Chicago vs. New York Pizza

Jon Stewart, the television satirist and comedian, recently did a sidesplitting rant on “Chicago-Style,” deep-dish pizza.  Even a life-long Chicagoan and deep-dish pizza aficionado such as myself had to laugh.  You gotta’ watch it –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8IKxbOpt0E

Said Stewart: “Chicago-style pizza is not only not betta’ than New York pizza…it’s not pizza.  It’s tomato soup in a bread bowl!”

People get very emotional about the deep-dish vs. NY pizza debate (BTW, I have no idea why New Yorkers feel they have a license to call “thin” pizza “New York style pizza.”)  When you’ve had deep-dish all your life and you taste a thin slice, it’s puzzling why anyone would opt for thin unless it’s to keep the calories to a minimum.

One of the problems though, is deep-dish pizza is a lot easier to screw up than thin (with the notable exception being Dominos), and indeed, there are a lot of very bad deep-dish pizza restaurants.   What makes for a bad deep-dish pizza, you may ask?  (1) Pizza that’s all bread and not much else, (2) Pizza crust lacking that fabulous crispness, (3) Excessive cheese, (4) Putting too many vegetables on the pizza, which makes the pie watery and (5) Inattention to the pizza’s temperature – it MUST be served piping hot.

When my clients come to Chicago, I steer them to one of four classic, pizza institutions- Uno’s, Due’s, Gino’s or Malnatti’s – and they thank me profusely for introducing them to one of the best taste experiences they have ever had.

What amazes me is the deep-dish pizza served at airports.  I can’t remember all the brands I’ve seen in my travels, but I know that Chicago’s O’Hare serves Uno’s pizza.  It’s beyond belief that Uno, the inventor of Chicago’s deep-dish pizza, is so irresponsible in selling this miserable, tasteless, one-person serving that they try to pass on as pizza.  Trust me – it’s NOTHING like the pizza served at their fabulous restaurant. Untold millions of people must taste this junk and say: “This is the special Chicago style pizza?  Yuck!  I’ll take NY-style pizza any day over this crap.”

Postcript:  A few days after Stewart’s bombast, in the spirit of fairness (and the quest for higher ratings), he invited the owner of one of Chicago’s original deep-dish establishments – Lou Malnati’s – to bring on stage a piping hot pizza served fresh from the oven.  To his credit, when Stewart took a bite, his response was “that’s very tasty, very tasty.  I apologize.”