Real Chicago Pizza

There is a difference between NY thin crust and Chicago thin crust, even to this raised in Chicago-moved to MN-then to Austin-then to San Diego clown. NY thin crust is noticeably thinner than Chicago's thin crust and doesn't have as much cheese on it. NY natives tell me the sauce is sweeter, though I don't know if I buy that. Chicago thin crust is thick all around, thicker crust and definitely thicker layers of cheese. I prefer the Chicago thin crust because I was raised on it, but I live my life being looked down upon by my friends from the East Coast.

I was born and grew up in Chicago. I lived there for 45 years. I have had this conversation with many from Chicago and the concesus is always, Chicago style pizza is definitely "THIN". We don't know where the "thick Myth" came from.

I have lived in several states in the last 10 years and only ocassionally find find pizza even close to which I am accustomed.

I worked as a pizza cook when I was in my 20's. The difference in the crust that I look for is that it not be "bready" which I find in most NY style pizza. The crust I made was from oil, flour, water and yeast. Not sweet. The dough was rolled out with a pastry roller and cut to the size of the pan. Therefore not having the "Hand tossed" edge that I see in NY style pizza. We did not cook in the pan (for serving only) You had to slide the pizza off the wooden paddle into the oven. We baked at 500 Degrees for 15 minutes or more depending on the ingrediants

I never heard of Deep dish till the 70's
Chicago thin is definitely "different". I don't like precooked crumbled sausage either, we always used fresh.

I guess you have to be from and have experienced Chicago thin pizza in order to appreciate the difference. I enjoy the "aurellios Pizza" which is a franchise based in Homewood Il. The home store there is the best!

"Still looking for that Chicago pizza else where"

quote:

Originally posted by jeepguy

Chicago pizza is identified by Deep Dish pizza not thin crust.

Maybe this is relative to your age. Thick crust became more popular in the 80's. Never heard of it in the 50's, 60's

Thick crust has been around a long time. I was eating it at Due's and Uno's in the 60's. Been a Chicago area resident for almost 50 years. (damn, didn't think I was that old).

I agree with a couple of earlier posts with the argument that Chicago is known for deep dish because we do it the best. If you don't want to buy that, most people in Chicago eat thin crust anyway, I agree. However, we are known for having thicker thin crust than NY and they are NOT the same thing in both NY and Chicago. I don't know anyone who equates the thin crust in Chicago with the thin in NY.

Tommy2dog are you sure it isnt the other way around you are from Dallas and just moved to chicago cause Chicago is and always will be the Deep Dish capital of the world unless you know something every other chicagons doent know.Im Sorry im not trying to be an A-hole but come on if you grew up here you should know chicago is the Rome of deep dish unless you just posted this to get people like me riled up then if thats the case your forgiven You BALSFIMER j/k.

Deep Dish Pizzeria's
Uno's pizza est.1944
due pizza est.1950
The ORIGINAL Gino's Pizza On Rush est.1954
(not affilated w/ Gino's east)
Gino's East est.1966
and so on and so forth.
Deep Dish has been around since the 40's just to answer anyones ?'s.

Also Tommy 2 dog the newspaper article is one voice if you believe everything you read in the paper then your a sheep i guess to each there own make your own opinion dont let an article make it for you stand up on your own and if you believe thin crust is chicago style pizza then so be it but for me Deep Dish is and always will be the best. A Gino's Special from The ORIGIANAL Gino's on Rush est.1954
(not affilated w/ Gino's East est.1966)
Sausage,mushrooms, greenpeppers, and onions.
THE BEST IN CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!! at least i think so.

Deep dish pizza in Chicago started out as kind of a tourist or going downtown thing, a special treat you might say. I used to take my wife down to a place in Pipers Alley that did a real good Unos clone. But out in the neighborhoods it was primarily thin crust except for "thick-thins" like The Home run Inn or Sorrentos on 16th St.

The first neighborhood pan pizza joints I knew were Gullivers on Howard on the North Side and Giordanos on 107th St on the East Side. (I got around)

My favorites in the old days were Salernos on Madison around 5800 west and Michaels at Harrison and Austin. Pats on Madsion in Oak Park was good too. Jeez, there were good pizza places all over the place.

I been living in Chicago since 1949. And I've lived West Side, South Side and North Side. Of course Chicago is fast losing it's identity especially on the North Side. You should see all the guys up here that carry bags, especially around the youth Ghetto in Lakeview, it's part of the uniform for a young, raised in the suburbs but moved to the city guy.

Needless to say such guys will have no clue about Chicago pizza.

Westsidetommy, if you were a fan of Gulliver's, you need to get to Burt's Place in Morton Grove. It's owned by Burt Katz, one of the original owners of Gulliver's and also the original owner of Pequod's Pizza. They're located on Ferris about 100 yards north of Lincoln Avenue and about 2 blocks south of Dempster. Burt has the goods 40+ years later.

OK, I've registered for the sole reason of commenting on this thread, it's a pet peeve of mine. I grew up in the Chicago 'burbs, Warrenville, "The Boonies" to those of you that remember John Coleman on Channel 7. I spent close to 25 years there and the rest of my 43 years in just about every region of the rest of the country. I've lived in the Northeast, NYC, New England, the Deep South, Florida, California, and met Chicagoans all over the country. One subject always come up, the rest of the country is clueless when it comes to Pizza. The comment is usually followed with something like, "Yea there's a Pizzeria Uno here, and don't get me wrong, it's something, but I just miss Pizza, like real Pizza, You know?". I've heard this, almost exact phrase uttered by probably a hundred displaced Chicagoans over the years.

Now does this define what Chicago Pizza is? I don't know, but I'll say this, and first let me reiterate the town I grew up in, Warrenville. Chicago Tribune and the Suntimes (even the Today and the Daily News, back in the day) would publish the best pizzerias in Chicagoland and one distant suburban Pizzaria would consistently make the list, and that was Al's Pizza in Warrenville, which on many occasions shared ink in these lists with Home Run Inn (back when there was only one Home Run Inn). Warrenville didn't have much else, but it had Al's. My dad who went to Proviso would take us to Home Run all the time, also excellent. Thick/Thin? Home Run? Did something happen somewhere along the way? Last time I was there was probably in the early '80s and there was nothing thick about it. It was the standard pastry roller, thin to the edge Chicago pizza, amazing, but not thick, and thinner than any pizza I've ever had in NYC.

New Yorkers *can* make pizza, their own style, and occasionally a displaced New Yorker can duplicate this outside of his home town. I've had pretty good replicas of New York Pizzas in Los Angeles and Florida, rare but they exist. But Chicago thin, is a delicacy that the rest of the country knows not. Thin to the edge, a slight seared crispness in the crust, but generally requires a gentle perforating with the teeth to break the small leathery square into a bite size morsel. There is no air bubbles in the crust, nothing bready about it. Straight out of the oven it is insanely hot, but it's at it's best, and requires you to somewhat inhale it, a reverse blowing of sorts. The sauce should make your gums sting from the tomato acids and spices, the sausage should be distinctly spicy and in loose meat ball form, never sprinkled or sliced. Chicago thin, never has corn meal on the bottom of the crust, never has leftover crust edges after consumption. The question was asked, "could you look at a table of thin Pizzas and pick out the one made in Chicago, yes I could, by sight, by smell, yes I could pick one out. Easier than I could pick out a NYC pie and certainly easier than I could pick out a pan pizza actually made by a Pizzeria in Chicagoland.

There are a lot of things that have propagated from their regional roots to the rest of the country. I've lived all over and sampled the original versions of many things. Many never seem to make it out of their home towns successfully, and some only rarely. A great Philly cheese steak hogie is a rare thing outside of Philly, you usually have to coach the preparer to even have a chance, a great New York Pizza is a rare thing outside of NYC. If you haven't had french dip at Philipes in LA, you don't understand the concept, you don't get a bowl of au jus, the best ones are made with lamb and you put hot (like make your nose hurt hot) mustard on them. But Chicago has so many that can't seem to make it out, where are the Italian Beefs? why can't I buy Slotkowski Polish Sausage (and btw kielbasa literally means sausage in Polish, so Jimmy Deans breakfast sausage is Kielbasa, it's "Polish Sausage"), Chicago hotdogs have steamed poppy seed buns, celery salt, no ketchup and dark green sport peppers, not Tabasco peppers or jalapenos.

I've given up these wonderful things so that I don't have to kick big boulders of black ice off my car or carry what now seems strange, that squeegy looking thing with the hard plastic edge and the brush on the other end thingy in my car. Have no desire to ever do that again, I just miss the food. Fair trade for 79 degrees on Christmas Eve? I think so.

unos and lou malnatis for deep dish and barnabys for thin in my book

Deep dish is only represented by Chicago because it is originally from here. Your basic pizza is made everywhere, with varying quality, so I think that why that is the only "Chicago" pizza represented. Like "New York Style". Certainly not EVERY pizza shop in NY is the same.

Born and raised and 56 years old in Chicago...I too am puzzled how the media paints Chicago as a deep dish town...My earliest experiences were always with thin crust...the deep dish came later...for me...Chicago will always be a thin crust town...Nick and Vito's on the South Side, or Aurelio's (original one) in homewood which is a Chicago subirb

Unos is not as good outside of Chicago. Giordano's or Carmen's deep dish, stuffed pizza has not been mentioned. Carmen's spinach pizza is especially good. My family likes both Chicago deep dish and Chicago thin crust, but have recently moved to Yardley, PA, and need to find a pizza place. The sausage on pizza here is really sad, at least what we have had so far. We had some pizza mailed from Chicago to friends who missed it in S. Dakota a few years ago and they loved it. I think we may have to do that here for ourselves, but it won't be the same. Any pizza suggestions for this area?

I watched a television program on the Food Channel with Al Roker the other day about pizza and again was incensed about the perpetuation of the myth about Chicago pizza. Roker said "the predominant form of pizza in Chicago is deep dish pizza . . . " That is WRONG, FALSE, & INACCURATE! The predominant form of pizza in Chicago is thin crust pizza. Repeat: the predominant form of pizza served in the pizzerias of Chicago is thin crust pizza. I would estimate that represents about 95% of the pizza made in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Don't get me wrong . . . I love good deep dish pizza in Chicago (Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Due's, Gino's and Gino's East, My Pie, Pequod's, Louisa's, etc.). But they do NOT represent the typical type of pizza served in the Chicago metropolitan neighborhoods. I dislike the stuffed form of pizza (like Giordano's, Eduardo's, Nancy's, etc.) as it has way too much dough and the sauce that is put on top most often dries out in the cooking process, but that's just me. Deep dish pizza may have originated in Chicago, probably in the 40's by Ike Sewell, but it has migrated all over the U.S. and can be had almost anywhere now, but generally not as good as the original deep dish places in Chicago (but there are exceptions).

Thin crust pizza in Chicago is very different from East Coast pizza (as well as most pizzas made "outside of Chicago"). You can't usually tell it by just looking at photos of pizzas or seeing whether it is cut in triangles or squares. It is usually in the taste, texture and flavor. While there are many aspects of the difference, chief among them is the crust. East Coast pizza, as well of most throughout the U.S. and the big chains (Dominos, Cesars, Papa John's, etc.) are a BREAD dough-based crust, which I've found sometimes are very good. But most "original" Chicago thin crust pizzas have a crust made from a cross between a pie dough and a bread dough, with many variations, but tending to be more towards a pie dough-based crust. Now there are many exceptions to this in Chicago, usually from the "late comers" who picked up a commonly available pizza crust recipe that almost always is a bread dough-based recipe (go to the recipe books and see for yourself . . . they are all bread dough-based). But the great original places did not have a bread dough-based pizza crust.

For the unbelievers, here is my short & incomplete list of usually great Chicago thin crust pizza places with the crusts that I am talking about: Home Run Inn, Aurelio's (Homewood & some in NW Indiana), Vito & Nicks (nr. Midway Airport), Fox's (Beverly & Oak Lawn), Ed & Joe's (Tinley Park), Chesdan's (if still around), Father & Son's, Villa Nova (Stickny), Joe's (in Wheeling), Malnati's (has an excellent thin crust version, too), and others that I can't now recall. I now live over a thousand miles from Chicago, but look forward to a return visit every now and then to fill my craving for some good Chicago thin crust pizza that's hard to get outside of Chicago..

Has anyone ever seen deep-dish pizza in New York City, or the east coast in general? (EXCLUDING the greasy and disgusting Uno's or any other national chain please).

I loved it in Chicago, can't get it here!

Zachary's pizza in oakland, you have to eat it to believe it

Chicago is identified with deep dish because deep dish was invented in Chicago.

I think the best Chicago deep dish is Giordano's. Uno's and Malnati's (same recipe) are way too greasy.