Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@Nick: Excellent choice for a review. Next time you may want to try a mix of hot and barbecue sauce as it's particularly delicious.

@bruisedbuddha: the bread actually used to go on the bottom and still can if you ask them to do it. The bread ends up warm and heavily dotted with grease. Stick a couple fries in a piece of bread along with a bit of chicken and you've got greatness.

@seriouspizza: Why does it matter when the places opened? The purpose was for them to identify the best pizzeria in the U.S. There's plenty of room for debate on most of the matchups, but longevity strikes me as immaterial.

@Nick: It is indeed a matter of perspective. Any my love of toppings certainly has me on the end of the spectrum that likes more.

@Sudenveri: Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I stand by the first sentence, but I have changed the horribly egregious errors in the other two. All blame and outrage should be directed at me. I will try to do better in the future.

Restaurants offer coupons and special deals to persuade people to come in the door and try their food. The point just raised by KtMc24 is one that comes up often about discussions regarding tipping: that someone taking advantage of a special offer is taking up the server's table and therefore theoretically depriving the server of customers who would not take advantage of the offer. But in this case, the restaurant was not close to full, so I'm not sure we were taking a table away. Moreover, were it not for the deal, we would not have eaten at the restaurant. So even if we had not tipped on the full regular price of the meal, our server still would have come out ahead financially than he would have had the deal not been offered. Again, we tipped based on what the full amount would have been and I would do it the same way if I were to return, but I'm not sure the issue is as cut and dry as others seem to think.

I'd also like to throw out something that might be a little nuts, but it's something that I've not seen brought up in discussions about tipping and it's related to the point that some people brought up regarding the fact that the server puts in the same amount of work whether or not the customer is paying full price. That's obviously true. But if I have a four course meal and the bill is $30 and a two course meal that costs $80, assuming there were no major problems at either, the server at the first restaurant did more work but is going to get a substantially smaller tip. How is that fair?

@steamsoldier: The only Malnati's I've ever had a problem with is the original. In the last few months, I've been to the original, the Bucktown location (carry-out and delivery only), and the Evanston location and they were are great.

@steamsoldier: I just reread my review of Pequod's and it seems pretty positive to me. Mu only real complaint is that I'd like a more flavorful mozzarella, but that basically means a fresher mozzarella, which I've come to realize that due to moisture content and the quantity of cheese involved, isn't possible on a deep dish or stuffed pizza. You really can't go wrong with Pequod's.

But to your broader question of which is the one pizzeria you should try in Chicago, the answer to that is really that it depends. As Garvey alludes to above, Chicago has a great thin crust tradition as well. It's not exclusive to the city, but more a Midwestern phenomenon. Do a search on Slice for Vito & Nick's and Pat's to read about my two favorites of that style.

If you want deep dish, as I said above, Pequod's is great as is Burt's. I like Lou Malnati's better, but would caution you to avoid the Lincoln Park location. It's consistently not up to Malnati's standards. If you want stuffed, I agree with MFalk that Bacino's is the best, but Giordano's is pretty delicious too and has many more locations.

Great Lake is worthy of every bit of praise that it has gotten. It is exceptional pizza, but it's not rooted in any Chicago pizza tradition.

Finally, there are plently of other styles well-represented in Chicago. There's Piece (New Haven), Pizza Rustica (Roman), Pizzeria Via Stato (the other Roman style), etc. I'd encourage you to take a look at all of the reviews on Slice and decide which sounds the best for you.

Enjoy your trip.

@keystroke: Thanks. Either my taste buds were off, I had bad luck, at least two vendors lie, or I'm just not a big fan Shopsy's beef hot dogs. Regardless, thanks to all the toppings, I still enjoyed the hot dog immensely.

Stan's Donuts in Los Angeles. Good does not belong in the conversation when talking about Stan's various peanut butter donuts. Start with phenomenal and work your way up the adjective chain from there.

Hmmm...For pizza in Mexico, call a Minnesota number? Not only that, but the actual seven digit number starts with 1, a digit no phone number actually starts with. Something's fishy.

Kenji, you know I love your posts, but proving that the source of water doesn't factor into pizza quality is akin to proving there is no Santa Claus. That said, this will be a time-saving resource for me to rely from now on when I'm forced to engage someone who thinks the water actually makes a difference, so thanks for that.

Just so I'm clear here: Some people think this burger is undercooked?

@Fart Sandwich: Yeah, I saw that article and I think it must have been a slow news day at Time Out. There have been, rightfully, some pretty harsh responses to the article.

@nhawthorne & LittletonMike: Thanks for the tips. I have family in Denver so I'll be back over the summer. What do you guys think of Virgilio's and the The Oven? I'm excited to try the in-house, made while you wait mozzarella at Virgilio's.

@jlbrach & Wanderlust21: Good to know ; thanks for the info.