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When I was in Grad School at U of I I ordered from Papa Del's at least once a week. I still consider it one of the best pies on earth. Deep dish, fabulous ingredients, just spectacular. I would compare it very favorably to every other joint in Chicago.

Maybe now it s*cks? But back then, man... just thinking about it...

Carmen's stuffed pizza is my favorite. As far as I know they only have two locations (in Evanston and by Loyola).

Giordano's in second place.

I don't have the luxury of living in chicago, so I haven't had a chance to try all these different places... But when I do go there is always two things I have to get: dinner at a Peruvian restaurant (AY AY Picante or Machu Pichu have both been great) and Giordanos pizza. For my money that is the best pizza I have ever had, hands down( my favroite is the stuffed crust special)!

Ben Wilson25 wrote:Big fan of Piece and Aurelio's that have already been mentioned. But if you're looking for the best thin crust square cut on earth its got to be Nino's across from the Lincoln Mall in Matteson. Via Carducci's on Division is pretty good too.

I miss Nino's.

NoSkyy wrote:After reading this thread, I've decided it is of the utmost importance to go and eat at Lou Malnati's tonight.

lol, I just ordered delivery.

Sorry if this is offensive to anyone but I'm from Madison, WI, and we have a chain with several locations called Uno's.

I'm pretty sure it's based on the Chicago chain, and vaguely believe there is an affiliation (same owners or whatever), but what I've never known really is if it is the same pizza (vs just the same name and owners). I have it frequently here in Madison, and think it's awesome, but I've only had Pizza in Chicago once - it wasn't Uno's and it was awful (can't remember who it was).

Same thing is true about Edwardos. They don't have it here in Madison anymore but did for many years and it was my favorite - but technically it's stuffed crust rather than deep dish. Does anyone know if this is the same pizza as at Edwardos in Chicago?

The reason it's so important to me is that whenever I go to Chicago, which is really only about twice a year, I love to eat right (correctly, not healthy). My recent favorites have been steak (at Grotto and Pete Miller's in Evanston) and at The Gage (Irish restaurant across from Millenium Park right before my first Bulls game on St. Patty's day this year - excellent).

So anyway I'd like to try some of these places but I wouldn't want to have something I can have in Madison anytime.

Thanks

As a kid I remember us going to Homerun inn Pizza or at least I think that's what it was. I'm partial to Giardanos now, I have some shipped out here to SoCal every once in a while.

After just wolfing one down, I have to enthusiastically vote for Lou Malnati's deep dish sausage buttercrust. OMG, so good.

waffle wrote:When I was in Grad School at U of I I ordered from Papa Del's at least once a week. I still consider it one of the best pies on earth. Deep dish, fabulous ingredients, just spectacular. I would compare it very favorably to every other joint in Chicago.

Maybe now it s*cks? But back then, man... just thinking about it...

I would get stoned or drunk or both and eat pokey sticks with all-ranch... man I had a great metabolism back then, I should weigh 400lbs after eating all that crap, but thankfully I am half of that!

JockItch43 wrote:After just wolfing one down, I have to enthusiastically vote for Lou Malnati's deep dish sausage buttercrust. OMG, so good.

Crumbled sausage or the giant patty?

teamCHItown wrote:Sorry if this is offensive to anyone but I'm from Madison, WI, and we have a chain with several locations called Uno's.

I'm pretty sure it's based on the Chicago chain, and vaguely believe there is an affiliation (same owners or whatever), but what I've never known really is if it is the same pizza (vs just the same name and owners). I have it frequently here in Madison, and think it's awesome, but I've only had Pizza in Chicago once - it wasn't Uno's and it was awful (can't remember who it was).

Same thing is true about Edwardos. They don't have it here in Madison anymore but did for many years and it was my favorite - but technically it's stuffed crust rather than deep dish. Does anyone know if this is the same pizza as at Edwardos in Chicago?

The reason it's so important to me is that whenever I go to Chicago, which is really only about twice a year, I love to eat right (correctly, not healthy). My recent favorites have been steak (at Grotto and Pete Miller's in Evanston) and at The Gage (Irish restaurant across from Millenium Park right before my first Bulls game on St. Patty's day this year - excellent).

So anyway I'd like to try some of these places but I wouldn't want to have something I can have in Madison anytime.

Thanks

The Uno's chain outside Chicago, from my experience at a couple different restaurants, is an embarassment to the Chicago name. I was very disappointed.

Morten Jensen wrote:Cliché, but Giordanos has been my favorite so far.

I haven't tried Pequods yet, but when searching for pictures on Google, I'm not impressed.

Pequod's doesn't look pretty because it is semi-burnt looking, but that's what makes it good. The outside of the crust is some kind of carmelized/burnt mozzarella goodness. It's pretty awesome but it's still behind Giordano's and Malnati's deep dishes for me. I personally think that Gino's is totally overrated and my sleeper pick is the deep dish at Chicago Pizza. Best thin crust for me is either John's Pizza by Bucktown or Rosati's. Personally, I don't go for any of that gourmet, creative crap.

Cliff Levingston wrote:Totally agreed. Cliff Levingston went to college in Iowa where the only pizza place is often "Happy Joe's" which is like cardboard with ketchup on it, yet everyone out there loves it. Why? Because they have great "taco pizza." Well then, it's not really pizza... it's just a big tostada.

I agree that it is not pizza but the Taco Supreme pizza with a bunch of the Taco Sauce is awesome. I moved back to Iowa a couple of months ago and my first weekend here I had to go there.

I lived in Lake County for the past 9 years so I am not too familiar with the local places in the city. But, just about any bar you go to in Lake County has really good thin crust pizza. As far as Deep Dish, here are my top three and they are all awesome...

1 - Giordanos stuffed spinach
2 - Gino's Sausage Patty
3 - Lou Malnati's "The Lou"

Tanelli's, on Fullerton off of Central, blows everything I've had out of the water. This stuff is magical, if you fed it to a horse, it'd sprout wings and become a pegasus, then proceed to donkey kick you to death for being stupid enough to waste such glorious pizza on anybody but yourself. Give this stuff to the middle east and all violence and tensions will halt till a shortage comes around, which will then plunge us into world war V, yes, it will be so epic that 3 and 4 will get skipped.

Get it with Sausage, and if you want Pepperoni for a dash of extra flavor, haven't tried adding anything else because messing with this kind of perfection might cause a black hole to form and send humanity to Bruges which, if you're wondering is in Belgium.

Chicago-Bull-E wrote:What about types of pizza toppings fellas? Or is that thread worthy on its own.

I like some outlandish ones from this great little place I know. Honey Mustard Pizza, Buffalo Chicken, BBQ Chicken, and Baked Potato are all really good.

The sausage patty is an absolute necessity. I don't like Gino's East but at least they got that right. For those of you who are a little adventurous, I'd recommend heading to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up the Chicago Professional Deep Dish pan for like 17 bucks. I make my own deep dishes and everyone who's tried it says it can hang with a lot of the big boys. I've used a combination of a few recipes I researched on the internet. The most important part is to go with a 2 to 1 flour to corn meal mix for the crust (also active dry yeast) so it tastes like Gino's without being as hard as oak. The sausage patty can be done by getting the flat package of Johnsonville mild italian sausage. The final necessity is to use 6in1 brand crushed tomatos for the sauce. Then have fun with your basil, garlic and oregano. The key to the crust is letting it sit covered in the fridge to rise for 24 hours. This recipe is a pretty good start. http://www.pizzamaking.com/dkm_chicago.php BTW, Provalone is an absolute must with the mozzarella.

Grew up in Homewood. Been eating Aurelio's since I was two. Joe Aurelio lived down the street. Aurelio's sausage pizza will be the meal I ask for on my deathbed.

Deep: Giordano's, Malnati's are a draw for me. I used to think Gino's East was the best, but haven't been there in 20 years. First deep dish I had was at Gino's Piper's Alley in the 60s. Black lights, hobbit posters, psychodelic posters, beads, scented candles and Gino's sausage pizza. What a night.

Am I dating myself?

As far as toppings go, try pepperoni and pineapple....godly!

jump wrote:Grew up in Homewood. Been eating Aurelio's since I was two. Joe Aurelio lived down the street. Aurelio's sausage pizza will be the meal I ask for on my deathbed.

Awesome. My dad grew up eating Aurelio's and my grandparents lived a 10 minute drive from the Homewood mecca when I was a kid. We went there for dinner every time we visited (from Wilmette, so we visited monthly or so) and it was divine. I still go out of my way to eat there when I'm back to visit friends, etc. Soooo good.

New here, just wanted to give my input.

For classic naploi style pizza:

Spakka Napoli

Always have been a rosati's fan...or maybe just because its down the street from me