Chicago Style Pizza and Hot Dogs
No visit to Chicago is complete without trying our two most famous delicacies: Chicago-style hot dogs and Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Like Chicago, itself, they’re larger than life – and memorable.
Chicago Pizza
When eating Chicago-style pizza, you’re best advised to use a knife and fork. The deep-dish delicacy was invented in 1943 at the still standing and always crowded Pizzeria Uno, (29 E. Ohio St.) A Chicago pizza is about two inches thick and arrives in a heavy black pan. The crust is covered with abundant amounts of mozzarella, meat (usually sausage) and a sauce of uncooked crushed tomatoes.
Chicagoans order their deep-dish pizzas with every imaginable ingredient. Spinach has become extremely popular, or you can have mushrooms, pepperoni, green pepper, black olives – even shrimp and pineapple. There’s also a variation called stuffed pizza, with additional dough that makes it even thicker than standard deep-dish.
Chicago teems with great deep-dish pizza restaurants, many of which have several locations – including Edwardo’s, Gino’s East, Giordano’s, Leona’s, Home Run Inn and Lou Malnati’s. Just a block north of Pizzeria Uno is Pizzeria Due (619 N. Wabash Ave). And most Chicagoans can direct you to their favorite neighborhood joint, which they’ll swear is the best in town.
Finally, if you prefer thin-crust pizza you can get it in Chicago – and it’ll be some of the best you’ve ever had.
Chicago Hot Dogs
Hot dogs made their first recorded appearance in Chicago at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, but the true Chicago-style dog was invented 40 years later by push cart vendors during the Great Depression. For a nickel, a hard-pressed Chicagoan could get practically a full meal: a hot dog “with a salad on top” – specifically, yellow mustard, bright green relish, onions, tomato wedges, a pickle spear, sport peppers and a dash of celery salt, bulging from a steamed poppyseed bun.
And that’s what you’ll get if you order a hot dog with “everything” or “the works” at one of hundreds of Chicago hot dog stands, some of which have attained iconic status. These include Superdawg, (6363 N. Milwaukee Ave.); Wiener’s Circle (2622 N. Clark St.); and Hot Doug’s, (3324 N. California Ave.), an “encased meat emporium” where the specials sometimes feature Sauternes duck sausage with black truffle butter and foie gras. Perhaps more convenient is Gold Coast Dogs, with three downtown locations and stands at O’Hare and Midway airports.
The Vienna Beef Company produces about a quarter-billion Chicago hot dogs each year. Its plant at 2501 N. Damen Ave. has a restaurant and gift shop. Red Hot Chicago, (4649 W. Armtage Ave.), is another big producer.
A word of warning. A true Chicagoan never puts ketchup on a hot dog. And don’t try to eat one of these while driving.
Check out what our Chicago Insiders picked as their favorite hot dog and pizza places (see sidebar)!
