I wanted to hedge a little bit. Originally, I had written 1/4 inch, but I didn’t want to risk overestimating its thinness, so I figured 1/2" (which still isn’t terribly thick) would be safe. Some people just seem to think deep dish has a pan-pizza like dough. It typically does not (I’m hedging again, as there may be some off-kilter styles that are thicker than your usual Malnati’s or Uno’s) I wouldn’t call it a “short” dough, though. It’s usually got a reasonable amount of oil (corn oil, quite often) in it (up to about 20% of the weight of the flour), but a short dough like a pie crust is more like 80% fat to flour. Plus doughs with yeast (like deep dish pizza dough), are generally not referred to as short doughs, either. It’s not like a pie crust dough. I mean, I could vaguely see some similarities, but Chicago deep dish dough is more a bread dough than a short dough.
I’m from New York, and while I love NY pizza, pizza is the only food item where I am a traitor. Papa Del’s pizza in Champaign Illinois (at least 20 years or so or more) which is deep dish is the best in the universe. So good that someone from work who went to the U of I also managed to bring back 6 or 8 pizzas in dry ice for former Champaign residents.
I went to U of I in the late 70s and LIVED on Papa Del’s. Back in the day, it was indeed the ultimate deep dish pizza in the universe. Even now, living in Chicago, we reminisce about those great P. Del’s pizzas, and sometimes have them shipped up here for special occasions.
A lot of Italians once looked down on pizza because it was a southern (peasant) dish.
Most of the immigrants in the big Italian migration of the 1880s-1920s were from Sicily or Calabria. The Doges of Venice liked it just fine where they were and saw no reason to move to Cleveland.
There was a fantastic NY pizza place on Trinity Mills. I am pretty sure it is now closed or moved though and I can’t remember the name.
They were rude when they answered the phone but made a cheese pizza that was perfection.
The paper plate is where it gets that trademark chewiness.
Yup. I give you the original- Pizzeria Uno …
Aw shit. Looks like the ‘Original’ on Ohio and Wabash in Chicago is gone.
But THAT’S Chicago deep dish.
No, the original is still there, with Due nearby. Here’s the website. What you linked to is Uno Pizzeria and Grill (formerly, Uno Chicago Grill), which is some franchised, bastardized version of Pizzeria Uno. There is only one actual Pizzeria Uno.
I remember when my now-wife and I visited NYC, we felt that as long as we were there, we ought to try some of this famous NYC pizza. So we found a local pizzeria, got a slice each, and settled down to eat it.
Neither of us could figure out what the big deal was. I mean, it was lunch, but I didn’t have any desire to try it again.
Now, and NYC deli - holy moly, that’s where it’s at.
THANK YOU!
You don’t know if Boobies sandwich shop is still around do you? It was in DesPlaines if I recall. Best Italian beef subs. (I’m not going to google it on a work computer 
)
Never heard of it, and the only reference I could find to a Boobie’s sandwich shop is in Tinley Park, IL (a southwest suburb of Chicago. Des Plaines is Northwest.)
Thanks for checking. It’s been about 45 years. Perhaps they moved. I’ll check it out when I am on my own computer.
I live in Des Plaines. Booby’s* is not in Des Plaines but Niles, on Milwaukee Ave. between Oakton and Dempster. Way closer to Des Plaines than Tinley Park would be.
*Singular, not plural.
I see that a lot, and it can be bogus. Look, you can have Philly Cheesesteaks outside Philly and NY style pizza and bagels outside NYC.
and yes, they can taste the same.
In fact on Hollywood blvd there’s a great authentic NY style pizza place- greasy and cheap.
Bagels- NY style- you can even get them in SF- altho certainly the SF style and the Montreal style are much more common. No, it’s not the water, it’s the boiling.
Thanks I misremembered the location (I was 9 when we left Chicago), amazing they are still there.
I agree with this. I threw about half of the slice I had away because it was really nothing special and burnt, probably from that reheating thing they do, to boot
I’ve been to the original (before they went national), and Papa Del’s is still better.
See, the New York pizza guys see a tourist come into the place, and they pick out a nothing special piece and burn it for you. They save the really good slices for the locals.
The dirty truth New Yorkers don’t want to admit is that the best pizza is across the river in NJ. Your slice should be a decent size, with a crust that isn’t cracker thin, or deep dish thick. You should be able to fold it in half and eat it properly. one or two drops of oil (more if you order pepperoni) should drip out the back end. That’s why you hold it away from your body when eating it. There are some great pizza parlors in NYC, but far too many mediocre ones.