Author Topic: Which Chicago pizzaria is best (Read 5352 times)

cougarblue · « **on:** August 03, 2008, 12:20:50 AM »

I am so thrilled to be making a trip to Chicago next weekend on a Pizza tasting trip. So the real question is, who makes the best Chicago style pizza and or where should I go to have it?

Mike

loowaters · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2008, 09:02:35 AM »

Well, if it's Chicago Style Deep Dish you're after, try to get to Gino's East or Lou Malnati's but (while many say the quality isn't quite what is once was) you also have Pizzaria Uno or Due downtown. Giordano's stuffed are good and they're all over the Chicago area.

Thin crust? You'll get too many suggestions to count but Nick and Vito's on the South Side gets a lot of love. There's plenty of Mom and Pop neighborhood pizza places that do excellent thin crust all over the Chicagoland area.

goosen1 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2008, 01:52:50 PM »

I would put it this way.. Check out this website http://www.chicagopizzaclub.com They give reviews on all of the places that they goto. These guys have been to a lot of places plus they take pictures of the pizza and other food that they had.

Check out the site, They do have the phone numbers and addresses for the places... and some maps also.

Goose

cougarblue · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2008, 01:38:48 PM »

Thanks for the tips. I was looking at the suggested web site and noticed they have not done a review on Giordanos. Loo mentioned them. Do they only do stuffed crust or do they do a traditional chicago style pizza? I think I am narrowing it down to Malanatis and Giordanos......Thanks again.

BTB · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2008, 06:20:04 PM »

The list of the 10 Best Pizzas for 2008 in the Chicago area on CityBest is at http://citysbest.aol.com/chicago/best-dining/pizza/. I visited the top rated pizzaria -- the original Home Run Inn location on 31st St. -- a few weeks ago and found their thin crust pizza to be fantastic, just like I knew it years ago. Lou Malnati's, which was rated No. 2, has long been my favorite deep dish pizza and often trades the No. 1 position with Home Run Inn on many of the media and consumer pizza polls throughout the years. Giordano's is on the list, too, but I'm not wild about stuffed pizza that is mostly dough, which has been my experience at Giordano's, but many are fond of the style. Let us know how your visit went.

Marquis de Mozzarella · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2008, 07:14:45 PM »

Giordano's is, in my opinion, not the best in Chicago. Its main benefit is that it has locations all over the area and into the suburbs. If you are making a special trip out while you are in Chicago for the pizza then I would spend the time to get to a Lou Malnati's. I also rather like Gino's East, but a little bit less than Malnati's.

Marquis de Mozzarella · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2008, 07:19:39 PM »

Quote from: cougarblue on August 04, 2008, 01:38:48 PM

Thanks for the tips. I was looking at the suggested web site and noticed they have not done a review on Giordanos. Loo mentioned them. Do they only do stuffed crust or do they do a traditional chicago style pizza? I think I am narrowing it down to Malanatis and Giordanos......Thanks again.

FYI, the Giordano's Review

-MdM

DKM · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2008, 08:38:07 PM »

In most reviews and surveys that I read, Gino's East or Malnati's is normally on top.

DKM

goosen1 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2008, 09:00:32 PM »

I really would goto Gino's more than Lou's. The last time I had a Lou's it was a little on the salty side.(I had it from one of the carry out places in Naperville...) Giordano's is good with a few beers but it is real filling for me but worth the visit... But all is good but it is really personal preference.

bojonson · « **Reply #9 on:** August 27, 2008, 04:12:40 PM »

Joe's Pizza in Wheeling, Illinois was my FAVORITE pizza place while I lived in that area. GREAT SAUSAGE & MUSHROOM (my favorite on thin crust)!! Before that, it was Aurelio's in Homewood, Illinois. I loved Pizza UNO, but that was a different form (deep dish) and the drive downtown made it a REAL TREAT!!! Actually, there is an Aurelio's in the Denver area @ 5022 E. Hampden Ave.Denver, CO, 80222 phone 303.758.1111

BTB · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2008, 03:50:26 PM »

I have to agree with you a lot, bojonson, about the pizza places you mentioned. I, too, used to live near Joe's Pizza in Wheeling and it was always one of my favorites when there, as well as Malnati's in Mount Prospect. Joe's was a truly unique "old fashioned" type of Chicago thin crust pizza that is rapidly disappearing from the scene unfortunately. I heard that they opened a second Joe's pizzeria towards Barrington.

I also used to live near the original Aurelio's in Homewood and frequently enjoyed their great pizzas, too. And I often drove down to the River North area, just north of downtown Chicago, and enjoyed the then great, great Chicago Style pan pizza at Pizzerias Uno's and Due's. For those of you living in the Chicago pizza paradise, there are many of us ex-midwesterners who envy you and wish we had the opportunity to frequent the great pizza places that you have in your area more often.

A couple of months ago we had the opportunity to go the the great and original Home Run Inn pizzeria on 31st St. in Chicago. The pizza was absolutely fantastic and almost as good as I remember it in years gone by (see a couple of pictures below). No wonder they were rated No. 1 in one Chicago poll or ranking recently.

I'm looking forward to hearing from cougarblue on his experience from his pizza tasting trip that he mentioned earlier this month above.

fazzari · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2008, 06:29:00 PM »

Hey Chicago pizza fans
I have a question that has bugging me for over 10 years. My younger brother and I got a chance to go to Chicago on business, and were chomping at the bit to try the hot spots. The pizza place I had read most about was Pizzeria Uno..so that is where we went first. We ordered a Pepperoni, mushroom and Italian Sausage pizza....and when it finally arrived, we dove right into it....I have to say the first slice was absolutely fabulous..we both loved the flavors of the pizza, but as we started into our next slices, we noticed we were filling up fast and started really studying what we were eating...the pepperoni had to be 4 layers thick, and so it kinda just warmed up while it baked. We made it through 2 or 3 slices apiece and decided we had enough...we actually threw the leftovers away, not thinking they were worth eating. Thinking back about the very first slice, I have always wondered if we would have enjoyed maybe a simple cheese pizza, without that big pile of pepperoni... Did I just get something I didn't like, or would that be a typical pizza from Unos, or was it made wrong??? I really had high expectations and was very disappointed.

John

BTB · « **Reply #12 on:** August 29, 2008, 09:44:55 PM »

John, I'm a little puzzled on what you were disappointed with, especially when you said "the first slice was absolutely fabulous . . we both loved the flavors of the pizza . . ." Are you saying that "filling up fast" is a negative reflection on the quality of the pizza? While I normally didn't get a pizza with pepperoni there (we prefer just Italian sausage), many of my dining companions have and I've never seen or heard of pepperoni piled up to 4 layers thick on a deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno. Are you saying there was too much pepperoni or that the pepperoni wasn't warmed up enough? I'm not certain what the disappointing part of your experience was. And was your experience in this regard over 10 years ago? Their pizza is normally very good, but I haven't been there in over a year. While I don't like a plain cheese pizza, a lot of people do enjoy such there.

fazzari · « **Reply #13 on:** August 29, 2008, 10:48:27 PM »

I thought the flavor of the sauce was fabulous...but the pepperoni was like warmed up baloni...it was as if the cook just grabbed a handfull of pepperoni and dropped them on...I really do wish I had ordered just cheese if this is how they do it.. I am anxious to go back and try again, though!
John

BTB · « **Reply #14 on:** August 30, 2008, 09:52:02 AM »

Here's a picture of one of the great thin crust pizza's from Joe's Pizzaria in Wheeling that bojonson raved about above. It truly is one of the Chicago area's great classic thin crust pizzas.

Eddy · « **Reply #15 on:** September 20, 2008, 02:32:53 PM »

I think Lou Mals is the best deep dish around. Go the original in Lincolnwood. As for thin, a couple of randoms. Try Barnaby's and Collettis. Collettis is what I grew up on. The chesse and sausage thin is the best. It's in Jefferson Park on North Central.

Hops099 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 07, 2008, 10:49:32 AM »

I'm a fan of party cut, thin crust when it comes to "Chicago Style." Homewood Aurelio's in the old oven is pretty high up on my list, as is Sanfratello's in Glenwood, but number one will always be Papa Damiani's on Lincoln Ave. in Dolton, IL. Anyone else ever been there? I grew up in Riverdale/South Holland and we would get their pies almost every Friday! Pure Heaven!

Adam T · « **Reply #17 on:** October 07, 2008, 03:46:30 PM »

My wife and I visited Chicago this past weekend. The town was great, there is so much to do and see.

We only had time for one Chicago Style deep dish pizza. So, given the history of Chicago style pizza, Pizzeria Uno was at the top of our list of places we wanted to eat. We just beat the supper rush at Unos and were able to sit down right after placing our pizza order. The atmosphere was fantastic, such a small place and really a part of Chicago's history. We ordered two personal sized "NUMERO UNO" ("A ‘works’ pizza with sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms and our unique chunky tomato sauce. Topped with mozzarella and grated Romano.") the first one minus green peppers, and the second pizza minus green peppers and sausage and adding olives.

I can't really call myself a Chicago style aficionado but in my opinion the sausage gave Uno's pizza it's taste. The first pizza was good, the sausage has great taste, plenty of cheese, the ever so thin sliced vegetables seemed nice and fresh. The pizza without sausage was somewhat flat, almost bland. The crust on both Uno's pizza was a crispy flaky crust but too dry for my taste. I'm definitely glad we were able to have pizza at Unos but I don't think the pizza itself was good enough to make me come back to Unos.

cougarblue · « **Reply #18 on:** October 15, 2008, 03:13:09 PM »

Hey all,

Thanks for all your responses and recommendations on chicago pizza. Sorry that my response is so delayed. We were living in st Louis for the past 5 years and have moved across country in that time. We went to chicago as kind of a last fling before the move so I havn't been on the board for a while. That said, Chicago was so awesome and the pizza was great. We ended up going to Lou's. Not only was the pizza wonderful but we also had a large salad that we shared that was really good. My wife raved as much about that salad as I did the Pizza. Service was excellent and we topped it off with two desert pizzas that were very good too. To top it all off, we had to go get a chicago style hot dog a few hours later. It was well worth the drive that we sandwiched into the move. Anyway.....thanks again for the recommendations and I will definitely return to Chicago for some more pizza. In the mean time, I noticed that when I have attempted to make my chicago style imitation, my crust is harder......not as flaky......I have used a very low kneading time on the dough as suggested in other posts......I think I might be baking to hot or long.......how long do you all bake and at what temperature do you bake your chicago style pizza?

zipp669 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 04, 2008, 08:49:37 PM »

Quote from: BTB on August 30, 2008, 09:52:02 AM

Here's a picture of one of the great thin crust pizza's from Joe's Pizzaria in Wheeling that bojonson raved about above. It truly is one of the Chicago area's great classic thin crust pizzas.

I will be in Chicago on hoepfully Sunday eve and Monday. Any idea if Joe is open on Sunday.. I would assume they would be but you never know.
I always make sure when passsing through Chicago to be there a full day just to eat pizza.