Every city is known for its signature dish: Philadelphia has its cheesesteaks, New York its pizza, Minneapolis its Juicy Lucy’s and Chicago has its deep-dish pizza. Some Chicago critics tend to dismiss the Chicago-styled pizza as overblown and behind New York’s thin crust, but every tourist who comes to Chicago can’t resist the urge of deep-dish hype.
Next time you’re in Chicago be sure to stop by one or all of these deep-dish pizza delights.
Pizzeria Uno is where the original deep-dish style was invented in 1943. The crispy short dough crust, topped with cheese first then crushed tomatoes has caught on. Be careful as the more toppings you add, the heavier the pizza becomes.
Pequod’s Pizza provides diners with a deep-dish pan pizza, where the ingredients sit on top of a puffy crust. The restaurant has two locations, Morton’s Grove and Lincoln Park, making it easy to get your pizza fix. Chicago’s pan pizza is known for its crispy edge of caramelized cheese turned lacy and almost black, the invention of Burt Katz who launched and sold pizzerias from the 1960s on, including Pequod’s. You may want to work your way up to this hot spot and take on milder forms of pizza, as the cheese is sharp enough to cut your gums on and the acidic blast of the tomato sauce can put hair on your chest.
The Art of Pizza was named best deep dish in town some years ago. It wins everything and we know why — its flaky crust and the brightly spiced tomato sauce on top. The simple and unfussy counter-serve pizzeria serves both pan pizza by the slice and deep-dish pizza. Even though it is known for its deep-dish pies, it also makes thin-crust and stuffed pizzas.
Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria has more than 40 locations across the Chicago area. It is synonymous with deep-dish pizza, with its signature buttery and pie-like crust, sausage blend and mozzarella sourced from the same Wisconsin dairy farm for more than 40 years. It is said Lou’s dad most likely invented the deep-dish pizza, but if he didn’t the chains pan pies are pretty close.
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