I'm a life long Chicagoan, and have lived on both the North and South sides.
Gene and Jude's all the way, with Jimmy's or Red Hot Ranch as a VERY close second. The dog at Gene and Jude's is a little bit thicker than Jimmy's and Red Hot Ranch, but you can never go wrong with any of these picks.
Gene and Jude's will always represent PERFECTION.
Great article as always.
Nice review, Nick, and a great place, indeed.
Nice review. It's funny you mention to stick to the main event, i.e. the thin crust pizza. Whenever I'm at Villa Nova, I only order the thin crust pizza with their homemade sausage, which is definitely their main event (and my favorite thin crust pizza, along with Pat's on Lincoln Ave.) Same goes for Vito and Nick's, and Joe's Italian Villa. The ONLY exception to this rule for me has always been Fox's- at least the Fox's in Chicago at 100th and Western. Everything on that menu is pretty good.
Thank you for pointing out a new place for classic Chicago style thin crust pizza the next time I'm out in the burbs. Definitely a must try.
Good Eating As Always,
cpd007
Great call on Pizano's. The deep dish is pretty good, and their thin crust with sausage is excellent. If you're going to get the deep dish, the buttercrust is extra money, whereas the buttercrust comes automatically with the thin crust. Either way, get the sausage. It's from Anichini Brothers, and it's very heavy on the garlic. It's wonderful. The thin crust in particular.
@Nick: Your reviews are always interesting, informative, and fun. And you most definitely don't need any of my input. I'm as old fashion as you can get when it comes to classic Chicago foods, which is why I've always enjoyed your reviews of new places that I've never been to. You've got a great eye for food, especially for the newer spots. I find myself reading Serious Eats Chicago on a daily basis, much like the newspaper, for your reviews.
Try that Chicken Vesuvio sandwich the next time you're at Ricobene's. And the classic Italian sub at Al and Joe's in Franklin Park the next time you're out in either of those neighborhoods. If you go to Al and Joe's, they have pre made subs ready-to-go because of the O'Hare airport crowd that overwhelms the place at lunch time. Stay away from the pre made subs, and just order the classic Italian sub at the counter. And while you're there, you can get a bottle of the Al and Joe's secret sauce that they put on their subs. People have been getting it by the bottle for generations. I know you like the crustier breads, a la Bari and J.P. Graziano's, but this is a softer bread more like their competition at Alpine in Elmwood Park.
Growing up here was always a big competition between Al and Joe's and Alpine, and both places have their respective fan bases and loyalties. Truth be told- you can't go wrong with either place. They both are as old school Chicago Italian as you can possibly get.
Keep Up The Great Work,
cpd007
My all time favorite Chicago hot dog. A true Chicago dog for the ages. And a true neighborhood institution.
@FredipusRex: If you get the chance, try the breaded steak at Mangia Fresca in Bridgeport. It's a relative (or a former employee of some family relationship) of the old La Milanese formerly of 32nd and May. Back in the day, 9 out of 10 people in Bridgeport would have told you La Milanese made the best Italian breaded steak sandwich in the neighborhood. And they were right. They most certainly did. Everybody knows why they closed in Bridgeport- what a shame. They were the Italian breaded steak institution in Bridgeport for many, many years.
Mangia Fresca is a more modern/contemporary version of La Milanese. Their breaded steak is not quite as good as La Milanese, but nothing is. Mangia Fresca kind of reminds me of the way Ricobene's use to be about 15 years ago. A lot of neighborhood people are going there because of the memories of La Milanese. They even have brick oven pizza, and it's pretty darn good. Their hot grilled panini's are excellent, too.
Good Eating As Always,
cpd007
Taste of Lebanon's chicken shawarma wrap is the best in the business. Great spot. Nice review.
Furthermore, I don't have to "stop" anything. Everything I stated was a fact. Malnati's is the most shipped "restaurant" pizza in America, and that's been cited numerous times in multiple media outlets. Corporate Malnati's will be happy to provide you with this info. It's not a frozen pizza company like DiGorno or Tombstone, but a "restaurant" based pizza. That's a fact. And so is the fact that their overnight shipped version can never be the same (nor as good) as their restaurant pizza. That's also a fact.
Here's another fact for you- Lou Malnati's is the most popular deep dish pizza in Chicago and Chicago's suburbs. They win every poll here on a routine basis. Literally. And it's not a coincidence that they won this poll for "the most life changing pizza," either. People really do love the stuff. They beat out all of the other places on that list, and there were some very famous pizza places on that list. But Lou Malnati's still prevailed. Therefore, people all over America have been positively influenced by Lou Malnati's. You may not agree with this, but this is also a fact.
The next time you are actually in Chicago, by all means- go try Lou Malnati's, Pizano's, Gino's East, Burt's Place, Louisa's, Pizzeria Uno/Due and decide for yourself. But don't make a decision based on a flash frozen overnight shipped pizza. Come to Chicago, and experience the real thing in person.
Enjoy.
Great place. And their chicken vesuvio sandwich is every bit as good as their breaded steak sandwich.
@scaramoche: Wrong. Lou Malnati's is the most shipped pizza in America by a RESTAURANT- NOT a frozen pizza company. And no the pizza they ship is not the same as the pizza they serve in the restaurant. That would be impossible to replicate. Why would you even expect that kind of quality in a frozen pizza?!?!? The tomatoes and the crust in particular can never be replicated via overnight shipping, but it's better than nothing.
For the record, many of my friends and family have Malnati's shipped to them regularly, but none of them would ever expect the frozen stuff to be anywhere as good as the real deal at the restaurant. It's just a slight taste of home for family and friends who miss Chicago.
And no I don't have to have it shipped to me. I actually live here. I get to have perfection anytime I want it. Malnati's didn't become the most popular deep dish pizza restaurant in Chicago by serving bad pizza. Maybe the next time you are in Chicago, you should go there and try the real deal for yourself.
Deep Dish Pizza with Sausage- Lou Malnati's
Italian Beef- In Chicago proper- Portillo's. In Little Italy (i.e. neighboring Elmwood Park)- Johnnie's Beef as seen on Anthony Bourdain. A true neighborhood legend. The best.
Hot Dogs- Gene and Jude's in River Grove.
Great review, and a great place for a family dinner. I've been going here since I was a kid. Their duck is the best, and their wienerschitzel is pretty darn good. And their apricot kolacky is the perfect ending to a perfect, old school family dinner at the Riverside.
Good Eating As Always,
cpd007
Looks good to me. Great review.
Those pictures look awesome.
@Josh: Alpine has been reviewed on Serious Eats Chicago at least twice. Excellent reviews. You can never go wrong with their signature sub- "The Alpine." And if you do head out to Al and Joe's, be sure to get a bottle of their "Secret Sauce." They've been selling it for many years, and it's always great to add a little extra to your Italian sub. Thanks for the rec on Piatto Pronto.
And when it comes to Johnnie's Beef, it's not just the beef many of us grew up on. It's the best. And it's truly our neighborhood spot above all other places.
In the end, Italian beef, hot dogs, and pizza (both deep dish and thin crust with homemade Italian sausage) will always be the 3 Chicago classic foods that Chicagoans always come home to eat. They may not be trendy, but they are true Chicago foods.
When my friends/family come back home to Chicago, the FIRST place they always want to hit year in and year out is either Pizzeria Due or Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza with sausage. It's never anything else. It's always one or the other, depending on who's coming into town. Nobody strays for anything else. Everybody's loyalties run very deep when it comes to the deep dish pizza they grew up on.
And then the same family/friends want Italian beef the next day, and Johnnie's Beef is the only choice because that's what everybody grew up on.
And by the end of the week, Gene and Jude's/or Portillo's will be the spot for hot dogs.
Excellent review, Nick. Great spot. I grew up on Gene and Jude's, but this place is excellent in it's own right. If Gene and Jude's is too crowded, then this is a great option not far up the road.
Deep Dish- Lou Malnati's at 958 West Wrightwood. It's a nice sit down location, with an outdoor eating area, weather permitting. Stay away from the pepperoni- it's nothing special in any way, shape, or form. If you're new to Chicago, always get sausage. It's the most popular topping here, and for good reason- it's the best. Lou Malnati's sausage is the classic deep dish pizza sausage- a little bit of cracked black pepper, and VERY heavy on the garlic. It's 90% lean, and it's very good. Stick with a simple deep dish sausage pizza with buttercrust for the extra 75 cents. You can order the Malnati Chicago Classic which consists of their famous sausage, extra cheese, and buttercrust, but I usually stick with the tried and true regular deep dish with sausage and buttercrust because I don't like the extra cheese on the Malnati Chicago Classic. For a starter, their House Salad with their homemade creamy lemon garlic dressing is excellent, and many Malnati regulars will dip the buttercrust into the creamy lemon garlic dressing. Their thin crust is pretty good too, but not as good as Pat's on Lincoln Ave described below. Lou Malnati's deep dish is a very different animal compared to Pequod's, with very different ingredients. The late Lou Malnati managed the legendary Pizzeria Due for 22 years before going out on his own, and his father, Rudy, Sr., was the original bar tender/manager at Pizzeria Due's older sibling- the original Pizzeria Uno, down the block. Their roots to what represents true Chicago style deep dish pizza will always be traced directly to them.
Thin Crust: Pat's Pizza at 2679 N. Lincoln Ave. Pat's makes some of the best thin crust pizza ANYWHERE, and is routinely mentioned as a long time favorite in terms of Chicago style thin crust pizza cut into squares with homemade sausage. It's a paper thin crust, and their homemade sausage is loaded with fennel and is some of the best thin crust sausage in the city.
Enjoy Your Stay In Chicago,
cpd007
@Josh: Conte di Savoia has been making great Italian subs for a long time, and I'm glad you covered it here on Serious Eats Chicago. I'm a firm believer that a crusty bread is not required for a great Italian sub. See the Serious Eats review for Alpine in Elmwood Park- the true Little Italy of Chicagoland for many reasons(my personal favorite along with Al and Joe's in Franklin Park). Both places are as old school as you can get when it comes to Italian delis and both places are neighborhood institutions in their respective communities. Neither place serves crusty bread, but the meats and cheeses they serve are just flat out better than everybody else. Same goes for Conte di Savoia. Most importantly, both Alpine and Al and Joe's make truly spectacular family vinegar and oil recipes/mixes. Al and Joe's even sells theirs by the bottle.
Don't get me wrong- I still love crusty bread subs (i.e. J.P. Graziano in particular). To me, what makes J.P. Graziano great is their meats and cheeses, much like Alpine and Al and Joe's. All I'm saying is that crusty bread is not required to make a great Italian sub.
Again, thank you for introducing Conte di Savoia to the Serious Eats Chicago readership. Great review.
Good Eating As Always,
cpd007
I love the fried haddock here, and their lobster rolls are the best in the city (I always order my lobster rolls warm). Perfection all the way around. Hopefully, NESC becomes a permanent fixture here on the North Side. Good stuff. Great review.
@Ram44: Thank you. Great post all the way around. Hipsters can whine and cry all they want about deep dish pizza, but in the end, the deep dish classics like Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Due, Gino's East, Burt's Place, and Louisa's, along with the thin crust classics like Villa Nova, Vito and Nick's, Pat's, and Pizano's will always prevail over the uber hipster/trendy/locally-sourced-only-nonsense pizza places popular today. I'm the first one to admit that most of the readership of Serious Eats Chicago and Slice Serious Eats prefer the hipster pizza places, but the vast majority of people who grew up here in Chicago will always come home to the classics, i.e. Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Due, Villa Nova, Vito and Nick's, Pat's, Pizano's, etc.
And we are the majority in a very BIG way. It's just that your average, every day Chicagoan does not read Serious Eats Chicago because this is a hipster site directed toward a hipster crowd. And many of the hipsters are not native Chicagoans, thus making deep dish pizza and our classic thin crust places a foreign concept to them. But like I said, 40 years from now, the classics like Lou Malnati's will still be here. And the places that will not be here? The hipster places.
Chicago is a destination city for pizza and the pizza that made this city famous- our deep dish classics, our thin crust classics, and our stuffed pizza classics. No one will ever change this fact. And the mere fact that Lou Malnati's is the most shipped pizza in America speaks volumes to the sheer popularity and quality of one of America's most popular pizza places. People come from all over the world to Chicago just to try Lou's, and they often find themselves craving it all over America after their initial experience in Chicago. It's rare in the food world where a certain food can have so much influence over American culture, but Lou Malnati's has most certainly accomplished this feat through good ole' fashion hard work, and a great family recipe. And entire generations of native Chicagoans, along with tourists from all over the world, have made the place famous.
And you're right about Coalfire- excellent East Coast pizza all the way around. Hopefully, Coalfire stays around for a long time for all the East Coast transplants and people like myself who enjoy East Coast pizza from time to time. On another note, Louisa's is truly excellent pan pizza with sausage. The late Louisa Degenero spent over two decades in the kitchen at Pizzeria Due, and her adult daughter spent over a decade their herself (much like Lou Malnati, who spent 22 years at Pizzeria Due). Louisa's garlic sausage is outstanding (much like Lou Malnati's, Pizzeria Due, Burt's Place, and Pizano's), and they grow their own herbs and spices behind the restaurant. Many of the same pans from Pizzeria Due are still used at Louisa's. Good stuff.
Has any one ever tried Duke of Perth at 2913 N. Clark St., www.dukeofperth.com for a good old fashioned beer battered all you can eat fish fry every Wednesday and Friday ? This Lincoln Park Scottish pub has always been my favorite for a beer battered fish fry, not to mention the 75 kinds of Scotch available. Any thoughts ?
After a very nice conversation with Sharon Katz of Burt's Place, Sharon related that Burt's Place will be featured on the Channel 11 show "Check Please" sometime in December, possibly January ( more likely December ). I usually eat in at Burt's, but this time I carried out because of a family party at my place. We also carried out the exact same order from Pizano's. It was a truly great night of deep dish/pan pizza with friends and family.
Though it's not an authentic Italian dish, Chicken Vesuvio tastes like it could be. In actuality, it's a specialty of the Italian-American restaurants in my home town of Chicago, invented sometime in the 1930s and still going strong as a favorite around town. It's a rich, stewed dish with key elements of creamy potatoes, white wine, and plenty of garlic—as well as the final sprinkle of peas to give it color and freshness. More
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@Nick: Great article as usual. I think it's great that you included Portillo's on the list because many people overlook the place due to the fact that it's a chain. What often gets forgotton in that line of thinking is that Portillo's makes a truly great Chicago style hot dog. Thank you for not making that mistake because a lot of other reviewers at other publications often do.
In the end, Gene and Jude's is still the best Chicago style hot dog. And Gene and Jude's will ALWAYS be the gold standard and the premier example of what a Chicago hot dog should be. Similarly, much like Johnnie's Beef in nearby Elmwood Park, Gene and Jude's is the classic example of a true neighborhood institution. And for those of us (like myself) who have been lucky enough to grow up in the shadows of these places, no other places will ever compare in terms of hot dogs or Italian beef. That's not nostalgia talking, either- the sheer quality of both Gene and Jude's and Johnnie's Beef has always been a step higher than everyone else from the very beginning.
Good Eating As Always,
cpd007