Deep dish -- Where should I go? (Chicago, Lincoln: credit, hotel)

[WesleyPrescott]

I'm stuck between Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Uno (as I've heard the original is much better than the chain), and Gino's East.

Where should I go for the quintessential Chicago deep dish?

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by WesleyPrescott

I'm stuck between Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Uno (as I've heard the original is much better than the chain), and Gino's East.

Where should I go for the quintessential Chicago deep dish?

You can't go wrong with Malnati's in my book. the beauty of Malnati's is that it is not a chain; all restaurants are owned by the company. And Lou is the guy who brings strong roots from the original Uno's where he worked for years into his restaurants.

Malnati's gets full credit for blanketing Chicagoland with authentic deep dish pizza that goes back to the post-WWII days and is rooted in the original.

Uno's, as you noted, is a chain. Only two restaurants are company owned and they share the exact same menu, a location a block apart, and names that were designed to go in tandem: Uno's and Due's. They share nothing with the chain at all except that the chain itself is operated by the company; the chain's pizzas, menu, decor, etc., have nothing to do with Uno's or Due's.

So IMHO, you can't go wrong with either Malnati's or Uno's/Due's. That said, you get an extra dose of tradition when you go to Uno's or Due's. Malnati's downtown locations (a couple near north; one near south) came about with company expansion from the firm's original location in suburban Lincolnwood. That may add a bit more to the Chicago experience of Uno/Due.

Gino's East, like Uno's chain stores, is a chain. I believe it is franchised, but I don't know for sure. The pizza is good; personally i don't think it rates up there with Lou's or Uno/Due, but it is much, much better than Uno's chain is (which I personally do not like at all).

"back in the day", Gino's competed with Uno's and Due's in what once was only a downtown market for a product that had yet to spread to the suburbs...and then nationally. But Gino's East has little to do with its roots, unlike Uno/Due.

Hope that wasn't too confusing or wordy.

[Drover]

Of the three you asked about, Lou Malnati's is the runaway favorite. Gino's East comes in a somewhat close second and Uno/Due a distant third. The franchises are borderline abysmal; the flagship Uno/Due locations near downtown are much better but IMO still lag behind most of the other local/regional deep-dish/stuffed chains.

Of the regional chains, my favorites are Nancy's, Edwardo's and Lou Malnati's in that order for stuffed and/or deep dish. There is a slight difference -- stuffed has a thin layer of dough on top of the ingredients with the sauce on top of the dough-top; whereas deep-dish foregoes the top layer of dough but still piles the ingredients high and puts the sauce on top. Stuffed tends to be a bit thicker, a bit more dough-y, and more filling; other than that the flavor and overall experience (best described as "belt-stretching") is about the same.

Nancy's and Edwardo's do stuffed but not deep-dish; Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, and Uno/Due do deep-dish but not stuffed.

Favorite mom-and-pop non-chains for stuffed are Pete's and Art of Pizza.

[Vlajos]

Lou Malnati's

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by WesleyPrescott

I'm stuck between Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Uno (as I've heard the original is much better than the chain), and Gino's East.

Where should I go for the quintessential Chicago deep dish?

Malnati's... btw if you end up going to Uno's for some reason, there's something called Pizzeria Due like 400 feet away from Uno. Uno's is always busy, but technically the two are the same things..

Anyway, Malnati's. There's a new-ish one near your hotel (State & Cedar) in an area with a vibe (the area is called the Viagra Triangle).

[chet everett]

How many Edwardos are even still around?

I really like the Lou Malnatti's and agree that they do a nice job. That said I have to put in a plug for Giordano's. I know that there are those that much prefer the shortening rich crust of Lou's but the simpler dough of Giordano's recipe allows one to wolf down a couple extra slices of cheese and savage laden goodness.

Btw I know there are those of you who'd rather have kidney removed than spend money outside of 606xx but you'd be hard pressed to not call Pequods or Burt's some the best pizza in the region...

[edsg25]

both Edwardo's and Giordono's offer up good pizza. And, of course, they have deep dish and it a major part of their business.

But I find them different from Malnati's, Uno/Due, and Gino's. Those all go back to the original roots of deep dish Chicago pizza, Malnati's being an off shoot of the very Uno's where Lou once made his home. When Gino's started up, it was very much like Uno's (Gino's pizza used to be extraordinary; I don't think they make it quite the way they used to.....there was talk of Gino's reopening the old location on Rush, but that idea looks long dead....unless somebody knows otherwise)

Edwardo's is more about things like spinach pizza than sausage. Giordono's is more about stuffed than deep dish.

[Jandur]

Giordanos.

Lou's has amazing crust but the rest falls short of Giordanos in my humble opinion.

Don't bother with Unos.

[marothisu]

There's still Eduardo's around. I like Giordano's..it's not bad, but I like Eduardo's more than Giordano's. I like Pizzano's more than Giordano's too..

[chet everett]

I think the Giordano's ownership turmoil killed the Gino's re-opening plans. Running pizza places can generate a lot of cash but considering how high the average tab is the margins are not great. People might get a pitcher of beer, but compare to a steak house they aren't going to get as much hard liquor or wine or desert. Runniing the pizza oven for 12 hours a day or more also means a huge utility bill. In high rate parts of the region that means you gotta keep the place packed and/ or keep the oven filled with carry out order,which tend not to have any high margin drinks attached...

The other model that works is the route that Home Run Inn choose -- massive frozen pizza operation. I think I saw that there thin crust is now the top selling frozen pizza in the Midwest. That has to make the big national companies crazy. Funny thing too is there crust has so much shortening it is the polar opposite of the "digiorno" puffy style crust that I am sure an army of test kitchen food scientists try to refine...