Chicago Pizza Guide - Deep Dish to Tavern Style and Everything in Between
 

A summary of all the different kinds - deep dish, pan, stuffed, thin, tavern, Quad Cities, New York, New Haven, Neapolitan, thick topping, bakery, and on and on and where to get them. Dinner may come early today. :)

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2015...n-style-beyond

Good article, I think it represents the many styles of Chicago pizza well.

I'm a little disappointed it didn't name a few more tavern-style places on the north side. I'm always looking for a good one to try!

Beer Bistro - $5.00 pizzas on Mondays! :)

Interesting. As a lifelong Chicagolandian, I can say I like almost all types of pizzas available here and mentioned in the article.

My least favorites are bready pan pizzas like Pequod's and Burt's (never got into the cult love for Burt's*) and bakery pizza.

(*But I am a firm believer in the Pizza Cognition Theory, so I understand Burt's lovers well.)

Malnati's is my go-to deep-dish pizza, but I like their thin-crust pizza too. I might like it even more. Some Chicagoans like to say that no one but tourists eat deep-dish, but there wouldn't be so many busy and successful outposts of Malnati's and Giordano's and the like throughout the city and suburbs if that were true.

I've probably never met a tavern-style square-cut thin crust I didn't like, or a cracker-crust pizza.

I agree with the article that Home Run Inn is the best of the locally available frozen pizzas. But take a trip to Woodman's grocery store just over the border in Wisconsin and you will be pleasantly surprised by the wide array of frozen pizza options available in the great white north.

I know it's not to everyone's taste but I do love good stuffed pizza such as Nancy's, because I can never get enough cheese.

I'm surprised to not see Forno Rosso among the prime examples of Neopolitan pizza in Chicago.

I'm also a little surprised not to see double-decker pizza mentioned: that's a thin crust with two bottom crusts, with maybe one ingredient of choice between the two crusts and a regular thin-crust built on top. But maybe that's just a Lake County thing. The young whippersnappers who write for DNAInfo probably don't get beyond the city limits much.

I lived in Lake County for many years (ahh Morgan's pizza in Libertyville!) and don't recall seeing a double decker. Where would one find this? Can't say I'd hurry to try it, but might be interested if I happened to be nearby a place.

Three places come to mind. I will check the addresses and menus and post another reply.

This is very simple:
Best Deep - Pequods
Best Neopolitan - Spacca Napoli

Ah, but it leaves out the essential Chicago pizza, the kind most people who live within the city limits eat regularly - the tavern-style pizza. I think there might be more debate about where to get the best based on what neighborhood a person lives in.

Agree on Spacca Napoli.^ As a native, the only time I have deep dish is when we are having pizza with out of town visitors. I never seek it out on its own. Thin crust winner is the original Home Run Inn and random delivery is usually form Lou Malnatti's or D'augustinos.

hey i have a 11 hour layover from 0900-2000 on a weekday. so after polaris lounge nap+drink+eat i'm definitely going to crave some deep dish.

i've had lou's and uno, both decent but looking to mix it up, prefer something more neighborhood'y (ie cheap beer in a plastic cup). what would yall recommend? pequod’s? what about gino's? spuntino? dino's? anything else?

looking for quintessential deep dish (flaky crust, tons of cheese and sause) and i don't care if it's stuffed or traditional but i'd like to try pan pizza (as per the article above). i like my pies simple: cheese and 1 meat or cheese and 1 or 2 veg. or just cheese and basil.

loose criteria:
-deep dish (all we have where i live is amazing neapolitan pies, i'm over it)
-close to the el
-in town (or on the blue line) so i can pivot afterwards to a museum or something
-open between meals (1400-1700)
-not a chain (but don't care if it is the best)
-beer + bar + relaxed environment

edit: just saw this devastating photo of bread from pequod's, this epitomizes what i do not want: https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...nRrMz_8Q/o.jpg

There aren't a lot of neighborhood places that do deep dish, at least on the north side of the city (or maybe we Chicagoans just ignore them :)). I'm not as familiar with the south. Pequod's is one, plus there are the Gino's, Giordano's, and Malnati's around. For what you want, your safe bet is probably Malnati's or Gino's.

Art of Pizza is good, but more of a takeout joint with a few tables.

I haven't been to Bartoli's in Roscoe Village but have heard people say it's good. Supposed to be similar to Gino's, on Addison and Damen, nice little neighborhood. I won't personally recommend a place I haven't tried though.

Pequods is the best pizza in Chicago so not sure why you don't want it. But Malnati's is very good too so I'd go for that. You can take an L to downtown and get your pie for lunch, and then head back.

this is why (notice the bread, i dunno if this was a pizza malfunction but if this was the norm.... wow)
https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...nRrMz_8Q/o.jpg

but ok i'll maybe consider pequods. isn't there always a wait though, or weekday 2-5pm a good time

what i want to know is why is no one vouching for the north side/blue line places i mentioned? rated well on google, i like greasy spoon, seems to be neighborhood haunts, etcetc, what am i missing? i had malnati's which was good but i just know deep down (like that pun) there is better. or maybe malnati is the best and i just need to make something better at home for everyone here. someone please confirm or deny this. surely there some neighborhood dive in cicero that does it 11/10.

i know i'm being difficult but if yall ever need bbq advice in tx you know who to pm or hit up on the texas forum. i'm pretty crazy over food. i just know there has this one place somewhere in chicagoland that just does deep dish better than anything else (knowing i love greasy flakey crazy unique $2 draft in a plastic cup kinda places). or maybe i need to manage expectations better. seriously i live in africa, we got incredible neapolitan pies but i need something american

I've had Gino's and think it's not as good as the two places I mentioned. Haven't been to the other ones you mentioned mostly because I'm content with Pequods and Malnatis.

The crust is very bread-like at Pequod's, but the carmelized edges are what make their pizza! I'm not a huge fan of their pizza sauce. But, I do enjoy their pizza on occasion.

The "sauce" at Lou Malnati's is actually crushed tomatoes, which I prefer. Further, the crust is actually not thick, but actually fairly thin and flakey or crunchy (at least until it's cut and the "juices" run). It's the toppings that make the pizza thick.

If you want flakey crust, I'd stick with Lou's or Uno (or Due downtown - NOT the Uno's chain). I'm sure there are others, but I never see a reason to go to places other than those two for deep dish pizza.