Giordano’s Pizza

223 West Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60606
312.583.9400
website

Italian beef

Chicago pizza

In 1974, brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio of Torino, Italy opened a pizza shop in the Windy City. The two, reportedly unimpressed by existing pizza options, used their mother’s recipe for double-crust, deep-dish pizza to great local acclaim. Today, Giordano’s has 44 locations all over the city and Florida, and for Chicagoans, business is all about one thing: the legendary Chicago deep dish pizza. The way this business is set up, you can probably have a deep dish pizza delivered to you just about anywhere in Chicagoland, and that’s just how it should be for true-blue Chicago cuisine like this.

The famous Chicago-style pizza is a masterpiece in conception…almost alien compared to the thin crust, square cut pizza predominant in other parts of the Midwest. True to form, Giordano’s pizza has a crust several inches tall and higher than the ingredients. It forms a dough bowl into which huge amounts of ingredients and cheese are found, followed by a second crust and topped with a savory tomato sauce. It’s easily to say you’ll need a knife and fork for this one.

Girodano’s pizza is excellent. It’s overflowing with toppings and absolutely knocks it out of the ballpark with their execution. The dough is crisp and crunchy, fantastic and certainly the best a pizza can be. The toppings are piled in, and the cheese is stringy and ties everything together in a messy but blissful way. The aforementioned tomato sauce completes the pizza. And it’s outstanding. This is the kind of pizza you’ll want to eat quickly, though, as it doesn’t last long as a leftover. That said, virtually everybody who comes here goes for the pizza. I don’t even see other people trying anything else on the menu. I think Giordano’s knows what it does well and really rolls with it. The options for the pizza seem to be pretty simple, including the “Chicago Classic” filled with mushrooms, peppers, onions and pepperoni. Many of the others are one-note tunes, like sausage, pepperoni, or spinach.

The service is good; though I will say that delivery takes longer than usual for a pizza. That said, the pizza still comes hot and fresh, at least downtown. To top it off, a unique option they offer, which I am very tempted to try, is that they will literally ship the pizza anywhere in the United States. It will be mailed half-baked and packed in dry ice for about the same price as a delivery pizza. I’m tempted to go for it, I really am.

Chicagoans are notoriously protective of “their” cuisine. It’s got a pretty high bar. Fortunately, Giordano’s really rocks it.

Recommendation

• The pizza is the top item on the menu, and it’s delicious. I can’t even bring myself to try anything else for fear of missing an opportunity.
• Service can be slow, but at the same time you can get delivery just about anywhere in town.
• Alternatively there is a “Ship a Pizza” option to get a pizza anywhere in the country.