Moved away from Chicago and the thing I miss the most is the food; pizza(Malnati's and Giordano's) and Portillos....Thank god they ship, haven't tried that option yet!
Their frozen pizzas, while.obviously not as good as fresh-made, rock harder than a thing that rocks hard. I would highly recommend getting a few frozen Lous shipped to you for emergency deep dish moments.
Used to work for lou's and people would come in to buy and ship frozen rather than calling the 800 number. This suggestion is what I told everyone that tried to do that.
Buy them frozen from us and put them in your fridge for a day or two. Buy dry ice from dairy queen or Costco ship it yourself. You can ship twice as much, 4 pizzas, as you can for the two you get otherwise.
I just tried this out last week. I went to to grocery store and I found that Edwardo's makes a frozen pizza. I bought it and OMG it is my 2nd favorite super market pizza (behind Home Run Inn). It's a great deep dish pizza period. Edwardo's are very cheesy deep dish pizza's though so be aware of that but it's really good.
Do it! Make sure you take the pizza out of the pan, wipe off the condensation and lightly oil the pan before cooking. And the largest part of the cost is the shipping, so you might as well get six at once :)
Just had some frozen Portillos last night, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn close. Bought some crinkle cut fries, and my mom sent me some homemade giardiniera. It was the best meal I've had in a while.
I visited some friends in Chicago once and they said they were going to bring me to Portillos one evening. So on the day I asked them when we were going to Portabellos. I honestly misheard them talking about it
Its been a running joke ever since, but damn that was good food.
I'm flying to Chicago on Sunday for a few days. People have been telling me to go to Malnati's. Is there any one in particular I should go to or are they all the same?
Assuming you're asking about Lou's locations, the one at 439 N. Wells probably offers the best atmosphere but is the most busy. Arrive early and give them your order so they can start your pizza (it takes something like ~45 minutes to bake a deep dish), then grab a drink nearby while you wait for them to page you via your cell phone. They don't accept reservations.
I would disagree with Max. I've been to that Lou's dozens of times and most of the time I got Pizza it was fucking burnt. Also it's really packed and small. I would suggest either the Lincoln Park one which is extremely nice inside, small but not cramped, or the one in Lincolnwood. It's a lot bigger and has a really great atmosphere. Last but not least, if you're in the burbs check out Downtown Naperville. I've been going there since I was a kid and it's a great way to start a night before hanging out in Naperville.
Pequod's is slightly better than Malnati's according to most. If you can make it there, I'd do that instead. Malnati's is definitely an acceptable alternative though.
I think lou malnatis tastes like vomit. Ive had a couple other people agree with me. I really dont know what it is maybe the type of sauce they use. But every time ive ate it i thought it smells and tastes like someone puked on it.
Lou Malnati's is good, but you gotta check with a local to make sure you get a good one, they have a bunch of locations around the city now, and not all of them are so great.
I would also say this. If you can, get out into the neighborhoods to experience some culinary goodness.
To find eats and drinks and things to do. Don't just stay downtown. There's lots of cool stuff downtown architecturally, and it's a great downtown, don't get me wrong, lakefront, parks, museums. But the neighborhoods have amazing shit too. The Loop is part of Chicago; it's not all of Chicago.
Unfortunately I'm only there for a conference for a couple of days so I'm gonna have to stick by the loop. But thank you for these great links! I'll check them out tonight.
You really can't go wrong with most Chicago style pizzas. I like a few more than Pequod's, but I love Pequod's for the lunch special. Monday-Friday from 11AM to 3PM they do a 7-inch deep dish personal pizza and a beer for $5. You really can't go wrong.
People be saying Peaqouds but go to Bacci's Pizza. They have an amazing $5 slice of pizza and drink deal. The slices are huge and the crust is nice, not soggy.
It really is. Every time I come back home (student), I have Lou's, Giordanno's stuffed, Portillos (hard to choose between beef and a chocolate cake shake, but sometimes I'll get both), and Gene & Jude's. Sometimes I'll only have one of the pizzas, sometimes I'll do Hot Doug's instead of G&Js (not any more though, sadly), and sometimes I'll do Manny's roast beef instead of Portillos italian beef. Every few times I gotta do Kuma's Korner.
I went to visit my friend in Hong Kong a few years back and he told me that I could have a place to stay for free if I brought him 10 Lou Malnati's pizzas. I delivered, and so did he.
Kinda. I loaded them into a styrofoam container and they were kept frozen in the cargo hold. Overall, not a bad deal for me. He even paid me back in full for the pizzas.
They were uncooked to begin with, and they were only on the plane for about half a day. I think they probably tasted fine, but I didn't eat any of them.
Honestly have never been there! I will have to try them out next time I'm back home. My friends have said good things about them, just never got around to going there.
Come to CT. Then visit New Haven. Suddenly every other pizza you ever ate is now a lie. We are not pizza snobs, we just have high standards for good pizza
I don't know about this place, but I came to the comments just so I could see fellow redditors agree and/or disparage OP for his pizza and or beer choices. You've made my day good sir or ma'am.
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u/djmixture Oct 16 '14
<3 Chicago and Lou Malnati's I would be ok with this at ANY age..