Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I had my first taste of an Uno's pizza during the summer of 1966. I was visiting a cousin who was a Missouri native and on Saturday night, we waited in the line to get in. Well worth the wait. And that was in the original with all the names carved on the wooden walls and a pizza such as I had never had before. But that's not so hard to do as I am a native of the deep southern part of Illinois and to the best of my memory, the closest we came to pizza was a package product my mother sometimes would make. Later, 10 years later, I moved to Chicago and one of the first places I HAD to go was to Uno's. Winter time, so always happy when we got in the door to wait -- it's not called the "windy city" without justification! So, we give our order to the waitress and we wait, and we wait, finally, name called. Think we had beers and perhaps a salad, but the much awaited pizza arrives, pipping hot at the waitress warns us as she does the bit with the handy tool and looseens the pizza from the pan and put a slice on each of our plates. Oh, did that bring back memories of that first one. We always had to order the same ingredients -- sausage, onion, mushroom and green pepper! OH! the thought of that, my mouth is watering already! We (that is my ex-husband and I) would often meet there for pizza. Then friends introduced us to their favorite place which was further north and west of the Water Tower area. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name -- just that it was a thin crust. And later, someone suggested we try Lou Malnati's -- we only lived a short distance away, so that one became our real favorite. The house salad was great and did not fill us so much that we had no room for that pizza that was always the small -- perfect for 2 people! Then we moved closer to the loop and we tried a few more -- there was one place, name escapes me now, but it was to the east off of Michigan avenue, and it too, was always a wait. Then we got even smarter and started getting forzen cheese & sauage ones which we started keeping in the freezer for those times when we just had to have a slice. And I added the green pepper, onions & mushrooms to those.
One evening while sitting in the bar section at Uno's, we were crowded next to a travelling salesman and since the space is so small, we got to chatting about food. He always made time to go to Uno's when in Chicago, but then some how my home town was mentioned and he said not matter how close he was to the neighboring town, he made a point of going to a Barbeque place -- Ray's in Harrisburg. Well, there is a man after my own heart -- althought my family favored another place, I had often eaten in Rays (and still get his sauce and find his grandson and get sandwiches).
Then there were other places for pizza that suddenly started popping up in various areas close to the loop. One place had a spinach pizza, another was close to where the ex worked and we had some pizza there.
I moved to San Antonio in '86, so no more pizza -- might have checked to see if someone could get a frozen one and overnight it, but that never occured to me and the price would have been silly. Then a move to St. Louis, a trip to Chicago for several reasons, so more pizza from one or the other of my favs. But while in St. Louis, they suddenly opened a "store" not far from us there. Well, was I disappointed!!! I told husband we could split one --- oh, was I wrong, too small and not the same crust.
But because of that we looked at the menu again and ordered a different style which was much better.
Then some years later, we move to the Philly area and discover the first night we are there -- our anniversary, no less, that there was a new Uno's almost in walking distance. So for years we went there for pizza. Fortunately, at some point a second one was opened and we not longer
had to put up with the rude, tired parents and screaming babies who had stopped at the first place they came to after they left Seseame Place. Summers at Uno's at that location were awful. But we did try several other pizza places over the years and I must say, that I have two favorites and they are Uno's and Lou Malnati's.
I did find it interesting one summer when we met my niece and her family at the Field Museum to see King Tut, her husband, who grew up in a Chicago suburb and also went to conventions at the convention center! Had NEVER HAD an Uno's pizza!!! My niece was in 7th heaven because, despite her 20 year + delay of seeing the King Tut exhibit, she also got to have some Unos! And I have a friend in Chicago who used to send me gift certificates from Lou Malnati's and I would order a pizza and a dessert. We also lived in Pittsburgh and I went nuts when we saw a new Uno's --- the franchise stores are not exactly the same -- and one thing missing seems to be the corn meal in the pans!!!

But I say Uno, Due or Lou Malnati's. I never cared for what they ordered at my last job in Pittsburgh when we had overtime -- they were thin crust and just not a Chicago style pizza. Close, but really NOT CIGAR!!!
Mary

@valgalpal: I have forgotten more about pizza/culinary arts than you know.

My treatise is not something I pulled out of my ass I know a large contingent of people who really dislike Lou Mal's it's really not that good!

An article in today's Chicago Tribune details some of the efforts by Tim Samuelson to get the true story behind the invention of deep dish pizza. Samuelson, the Cultural Historian for the City's Department of Cultural Affairs, went on a quest to settle once and for all who should get the credit for inventing deep dish pizza, Ike Sewell or Rudy Malnati. He didn't solve it, but thanks to his research, I learned a few new nuggets of Chicago pizza intel that are worth reporting.

First, I should have given more credit to Richard Novaretti, known as Ric Riccardo, who started Uno's with Ike Sewell. In fact, Uno's was originally known as The Pizzeria, a name soon changed to Riccardo's Pizzeria, which lasted until 1955. That year, the pair opened Due's and renamed their first restaurant Uno's.

Second, Uno's is located in a building that was originally a mansion built by lumber baron Nathan Mears. During the 1940s and 1950s, phone books show that Sewell, Riccardo and Malnati all lived in the mansion that also housed the restaurant.

Third, while I mentioned the tie between Gino's East and Uno's in my review of the former, I did not know that Delisi's was started by a former waitress at Uno's. Nor was I aware that Louisa's which I have yet to review for Slice was also started by a former Due's employee.

Timothyrows: I don't know what you know about Chicago pizza, but as I was born and raised on Chicago pizza, I've never heard of Pequod's or Piece. Might as well be Cumquat's. Chicago's pizza? You must be from New York or outerspace. Lou's is the best. Even Bobby Flay couldn't make a better pizza when he challenged them to a throwdown!

Lou's is awesome and if you pick up a frozen one in any of their storefronts they are great at home...so I imagine the ones you get shipped are pretty good too. And their jingle is pretty catchy...1 800 loutogo...

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I believe I speak for a number of people in my following treatise on Lou Mal's: "Home of Flawless Deep Dish" Wow that is a statement. Lou Mal's is more likely the home of a flawless tourist trap. Now its one thing to be a tourist trap and produce a great product and another thing to produce a marginal one. Lou Malnati's definitely falls into the latter category. There is simply much better Chicago pie out there. If you want to keep it close to the above locale head to Pequod's or Piece or even...Chicago's pizza. Yea i went there even Chicago's is better. Lou Mal's crust and bottom of the pie comes out soggy, the sausage is overcooked, and the sauce easily communicates itself as unsubstantial. While Lou Mal's is a great piece of branding with a history so delightfully indigenous to Chicago a native wouldn't be caught dead there.

Correction to the article: I met with Leo Spizzirri today, who's the GM and Executive Chef at Giordano's. I learned a lot of good pizza info, but wanted to correct one thing here: There is no shortening in Giordano's crust. There is no butter in the dough, but a good amount of butter goes in the pan before the dough is added.

A couple of other good nuggets: they use different sauces for the stuffed and thin crust, with the stuffed version being much chunkier; the cheese is whole milk mozzarella; and the dough is prepared 3-4 days in advance of cooking.

I grew up with Malnati's and it's always been my gold standard.

I went to the Lou's on N. Wells in March 2007 when visiting Chicago, not impressed at all. I've heard that location is not their best however.

@worldcupfever: And there you go! You're right; someone did know!

There's no such thing as too much cheese =)

Seriously though, every time I've had a Chicago-style pizza, what I didn't like was that it was too much crust. I like the idea of the thinner top crust...

haha... this whole comment section for this article has been a pretty enjoyable read. The following is not directed at any specific person (unless noted)... Anyway, i am a born, raised, and currently living Chicagoan. That being said, I just love food. I love Chicago STYLE style pizza and would love to try New York STYLE (going to NY in August) or any other STYLE of pizza there is. i don't think you can say anything (food wise in general) is any better or worse just because it is a different STYLE. Taste is based on the individual. if it tastes good to you, that's good enough for me. either you like it or you don't. But don't completely dismiss something because, in your eyes, it doesn't conform to what you believe is right. if that's the way you roll, you'll be missing out on some serious eats:)
on a side note(s)...
simon's comments are funny to me (some people just get a kick out of provoking others. it's not worth getting mad at these people. Although, DJ Bubbles had some pretty funny retorts to his comments)
welcome Daniel! I have been following CPC for a while and you are a welcome addition here, good to get another perspective in here.
also, i would venture to guess that Daniel's headline at the top, "Greetings from the Pizza Capital of the World!" was meant more as a playful greeting for his first post, rather than a "screw you NY" as some people have taken it... just my two cents

also, sorry for chiming in a bit late on this. i was away from a computer for a while and i just got to this. i actually felt compelled to sign up for the site just so i could throw down some words on this discussion... Keep up the good work Serious Eats crew!

I must confess that I usually eat three slices. I inhale the first one since I'm so excited, I savor the second one, and then I eat the third because I just can't stop.

i long for the days of the tuesday night special, stuffed pesto and a pitcher for $15. Fed me for a week. So yes, one slice is enough.