Classic Chicago Food

Written By Joseph Kelleher

Deep Dish Pizza

You will meet plenty of chicagoans who claim they never get deep dish and its trash. I am not one of those Chicagoans, I love deep dish, but only a handful of times a year, not weekly occurence. The real problem with why Chicagoans don’t get deep dish all the time is it takes forever to make, if they are doing it right it should be at minium 35 minutes to an hour after you order the pizza ya get to eat it. But I have plenty of deep dish over the years, so I’m gonna share with you my favorite in order

  • Pedquads, This is definitely my favorite. They use a diffrent technquie with the bread which leads to carmelaized crust, and even though it looks burnt that somehow is the best part. Plus in terms of vibes, no other deep dish pizza matches. Great local enegry coming from in there. Cons there is only one location and its usually crowded so make a reservation.

  • Pizziria Uno, I mean, I gotta recommend the home of the Deep Dish, Pizzaria Uno. It was in that kitchen where deep dish was born.

  • LOU MALNATI’S This is the most classic of deep dish, when you see photos of deep dish its usually Lou’s. Whats really nice about Lou’s is the locations. They are in almost every neighborhood north of the South Loop. They are consistent, reliable and you can usually get a seat without problem

Hot Dogs

Have to be honest with you, I think pretty much all these hot dogs taste the same, I think the difference between the places is vibes and the other food.

  • Weiner Circle, The servers will talk some trash to you here, plus its got some nice outdoor seating, plus basketball (sometimes)

  • Portillo’s, classic Chicago stable that has travelled beyond just Chicago. Get a cake shake! They put a slice of cake into a milkshake.

  • These are a ton of these tiny little hot dog joints, alot of these have been around since the 40’s Jim's original, Redhot Ranch, Jimmy's Red Hots, Fixing Franks, Chicago's Dog House, Dave Red Hots, Devil Dawgs are all worth checking out.

Italian Beef

Got to be honest again, didn’t have a lot of Italian beef before I stopped eating meat. But I know some places

Ricobenes: l got some Italian Beef once with my high school baseball team and l loved it. Also a Chicago icon.

Mr. Beef: the bear! I doubt the kitchen is as stressful as they make it seem in the Bear, but this is the place the first season is based on

Joseph Kelleher
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Food after the Tour (loop)