Canadian Hockey Tourists in Town - Suggestions?
Me and a few of my Torontonian friends are coming to your fair city for a week and are trying to figure out what to eat for the best/most authentic Chicago experience. Coming from Toronto we are used to a great deal of excellent ethic food, so we would like to focus more on traditionally Chicago dishes and mid-western fare. Best Deep Dish Pizza? Best Italian Beef? We will be downtown most of the time but if you think that a specific side trip is in order then we probably wouldn't mind. We'd prefer the inexpensive - midrange hole in the wall and street food experience to high end priced meals (we are beer drinking hockey watching hockey fans, of course). Please through us your suggestions - anything you think would please a Canuck! Thanks!
Go Hawks!
By DAGK
on Mar 8, 2010 04:24 PM
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Asking about the best deep-dish pizza can start a war here. :) However, here are the ones that are generally regarded the highest, along with where to find them in the downtown neighborhoods where most people stay. All of these have additional locations in outlying city neighborhoods and suburban towns that are not listed below but can be found on their websites.
There are two styles of deep-dish pizza. The first was the single-crust "pizza in the pan". Its practitioners include:
Uno and Due - in River North, where they started it all in 1943. Avoid any other locations as they do not compare. www.unos.com
Pizano's - on State near North Michigan Avenue, and on Madison in the Loop. www.pizanoschicago.com
Lou Malnati's - on Wells in River North, and on State in the South Loop. www.loumalnatis.com
Gino's East - on Superior near North Michigan Avenue. www.ginoseast.com
The double-crust "stuffed" pizza came along in the early 1970s. You can find it at:
Giordano's - on Rush near North Michigan Avenue, on Jackson in the Loop, in the Prudential building in the Loop, and on Van Buren in Greek Town. www.giordanos.com
Bacino's - on Wacker in the Loop. www.bacinos.com
Edwardo's - on Dearborn in the South Loop. www.edwardos.com
Wherever you go, phone ahead with your pizza order to avoid waiting 30-45 minutes while seated for your pizza to bake.
If you would like to tell us where you're staying (e.g. what hotel), we can tell you which of these is closest.
As for Italian Beef, there are two large chains that do it as well as anyplace: Portillo's ( www.portillos.com ) and Al's ( www.alsbeef.com ). Both are also places where you can get Chicago-style hot dogs as well. And both of these have locations on Ontario Street in River North, about a block from each other, and walkable from most of the downtown hotels.
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Fantastic! Thank you nsxtasy!
What about downtown pubs/gastropubs or generally any place that serves beer and good food?
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Sounds like you'll want to include the Gage in your itinerary. www.thegagechicago.com
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I'll pipe in with my normal urging that you should go to the Publican for great food and beer. You can make reservations which helps out with the communal seating aspect of it. They have booths for mid-size groups. LOVE the food at the Publican - try any of the pork specials and the oysters.
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