago Pizza Tours and Scotts Pizza Tours set out to take the challenge.
The theme for this bake at home challenge was to be light and humorous, but we still wanted to get to the bottom of this. I should also explaining that because Scotts Pizza Tours runs guided tours of NY Pizzerias, that doesnt make them CPTs sworn enemy, it makes them our colleagues and more importantly our friends!
We decided that we would feature four restaurants for this challenge, that gives us a good amount of pies to sample , but it also leaves the door open if we ever want to revisit this and make a sequel.
The four featured in no particular order:
The Stuffed Pizza Conundrum
At first I decided to include a couple of stuffed pizzas in the roundup, but quickly realized that this deep dish variant is too different. Though it looks almost identical to deep dish, stuffed pizza has a thin layer of dough above the cheese and below the sauce, and the crust is both taller and flakier. The real kicker, however, is that frozen stuffed pizza is much fussier to prepare. While the frozen deep dish boxes had simple instructions like, “Cook in a 400F° oven for 25 minutes,” both stuffed pizzas I tried had seven or eight different steps. Anyway, that explains why Giordano’s is not included.
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Lou Malnatis Frozen Pizzas My Favorite
It has been very easy to order pack of Lous Chicago deep dish pizzas from anywhere. Whether you have moved away from Chicago or someone you know who loves Lous Chicago style deep dish pizzas, now you can order and get deep dish pizza shipped from Chicago. Currently, Lou Malnatis frozen pizzas are available to order in 2, 4 or 6 quantities. These frozen pizzas are 9, small size that can serve two adults.
Following are available options to order Lous deep dish frozen pizzas:2 Lou Malnatis Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizzas 4 Lou Malnatis Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizzas 4 Lou Malnatis Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizzas 6 Lou Malnatis Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizzas 6 Lou Malnatis Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizzas
Louisa’s Pizza & Pasta
Crestwood
Louisa DeGenero was a cook at Pizzeria Due when she decided to open her own place in the South suburbs with her daughter in 1981. This is a contender for the best original-style Chicago pizza currently being made, with a lighter, puffier butter crust, yet that same robust sauce studded with chunks of tomatoes and fennel-rich Italian sausage you’ve come to expect from a classic local deep dish.
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The Year Was 1970 Hidden Away On Fernald Avenue In Morton Grove Illinois Pequods Pizza Started A Cult Following For Its Pan Style Pizza With A Caramelized Crust Edge
Locals enjoyed the hometown pizzeria for its unique atmosphere and great deep dish pizza. In June of 1986 the original owner sold the pizzeria, leading to a rebirth. New leadership reinvigorated the restaurant. The menu expanded and a savory thin crust pizza was added to the fabled pan pizza. As word of mouth popularity grew, Pequods became the best known secret for Pizza in Chicagos northwest suburbs. Many of the faithful continue to make pilgrimages to Pequods after moving from the Chicago area. January 1992 began a new chapter in the Pequods legend. In response to the pleading of many faithful customers, Pequods opened in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Thanks to the enthusiastic patronage of loyal customers, Pequods began to build a new cult following in the Windy City, quickly becoming known for late night pizza and delivery of their world class deep dish pizza.
Other Places To Eat The Best Deep Dish Pizza In Chicago
The competition for the best deep dish pizza in Chicago is fierce. If youve packed enough stretchy pants, here are a few more places to try :
Update: Im very lucky that this post has had some attention in Chicago and some wonderful local people have pitched in with their opinions on where is the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. Every single one of these is going on my list for next time and Ive added them to the list above. If youve got a suggestion, leave a comment and Ill add it to the list.
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Chicago Pizza And Oven Grinder
The pizza at this spot isn’t traditional Chicago deep dish, but it has a pastry-dough rim, shaped like a carved-out French boule, that’s as high as anything you’d find at the usual places. The differentiator here is that the bottom crust is whisper-thin, and the interior is kind of like a casserole of winey, garlicky braised mushrooms, sausage and snappy green peppers, draped with a roof of bubbling mozzarella like one you’d find on a bowl of French onion soup.
Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Pizza 6
Feed the whole crew with these heavy pies that have been legendary in Chicago ever since Lou’s opened in 1971. Nowhere else can you get this kind of flavor magic — flaky buttery crust loaded with tomato sauce and slathered in gooey cheese. Choose from a wide variety of toppings and know that you can even order heart-shaped versions. Awwww.
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Tasting The Deep Dish Pizza At Giordanos
How easy is it to get a table?
The pizza Gods were once again on my side and I strolled right into Giordanos. This time it was Thursday and I was on the early side of mid-day which I was beginning to feel was the best time to hunt down the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. As with Unos, there are reports of long queues as well as a 45 minute wait for pizzas but you can also order before you sit.
The restaurant
I ate at the Giordanos on North Rush Street, which is their flagship pizzeria. This is not to be confused with the original pizza restaurant, which is somewhere on the south side of Chicago at a location that Giordanos itself is very coy about naming on its site and which the internet consistency fails to agree on. .
Inside, the flagship Giordanos was everything Unos was not light, bright, airy and spacious. The tables were sufficiently spread out and I didnt need to change the lighting on my Kindle to read. And I was disappointed by that. Between the two restaurants, Giordanos felt much more like a Pizza Hut than a piece of pizza history and although it was probably for the best that the 1970s vibe hadnt been obtained, I knew I was dining in a chain from the second I stepped through the doors.
The service
What I ordered at Giordanos
The deep dish pizza at Giordanos
This was both good and bad.
On the other hand, the taste was not nearly as sublime or as memorable as those first few mouthfuls at Unos.
What To Do In Chicago
With my carb cravings satisfied, my jet-lag fading and Italy starting to feel like a distant dream, I finally got around to walking off my pizzas.
Here are some of Chicagos top things to do besides eating deep dish pizza.
Stare at the skyscrapers. Outside of New York, these are some of the most impressive Ive seen in the USA.
*Get panoramic views from the Skydeck of Willis Tower . Its the tallest building in the city and the 2nd tallest in the USA. If youre fearless enough, theres a four-foot glass box you can step out onto.
*Get panoramic views from the 360 Chicago Observation Deck of the John Hancock Centre. A still very tall alternative to the Willis Tower if the queues are against you at the Skydeck.
Wonder at Cloud Gate, a gigantic, reflective silver bean at Millennium Park. Great for distorted photos of the Chicago skyline.
Visit Millennium Park. Urban park meets cultural hive, if all the grey is getting you down, grab some green space at Millennium Park.
*Catch a baseball game at Wrigley Field, the 2nd oldest ballpark in the USA .
*Wander along the Chicago Riverwalk or, better yet, take a boat trip on the river.
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