50 Comments on “Athena Versus Chicago Deep Dish Pizza!”

1. Quit stringing us along, Scalzi.
   Ha ha ha! (get it?) I crack myself up!

2. Well, since Chicago deep-dish pizza is a loser, I say Athena’s winning.

3. She is just toying with the pizza. Sometimes you have to do that. I hope you ate at Giordano’s. Their pizza is the best in the known universe.

   Now I miss Chicago even more. Bad Scalzi. Bad.

4. Father & Sons?

5. There’s two kinds of deep dish Chicago Pizza. The okay kind they have at Uno’s. And the superior Chicago Stuffed Pizza from Edwardo’s, also seen at the aforementioned Giordano’s and (THANKFULLY!) available in Grand Rapids at Joe Chicago’s Pizza — will be having some Sunday… yum!

   Dr. Phil

6. Forget about the pizza. What’s the picture on her t-shirt? It looks cool.

7. mmmmm pizza.

   I’m just sayin’.

8. The cheese always wins.

   You may win too, but the cheese always wins.

9. Was there bacon on the pizza?

10. Athena, clearly. There’s no way the Pizza’s coming back from that amount of stringiness.
    I’m pretty sure the pizza’s already given up.

11. Her hair is clean, and the cheese is stretched into strings. Winner: Athena!

12. Oh my gosh! That’s not pizza! It’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Athena is winning. Praise be…

13. Chicago pizza is the best pizza in the universe. Seriously. And if you ever have a chance to eat it at Ginos East – well, that’s the ultimate pizza eating experience that one can have.

14. I second my brother’s vote for Edwardo’s for best stuffed pizza.

    Ymmmmmmm…pizza…

    And I think Athena is doing just fine on her own there!!

15. Athena FTW.

16. John, that looks suspiciously like Giodarno’s, where I spent Superbowl afternoon stuffing my face.

    Tell me I’m right.

    The only two downers to my last trip to the city: I had to drive up in a blizzard, and the top of the Sears Tower was shrouded in fog until the moment I left for home. (Half a block from the tower and denied a trip to the top.)

17. And now I want to go home. Wah! I miss deep dish…

18. On the duality of Chicago pizzas: The Edwardo’s/Giordano’s end (which includes a few other non-chain places too) was once nicknamed “macho quiche” — especially Edwardo’s delicious spinach souffle version. It features two layers of crust, in between which the fillings are placed, usually including prodigious quantities of cheese, and topped with a somewhat thin tomato sauce before baking. Usually called “stuffed” pizza.

    The original Chicago-style pizza, no less great, is anchored by the nearly-adjacent Uno’s and Due’s, just off the Magnificent Mile, and by Lou Malnati’s, helmed by a former employee of Uno’s, and Gino’s East. This is a crunchier, part cornmeal crust topped by cheese, toppings, then crushed tomatoes. A very different animal from most pizzas thick or thin. Usually called “Chicago Pan” pizza. A thick slab of Italian sausage is the best way to order this.

    Do not be fooled by franchises or imitations. The “Uno’s Grille” chain, especially those foisted off on unsuspecting airport patrons, has no resemblence to the original.

19. Why has nobody brought up Pizza Hut? Now that is pizza at it’s finest! And now they have pasta! (hee)

20. Malnati’s forever! But seriously, which kind was it? Hungry Chicagoan exiles need to know!

21. I lived in Chicago for three years, had Edwardo’s, Giodarno’s, Gino’s East and Uno’s on many occasions. But its indisputable that the best Chicago-style pizza is to be had at Zachary’s Pizza in Oakland, Berkeley, and SF.

22. OMG ! Hide your valuables under the floorboards ! Grab your kids and run for the hills! It’s a pizza holy war!

23. Agreed with 20.

    Lou Malnati’s is the best deep dish in Chicago. Giordano’s is also good however. There are other, harder to find places that are good as well, but those two provide consistency. I will have to note though, that those people who tout Gino’s as “good” Chicago pizza likely have criminal records, and quite possibly might be terrorists. If they aren’t terrorists, then undoubtedly they have their heads firmly implanted in their puckerguard.

    (Seriously though, Gino’s sucks. I didn’t know better ten years ago when I first moved here, but I learned. Plus the fact that I knew a woman who said they had a rat problem when she was a waitress there didn’t help.)

    Might I also add spinach is a classic Chicago stuffed pizza ingredient. (Also I still prefer my arteries clogged with no pretense of health.)

    Finally, I just wanted to use the word puckerguard. No offense meant you poor, misguided lovers of Gino’s.

24. Scalzi vs. HateMail. Congratulations HateMail…

25. That looks like a Giordano’s sign to me (behind Athena’s right hand).

26. I hope you own a carpet steamer, just saying.

    As to who’s winning, well remember this just one battle in the war – which could go on for a lifetime.

27. Nah, Mikey’s down on Michigan Avenue, and then it would be Giordano’s.

    Best. Pizza. Evar!

    Now I miss home. Drat you Scalzi!

28. Noah@23: Sorry, as soon as you claimed that Lou Malnati’s is the best, you lost any and all credibility.

    Uno’s or Nancy’s.

29. Lou Malnatis is good – their chocolate chip pizza makes for a good date night especially when it is cold out.

    After all that pizza – for a change of pace – Gs – right around Chicago and LaSalle- if it is still there. Awesome, greasy, dive. Man I miss the food in Chicago. One of the best cities to eat in, ever.

30. @Lee S: It’s not a holy war until the New Yorkers show up, tell us that Chicago style pizza is a perversion, and declare that cracker-thin cheese-on-cardboard “thin crust” is the One True Pizza. Gino’s East vs. Uno’s is just the Chicago way of saying “good morning.”

    As an aside, the best Chicago-style pizza I’ve had outside of Chicago is the stuffed crust at Delfino’s in Seattle, which is good enough to keep me from special-ordering pizzas packed in dry ice.

31. Steven @ 28: Not all Lou’s are created equal – the original in Elk Grove is the best.

32. Wow! You can eat pizza, and knit at the same time!

33. PIZZA THE HUT!!!

34. Dammit, why do I always wander into these food threads just before lunch?

    joelfinkle: sweet mother of all that’s holy, but that all sounds good. Must resist temptation to drive to Chicago right now.

35. 32: Nah, it’s pizza macrame.

36. Clearly Athena is winning! She’s ripped the pizza’s intestines out.

37. I like NY style pizza way better than Chicago-style.

    That oughtta stir ’em up…

38. Nice alien autopsy style there, Athena.

    BTW best pizza is at Greenwood Village, Perth, Western Australia.

39. Had some deep dish last night. (Green Mill, a Midwest chain). Although I am from NYC, I admit to a weakness for good deep dish.

40. You can like both Chicago and NY pizza, just like you can like the Beatles and the Stones.

    Also, for everyone who asked, we ate at Giordano’s on Jackson, across from the Sears Tower (when we then proceeded to visit).

41. I find this thread absolutly ” CHEESY “.

    i’m sorry. couldn’t help myself.

42. Alas, I’ve never had authentic Chicago deep dish. Judging from the sheer cheesy goodness in that there photo, my culinary life is painfully incomplete.

43. Is this an open pimp thread?

44. Oh, the liking both is not an issue (unless you’re in either Chicago or New York city limits, in which case, theirs a statute that says people are allowed to kneecap you for uttering such hearsay). The argument is which is -superior- (Chicago).

45. A fork?

46. Obviously Athena is winning. She has the pizza on the ropes.

47. I’ve not had the experience of a Chicago deep dish pizza but I’m sure that when I get around to visiting my brother, that will be on my list of things to do. Around here the original Vincent’s Pizza Park on Ardmore Blvd is well known and quite good but probably more like New York pizza.

48. I like New York style pizza as well, actually – the only real problem is that both dishes describe themselves as “pizza,” which is really terribly misleading.

49. I think it might be a tie.

50. I would love to give an opinion on Chicago deep dish pizza, but every time that I went to Gino’s East and ordered one, they brought me some kind of round lasagna instead.