CHICAGO
THERE’S A PIZZA BATTLE HAPPENING IN CHICAGO: TRADITIONAL DEEP-DISH VERSUS NEAPOLITAN-STYLE THIN CRUST.
BY ROD O’CONNOR
For a true tast e of Chicago, deep-dish pizza w as once the only way to go. Sure, there have always been quality thin-crus t pies available at bars and Italian res taurants around town. But the thicker, more casserole-like pizza baked in a deep pan has been a reliable slice of civic pride since the 1940s.
In many ways, this hearty meal ea ten with a fork and knife has c ome to symbolize Chicago in all its broad-shouldered glory.
So why is the city that invented deep-dish falling head over heels for thin-crust pizza with ingredients like clams and arugula? Have locals forsaken their heritage? Is Chicago becoming a thin-crust town?
“I think it follows the reality that Chicago has become a true player on the culinary scene,” says Penny Pollack, Chicago magazine’s dining editor and co-author of Everybody Loves Pizza. “If you’re going to keep that edge, you have to do it in every arena, so why not pizza? There’s no reason we can’t continue to refine and redefine what we do with those foods that we so dearly love.”
John Caputo, the New York-born chef of recently opened A MANO Italian Trattoria has lived in Chicago since 2000. He admits he’s not a huge fan of deep-dish, having grown up on the folded-over slices of New York. But he thinks Chicago’s familiarity with and passion for pizza has made it easier for chefs to introduce more creative interpretations, like his rustic, more Roman pies, with their crispy crust and earthy toppings like lamb meatballs and smoky chunks of eggplant.
“Chicagoans want to have a high-level [dining experience], but they also want it to feel like something they know, something that also goes with Bears football and Cubs baseball. Pizza fits that bill,” Caputo says. “And with thin crust—even with the more sophisticated ingredients—it’s still pizza.”
Despite all the heat in the thin-crust category (other recent openings include chic pizzeria and wine bar La Madia and Osteria Via Stato, a regional Italian spot), the deep-dish legends aren’t going down without a fight. According to the iconic pizzeria chain Lou Malnati’s, business isn’t decreasing at all.
“Deep-dish is still Chicago’s pizza. Once you develop a taste for it, nothing else will substitute,” says Mindy Kaplan, the company’s director of marketing. “You can get a good thin crust anywhere in the country, but you can’t get authentic Chicago-style pizza anywhere else that tastes like this.”
While some speculate that it’s the tourists who still want deep-dish, Kaplan says otherwise: “Our suburban locations are growing and doing very well. Those are Chicagoans eating that pizza. And our [downtown] location is our highest volume store. While we get tourists, the majority, by far, is local residents.”
Those who maintain love affairs with deep-dish typically cite that it’s more of a meal, while thinner pizzas serve as a snack or appetizer. Along with the buttery crust of Lou Malnati’s, standouts include stuffed pizza from Giordano’s, which features a double crust, and the original Pizzeria Uno, where deep-dish was invented before Uno Chicago Grille became a national chain.
“[Deep-dish is] a great value,” Kaplan says. “At some of these trendier places, you’re paying the same price for a pizza that has a lot less substance… Those other trends will do well while they’re here, but Chicago-style is a tradition.”
Indeed, those looking for a taste of authentic Italian cooking can now find plenty of solid options in the city. But it’s true: Only in Chicago can you get deep-dish pizza that’s the real deal.
“We have lots of choices, and that’s so exciting,” Pollack says. “I think you have to do both. I love [thin-crust pizzas] because they’re light and you can enjoy pizza in a whole new way. Chicago’s shoulders now have deep-dish on one shoulder and a stack of Neapolitan [pizzas] on the other.”
But the question remains, will the weight remain balanced for good?
THIN CRUST
SPACCA NAPOLI
1769 W Sunnyside Ave www.spaccanapolipizzeria.com
773-878-2420
COALFIRE
1321 W Grand Ave www.coalfirechicago.com
312-226-2625
A MANO ITALIAN TRATTORIA
335 N Dearborn St. www.amanochicago.com
312-629-3500
LA MADIA
59 W Grand Ave www.dinelamadia.com
312-329-0400
OSTERIA VIA STATO
620 N State St www.osteriaviastato.com
312-642-8450
DEEP DISH
LOU MALNATI’S PIZZERIA
439 N Wells St www.loumalnatis.com 312-828-9800 (plus two other Chicago locations)
GIORDANO’S
730 N Rush St. www.giordanos.com 312-951-0747 (plus 13 other Chicago locations)
UNO CHICAGO GRILL (the original Pizzeria Uno)
29 E Ohio St. www.unos.com 312-321-1000 (plus three other Chicago locations)
THE PIE’S PAST: WHO INVENTED DEEP-DISH PIZZA?
While pizza came to the US by way of Southern Italian immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island in the late 1800s, the first American-made pizza (according to American Heritage) is the Chicago deep-dish.
This thicker pie—which typically starts with a layer of cheese and then toppings and sauce— was served at Pizzeria Uno on Ohio Street in 1943. But there are some discrepancies as to who actually invented the classic.
According to Rudy Malnati Jr., the owner of decade-old Pizano’s (www.pizanoschicago.com; 312-751-1766), Pizzeria Uno was opened by his father, Rudy Malnati Sr., local restaurateur Ric Riccardo, Florence Sewell and her husband, Ike Sewell, who has been credited with inventing deep-dish pizza. But the younger Malnati says Ike, a liquor distributor, wasn’t involved with the restaurant until the late 1960s.
“If you talk to anybody who was around back in the old days, they’ll tell you it was my father’s recipe,” the younger Malnati says. His story is backed up by an article in the Chicago Daily News from the 1950s.
At first, the pizza was given away for free. After about a year, deep-dish pizza caught on with Chicagoans in a big way. Gino’s East opened in the ’60s; legend has it, the restaurant stole one of Uno’s cooks.
There are also stories that Rudy Malnati Sr.’s son from an earlier marriage, Lou Malnati, contributed to the pizza’s creation. Malnati Junior says that while Lou helped run the business and the second location, Pizzeria Due, he was still in Italy in 1943 when the pizza was invented.
Regardless, Lou took his pizza knowledge to the suburb of Lincolnwood and opened the first Lou Malnati’s pizzeria in 1971. Lou’s son Marc, who now runs the Lou Malnati’s restaurant chain, claims the recipe was a collaboration between Riccardo, the elder Malnati and Lou Malnati.
What is known for sure is this: Two men named Malnati currently operate restaurants in Chicago, and the deep-dish pizza they serve would make Rudy Malnati Sr. proud.