Too late to edit: Of course, though, when somebody says “Chicago-style” pizza (as opposed to “Chicago-style thin crust” or “Chicago tavern style”) they mean deep dish or stuffed (yes, those are two different things, though I’m willing to call stuffed a sub-category of deep dish. Regular deep dish goes back to the 40s here. Stuffed pizza doesn’t show up until the early 70s at a place called Nancy’s, but now exemplified by Giordano’s). But that’s absolutely not the standard day-to-day pizza eaten here. It’s the most famous because it’s the one that captures the popular imagination and occasional ire.
ETA2: Though I must add, in the article I linked to on regional pizza styles, I have absolutely no idea what the author is talking about when they say Chicago thin crust is “peculiar in that they are sold as sheets and half-sheets, like birthday cake.” I have never seen sheets of Chicago thin crust pizza in my life. Italian bakery pizza, yes. But that’s a completely different thing, baked in a sheet pan, with a thick crust, much like a Sicilian pizza. When I think of sheets and half-sheets, I most often think of Buffalo pizza.
Oh, okay, that makes sense. That must have been a misunderstanding on my part.
I’ve had Jet’s before and they’re good. I didn’t make the connection that they’re from Michigan.
I have to say, I’m not a pizza snob at all. One of the best parts about pizza is that it’s a cheap, laid back food that can be made in a wide variety of ways. Once you say that it can only be made like this, with these ingredients, you’ve lost me. Learning about all the regional styles and history is a lot of fun, though.
What about Mexican pizza, or “four cheese”/“cheese lovers’” pizza?
Yes, the first time I had it was when I moved to Duluth, Minnesota: Sammy’s Pizza serves it that way. It’s a pretty good system, not only for the grease-dripping issue, which I hadn’t thought of, but because you can have precisely as much pizza as you want: there’s a huge jump in food intake to get an additional slice if it’s a giant wedge. It works really well for parties or gatherings of friends or family–especially kids.
However, there’s one key drawback, or at least a wrinkle to navigate: unlike wedge cut pizza, there are huge differences among the three basic types of slices you get in a cross-cut pizza. My favorite are the interior pieces, which have the most cheese. But some people like having the crust as a “handle”, so they like the nearly rectangular outer rim slices. But you always end up with little triangular pieces on the outer edge as well, and those are basically garbage IMO. They are composed mostly of crust and tomato sauce, sometimes with virtually no cheese at all. But if you follow the etiquette of just taking what’s closest to you, you can get stuck with some of those if the pizza has been partially picked over. (Conversely, it’s awkward to take my favorite kind out of the middle if I’m the first to break into a new pie.)
The little, crispy triangle corners are the best part! And I am always sad that there are only four of them on any given pie. Next time we share a pizza, I’ll take all your crispy corners, and you can have all my soggy middles, how about that?
I’m certainly for expansive definitions of pizzas. I have my general preferences, but within each style, there’s usually a pie or two I really enjoy. That said, I am picky about what pizzas I like within each style. If I’m spending money on the pizza, I want I pizza I truly will enjoy, and just any old pizza doesn’t do it for me. I’ve had a lot of shit pizza in my life. But finding those pizzas I really enjoy is fun. Pizza doesn’t need to have sauce or even cheese to be good. It can have pineapple. It can have clams. Those all make for very delicious pizzas if done right. (Though I haven’t had a good barbecue chicken pizza yet, but I just intensely dislike the types of sweet barbecue sauce typically used on them. I’m also not a fan of sweet pizza sauce in general, which is half of why I’m not a fan of Imo’s. There are also plenty of Chicago pizzas that fit the description, too.)
When I travel, one of my hobbies is eating as much of the local food as I can, and if they have their local takes on pizza, I go for that. In Milwaukee, I like Zaffiro’s and Marie’s. In St. Louis, Pi. In Detroit, Buddy’s. In Phoenix, Pizzeria Bianco (which has perhaps my favorite pizza I’ve ever eaten, the Rosa, with pistachios, onions, rosemary, olive oil, parmesan [no mozzerella or “melty” cheese.] Though the last few trips haven’t been as orgasmic as the first few.) And so on…
That’s what I was going to say! Most people I know seem to prefer the crusty edge bits, so we’re all stuck fighting for them before only the middle ones are left.
I haven’t had Pi yet. I’ll have to try it. Although I like Imo’s and Cecil Whittaker’s, my favorite St. Louis pizza is probably Stefanina’s because I grew up eating there as the “special occasion” place.
I wouldn’t say that. Like I said, I’m a Chicagoan, and the fun of travel is eating local food, not my own. That’s about 75% of the reason I travel. I never said Chicago food is superior, or anything like that.
I live firmly in the midwest, and this is decidedly not a general midwest style. Square cut pizza is generally only seen in school cafeterias, and is universally scorned by pizza aficionados.
I didn’t say it’s everywhere in the Midwest. It’s a style that shows up in a wide variety of Midwestern locations, so much so that rather than call it Chicago thin-crust style and claim it for our own, credit should be given to other places like Wisconsin, Indiana, St. Louis, parts of Illinois, and apparently also Minnesota that have it.
Just to check that I’m not crazy, I googled “Midwest style pizza” and the food gods on Serious Eats have even identified it as a style, so that’s good enough for me.
It’s pretty much a style that I’ve only seen indigenously in the Midwest (hence, “general Midwest” style, not specific to one Midwestern location), though not all Midwestern styles of pizza are of this type. Make sense?
Well, Quatro Formaggi has mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, and either pecorino romano or fontina. I’ve never seen anywhere where it has provolone. And, while I don’t know too much about Mexican pizza (and looking at google maps, pizza seems to be pretty much an American import that doesn’t seem overly popular…bunch of American chains, not too many local restaurants, every place I’ve seen seems to have mozzarella.
I first tried gooey butter cake at an outdoor food festival about two years ago. HOLY GOD, IS THAT SHIT AMAZING. There’s an artisanal ice cream shop not far from me in Brooklyn that mixes it into — I can’t remember — either vanilla or butterscotch ice cream. Wow.
PS: pulykamell’s links to photos of Chicago thin-crust pizza are giving my tongue a hard-on. The major diff between this and NYC pizza is that the Chicagoans really pile on the cheese and other toppings.
Last year when I was babysitting my aged mother-in-law I would put her to bed early and then go out for dinner…and would go once every two weeks or so to Rosebud on Taylor Street for Old World red sauce Italiano cuisine…Caesar salad, veal cutlets, pasta. The Maitre’d’s were two 6’3” 250 pound behemoths, dark-suited, very welcoming and sweet and jolly. Once I told them I would come more often, but I was afraid I would end up…”Looking like us?” they said in tandem.
Anyway, Ukulele Lady away tomorrow night…must order up a Neapolitan pie with sausage, onion, and EXTRA CHEESE to try to approximate Chicago pizza.
Yes, we do tend to be a bit heavy-handed on the cheese around here (but I honestly have not noticed that much a difference with New York, depending on the place). I would say the major difference is the crust: we like it crispier and without the big puffy crust ring around the edges. Chicago pizza dough is sheeted (run through a dough sheeting machine that flattens it, so it’s thin and also uniform throughout.) New York pizza is hand tossed or hand pulled. Makes for a very different crust. And the default pie is sausage, not pepperoni. (And the sausage is chunks of sausage, not slices like on most of the New York pies I’ve had.) And then there’s the square cut thing, which works with a Chicago thin crust, but not with a New York crust (once again, because of the dough. New York pizza served cut square would be stupid, just like trying to fold a pie cut of Chicago thin crust would be stupid.)
Next time you’re around here, I’d suggest picking up a sausage pizza from Villa Nove, but that’s in the near Western burbs. It’s pretty much tied with Vito & Nick’s down on the Southwest Side as my favorite Chicago thin crust. While I generally prefer going to Vito & Nicks because it’s a full restaurant with a bar and everything (Villa Nova has no alcohol and pretty much just serves pizza), the sausage at Villa Nova is particularly great.
Not to derail the thread from St. Louis, but the big thing in NYC pizza for the past five-ten years has been “Nonna” (Grandma) pizza.
Neapolitan: thin crust, round, cut in eight slices — standard USA pizza
Nonna: THINNER crust (still pliable, not cracker-style), rectangular, OOZING with good olive oil (like a standard New Haven pizza from Sally’s or Pepe’s), cut in eight rectangular slices, costs a couple bucks more
Ooo. That sounds pretty tasty, and a style I had never heard of. What I think of “grandma” pizza is more like an Italian sheet pan pizza with a fairly medium-to-thick dough, but thinner than Neapolitan? I am intrigued. Do you have pictures of this style that I can salaciously ogle?
