It’s December, and you’re on a short business trip with a single night’s stay in Chicago. Because you’re arriving mid-day and basically in meetings until you leave the next afternoon, you’ll only have one meal to yourself where you can eat whatever you want.
This is not about choosing a particular restaurant. This is about choosing a fare that Chicago is known for. Poll to follow.
I choose pizza, but I’m a vegetarian, so my opinion might not mean much there. Then again, I’d have chosen pizza even as an omnivore.
Any of the three will do, likely to be decided by whatever is quickest and easiest to get. I like steak best, but am unlikely to want to go out to a steak restaurant after spending all day in meetings. Maybe a couple of hot dogs or a pizza I can eat in the hotel room while I unwind with some TV and/or internet.
If i had a business account and i was selling something, it would be steak and oysters all around. If I was there with my nephew for a baseball game it would be the best Deep Dish, which is still in contentions… which one? Probably not Uno’s. If I went ther under my own recognizance i would probably hit up Hot Doug’s and steal everything I could learn.
Definitely the pizza. Because that scenario pretty much describes my one brief visit to Chicago and pizza was what I’d had. And it was the best damn pizza I’ve ever had and I’d like some more please.
Definitely the pizza. A steak can be bought many places, and I’m not generally in the mood for a large hunk of meat. Hot dogs are not my thing.
Hot dogs. Out of the three things you list, a steak can be had anywhere and Chicago style pizza is definitely it’s own thing but not too hard to duplicate at home. Chicago dogs, though, are a thing unto themselves, and nigh on impossible to duplicate unless you live near Chicago. The really difficult thing is the roll; I’ve never seen those exact poppy seed hotdog buns anywhere but Chicago.
QFT. I had pizza at several places when I was in Chicago last year and found it very good, but not remarkable. But in my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience, a “Chicago-style hot dog” anywhere else is even farther off the mark than a “Philly-style cheesesteak” outside of Philadelphia.
(If you’re staying anywhere near the Tribune building, I might also suggest a “cheezborger” at the Billy Goat. But IMHO it’s a cultural rather than a culinary destination [in my case, based on Mike Royko rather than SNL] — the burger was thoroughly meh.)
I’m a Chicago vegetarian, and I vote “none.” IMO, Chicago deep-dish is tourist fare. Decent enough but never my first pick for pizza. If I had to pick one of those, I’d go for the pizza, or a veggie dog at Hot Doug’s.
I voted “A food not on your list.” I’d got get an Italian beef. It’s the thing I miss most about living in Chicago.
I second this (and when I read the title, I took “steak” as “Italian Beef” for some reason). But I would only choose Italian beef over hot dog if I knew the place I was going to. It seems to be harder to find a good Italian beef over a good hot dog.
I live here. I’d probably take someone to the pizza, but I can see the hot dog, too. Steak is great, but I’m sure there are excellent steakhouses in other areas. It’s not really a matter of something specifically Chicago as it is a matter of Chicago tended to have better ones in general.
And, you know, I’ve lived in the area all my life, and I’ve never considered deep dish to be tourist fare. I mean, it’s not what I get when I want pizza–that’s thin crust in the vein of Barnaby’s–but sometimes I specifically want deep dish, and I’ll go to Lou Malnati’s. But it’s not pizza in the sense of being something I’d order to eat in front of the television or something.
I’ll take the steak. Chicago-style pizza and hot dogs are Abominations.
I would take an Italian beef combo with Italian sausage. To be honest, I’m not really that impressed by our steaks. I like deep dish pizza once or twice a year, but I feel our thin-crust tavern style pizza is much better. Our hot dogs are, indeed, the best hot dogs I’ve had in the US, and, no, they don’t all have to be “dragged through the garden” no matter what anyone says. My “Chicago style” dog–or at least the ones I grew up with in my part of town–were usually just plain bun, mustard, onions, relish. Sometimes a pickle spear, too. Sport peppers and celery salt by request.
That said, of the foods Chicago is known for, I think an Italian beef or an Italian beef with sausage combo sandwich is the one I would go for.
I’d take (in rough order of preference)
I like the deep dish pizza well enough but it’s never something I just order and eat unless there’s out-of-towners or some other circumstance involved. When we just want “pizza”, we get it from one of the local chains who can get the consistency of the crust and the seasoning just right.
Since it is ‘fare Chicago is known for’ (most of my meals out in Chicago are non-American cuisine), give me the pizza. Lately I think Giordano’s is my #1 (though I still haven’t done the original Uno/Due so I will make sure to do that while I’m still in Chi). I love that buttery, flaky crust, and unlike Gino’s they really stay piping hot until you finish.
As punishment for saying this silenus, I am going to force you and your wife to eat only at the Circus Circus buffet for your entire next trip to Las Vegas.
Chicago pizza would be my first choice and suggestion for any tourist. They have it down to an art. Plus, you only need to ask any group of people in Chicago for the short list of best places to go for pizza - and then stand back and watch them beat each other up defending their choice. Chicago is passionate about pizza. They might elect only corrupt officials in Chicago, but they do know how to pick the best pizza.
The hot dogs are great, as well as the steaks, but you can indeed find those elsewhere.
Another vote for Italian beef.
Beef places usually have decent hot dogs, too.
For the record, I have had (and love) Giordano’s. I am leaning heavily in that direction, but I am intrigued by the Italian beef suggestions. If I can squeeze in two meals, I think that’ll be my choice.
points and laughs at silenus at the Circus Circus buffet
Well, slap me with a wet noodle and call me a tourist, it was still a damn good pizza. I even made like Ferris Bueller and put my forehead against the glass at the top of the Sears Tower. And all the people on the the ground really did look like ants. It was pretty damn cool!