River North Law Group Shares Chicago-style Pizza
If you want to start a fight in Chicago, boldly suggest that you know where the best pizza in Chicago comes out of the oven. You’ll invite debate in nearly any local crowd you’ll find in Chicago or its suburbs. Outside the U.S. our Italian neighbors can get touchy about Chicago's claim to the best pizza in the world. Famously, in a friendly social media debate last year, Twitterati in Naples challenged, “Pizza Capital of the World?” It seems the pizza debate has baked since the surge of its popularity in the 1930’s. There’s little reason to expect it to subside.
In September, the nation appreciates our pizza loving pride with National Cheese Pizza Day, September 5th and National Pepperoni Pizza Day, September 20th. These celebrations are a prelude to observance of Pizza Month in October. At River North Law Group, however, our team needs no holiday to celebrate pizza. We share a pizza nearly once a week, and enjoy this Chicago's delicacy regularly. You can meet our team here.
Origins of Chicago-style Pizza
Gennaro Lombardi first crafted pizza in 1905 using bakers’ skills he learned in Naples. Lombardi is credited with developing New York Style pizza. He made Lombardi's the first pizzeria in the United States. You can learn more about the history of pizza at Bacino's.
Internationally, modern pizza is reputed to have started in Naples. In 1889, Raffaele Esposito created the “Pizza Margherita,” with tomato, mozzarella, and basil replicating the colors of the Italian flag. It was a special gift tor King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Italy.
Chicago restaurateur, Ric Riccardo, became partners with Ike Sewell, a liquor salesman, and Sewell’s wife, Florence, in the new venture. In fall of 1943, they opened Pizzeria Uno a few blocks from the well-known Riccardo’s on Wabash Avenue at Ohio Street where Chicago-style pizza first appeared. Yes, it’s the same Pizzeria Uno franchise operating today! Many GIs had been introduced to pizza as they moved up the coast of Italy, and these Chicagoans anticipated that they would want more when they returned home.
For the Foodie, Here's a Beautiful Pizza Book
The ABC7 (Chicago) food reporter, Steve Dolinsky, has written a fascinating book on pizza, Pizza City, USA: 101 Reasons Why Chicago Is America’s Greatest Pizza Town (Northwestern Univ. Press). In this field guide, Dolinsky samples 101 pies, consults local historians, and even includes a glossary of pizza terminology to piece together a complete profile of Chicago’s pizza scene. He concludes that Chicago is far from a one-note pizza town that serves pan after deep-dish pan of its signature style.
In the book, Dolinsky argues that Chicago has “the most pizza variety in the country,” outclassing even New York City’s. According to his field research, ten distinctive pizza varieties hold significant ground within Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods: “tavern-style, thin, New York-style, artisan, Neapolitan, deep-dish, stuffed, Sicilian, Roman, and Detroit-style.” That’s twice as many as New York offers, Dolinsky explains: “New York has more people, and therefore more pizza places, but at the end of the day it’s a slice culture.”
We Even Have a Pizza Museum!
Further substantiating the premier position of Chicago in the pizza world, memorabilia collector Kendall Bruns recently opened the US Pizza Museum in the South Loop, to the ire of journalists and Twitter users who insist that New York is more deserving of such a place. Illustrious pizza chefs, or pizzaiolos, are also moving to the city—in August 2017, for example, Rome’s most acclaimed pizzeria, Bonci, picked Chicago for its first-ever location outside Italy.
For pizza-lovers, Dolinsky personally recommends Pizano’s or Labriola for deep-dish, Acanto for Neapolitan, and Robert’s Pizza Company for artisan-style. You’ll need to venture beyond the downtown area to find the best examples of tavern-style pizza. Pizza City, USA rates Vito and Nick’s on the South Side highest.
Time Out’s Top Ten Pizza Places in 2022
- Vito and Nick’s Pizzeria
- Middle Brow Bungalow
- Marie’s Pizza & Liquor
- Burt’s Place
- Robert’s Pizza Company
- Pat’s Pizza and Ristorante
- Coalfire
- Paulie Gee’s
- Pizza Friendly Pizza
- Crushed Pizzeria
Taken from TimeOut.
If you’re interested in a more educational experience, every Saturday, a well-qualified team leads walking and bus tours into different Chicago neighborhoods to sample the styles of pizza described in the book. Information about the tours and additional pizza recommendations are available at pizzacityusa.com.
Some of this material was referenced from ‘Deeper than Deep Dish’ by Elizabeth Elliott, Nov. 1, 2018, Perspectives on History.
https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/november-2018/deeper-than-deep-dish-the-case-for-chicago-as-americas-pizza-capital
Information about the tours and additional pizza recommendations are available at pizzacityusa.com.