New York pizza is composed of a thin, bendable crust on top of which someone has accidentally placed some cheese and tomato sauce along with a meager portion of some topping(s). This makes a fine culinary experience if, say, you're in a prisoner-of-war camp, but it does not rate highly elsewhere. Chicago stuffed pizza is, of course, the only real pizza, and anyone who would deny this is a communist pinko weinerhead fascist antichrist bozo who should be made to eat New York pizza as a penance. Now, what makes Chicago stuffed pizza so good is a combination of things; the double crust; the sauce; the particular mixture of cheeses used; and the abundance of "goodies" that are usually stuffed inside there. Most of the places I've been to produce a flaky crust (rather than a heavy, "doughy" crust) and use a delicate mixture of various cheeses to provide a terrific background for the sauce (which ranges from mild to spicy) and the stuffed ingredients (most of which are the standard fare, though items like spinach are available). Good places to get Chicago stuffed pizza are difficult to find outside of Chicago; however, there's a Gino's near Redondo Beach (LA) that does a credible job. In Chicago, I recommend Giordano's on Rush (or any Giordano's for that matter), Bacino's on Lincoln, Nancy's on Clark or My Pi on Clark. Some of my friends prefer Pizzeria Uno, Pizzeria Due, or Gino's East. [ Update: The Old Chicago restaurants in Denver, Boulder, and Ft. Collins do a credible job. Whatever they lack in pizza finesse is made up by their generous selection of beers (about 120 varieties). ] How *good* is this stuff? We have driven three hours from here (Lafayette) to Chicago on numerous occasions just to get some. When I lived in Chicago, friends who were changing flights at O'Hare frequently asked me to meet them at the airport with one or more Bacino's 'sky-pies" (half-cooked; you freeze 'em for later thawing and cooking...works well) so that they could take some real pizza home to California or New York or wherever. Heck, it's so good that I'll eat the spinach-and-mushroom stuffed special at Bacino's, and I *hate* spinach! [ Update: you can now buy Bacino's frozen pizzas from their stand at O'Hare. ] Now, this stuff isn't cheap; pizza for four runs around $17. But for that money, you'll get enough to take care of a huge appetite with some left over for later. It also takes a while to cook, so it's best to be prepared for a 30-minutes-or-so wait after you order. If you're in Chicago, you owe it to your taste buds to try this at least once; I haven't found a single pizzeria anywhere else in North America that can do it as well as they do there.
Pizza