Dave’s Italian Kitchen in on Chicago Ave in Evanston. I’ve been going there for years. Try a garlic and onion pan-pizza.
Stop the presses!
(I always wanted to say that. 
)
For those of you out in the western 'burbs, there’s a little pick-up place in Lombard, Gianorio’s. I tried out their stuffed pizza last week. Oh my word, was it good! I’ve promised myself I won’t overdose on it; I’m rationing myself to one a week. It’s a little pricey, but a small stuffed sausage pizza was enough for two meals for me, and… Wow. So good. Can’t recommend it enough!
I recently had a good experience with Connies out in Naperville. It’s not the stuffed pizza that I like, but it was quite tasty. It had almost no sauce and was filled with good cheese. I may go back.
May I just say it’s good to know that other Chicagoans feel the same way, that the deep dish and stuffed really is just some touristy stuff. Anyway, I was lucky enough to have a father who managed Barry’s Spot on Broadway for 20 years, so I got to grow up in a real Chicago pizza joint. This was before Barry sold it and it became what it is today. It used to actually have a bar and a dining room and big screen projection TV and good pizza (it’s not so good these days)…the memories…
Anyway, I still think that Martino’s on Peterson is one of the best underrated whole pizzas you can get. Also, Villa Palermo on Devon (I mean come on!) is a given for their slices. As far as Lou’s, I always hated it. My pops, the pizza man, loves it and used to take us there all the time, I too always was disgusted by the sausage disk, and this is coming from a meat lover who can devour meat like an animal. Just something about it, not right. And the sauce, horrible. I don’t know what people like about Lou’s, but I still don’t get it.
IF I had to go deep dish, may I just say, that Pequods, SUCKS, and is terribly overrated. It’s a big pile of bread. Um, yeah, I’m cool on eating two loafs of bread, I’ll pass. I have no idea why so many of my friends, also natives, really think it’s a good pie. It’s horrible. Now their thin crust, excellent however, I must say. But back to my IF I have to go deep dish, I’ll stick with Gino’s East or Chicago Pizza, yeah I said it. I think them delivering all night helps too.
Aurelio’s thin crust. That is all.
I’m totally late to the party here but I wanted to offer an additional couple suggestions.
Brick’s on Lincoln is excellent Chicago thin crust. Zesty, crisp and excellent toppings.
Also Pequod’s has been obliquely mentioned, also in Lincoln Park. They were at one time the standard for deep dish pizza. I really love their pie but they’ve gotten a touch inconsistent as of late. When I started ordering from them they were epic, but the last 2 or 3 times the cheese ratio has dwindled quite a bit. It was never a super cheesy stuffed type but it had enough cheese to make the thicker crust delightful but the last few time it was barely there making it taste more like a french bread pizza or something. I complained and asked if their recipe had changed and they said it hadn’t. Not sure what the deal is, but when it’s good it’s GREAT. I really need to get over to Burt’s and try that out.
I drove down to try Vito & Nick’s after seeing them featured on Food Network and I was pretty uninspired. The flavor was good and they toppings were plentiful, almost too much so, but I found the “cracker crust” to not be very crackery. In fact it got pretty soggy and greasy. It was thin, which is good, but the volume of toppings and pepperoni grease really wiped out any crispiness. I’d go back since it was tasty and filling, but I can’t imagine real Chicagoans would hail this as a classic of the style.
Also, the service really sucked and the pizza took FOREVER to come up. Classic bar pizza is wonderful because it’s typically fast and easy. This place made it seem like an ordeal and I could do without the surly old hag they call a waitress. Perhaps the fact that the pizza took forever explains the sogginess, but it’s a hell of a long drive for me so I don’t know when I’ll give them a second chance.
Thin crust: D’Agostino’s or John’s (on Western, best-kept pizza secret in Chicago).
Deep dish: Uno, Due, or Giordano’s. My choice would be Due.
White Pizza (just for you, Kaio): Piece on North Avenue. As long as you’re in the area and looking for non-Chicago-style pies, Santullo’s has great NY style pizza, but the quality goes down the crapper if you get it delivered. Always eat in at Santullo’s.
I went to college in Evanston and lived in the area through my 20’s, so I ate a lot of Pizza. For deep-dish (which was my favorite), the first choice was Carmen’s in Evanston. Giordano’s or Eduardo’s where good alternates, as was Dave’s Italian Kitchen (although at DIK we usually got something other than pizza).
For thin crust, Gulliver’s was the choice. I think they also had the double-stacked thin crust, which I recall was just like one thin crust pizza on top of another. Delicious!
Anyway I hadn’t seen Carmen’s mentioned and I wanted to make sure to through in a recommendation. (Also, I used to go to church with the Malnati’s - very nice people, and decent pizza but not my favorite).
I used to love Carmen’s back in my grad school days (the 80s) at NWU; I don’t know if they even still exist.
For some reason, we often had lunch at a greasy, NYC-style joint called Gigio’s or something like that. Can’t imagine why, though. It sucked!
edit: oh yeah, I remember why. It was cheap, and we were poor!
Carmen’s used to be awesome but has slipped badly in recent years. I too loved it in HS (ETHS '88). Gigio’s is still there at the corner of Davis and Maple and still cranks out the big greasy slices.
We had another Burts last week- medium sausage and mushroom. Incredible as ever.