re: Lou Malnati's

Lou Malnati’s > Giordano’s

Forty (fifty?) years ago, I was spending a lot of time in Chicago on business. Back then Lou Malnati's was good, but my favorite deep dish was Pizzeria Uno's pie. They were on East Ohio.

I see where they also have a store a block north on East Ontario. ack in those days, they were billed as Frank Sinatra's favorite pizza. Of course, back then we would go to the Playboy Club after pizza, maybe before. The Playboy Building was on the miracle mile. It had a rotating white beacon light on top, so you could easily find your way there even after pizza.

Those were different days. We QC/QA group at Baxter Travenol had a three day meeting once at the Playboy Resort on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Really fancy place. shooting pool until late in the night with a bunny probably doesn't happen anymore. I guess it is no longer PC.

Lou Malnati’s is solid deep dish pizza.

I get the frozen pizzas from time to time. They are solid! Caught a buy 3 get 3 free on gold belly the other day. Ended up paying about $80 for 6 pizzas.

I’m not the biggest deep dish fan, but when I do order, I prefer a couple other places in Chicago (i.e. Art of Pizza, Milly, Pequod’s). Lou is pretty classic, anyway.

quote:

---

It's probably #2 on my list, behind Pequods

---

I went back and forth during my time living in Chicago. I like the burnt cheesy crust on Pequods but ultimately I think Lou's is better. If pequods would apply the sausage like Lous I might like it better

I had one of their pizzas when I was in Chicago about a year ago and really liked it. I normally don’t like a deep dish pizza but when in Rome. Something that caught me off guard was how good their calamari was as an appetizer. Maybe I caught them on a good night or was starving but that calamari was the star of the show for me. I live in a place that has awful pizza. If the Lou Malnati’s near you is half as good as the one I ate at in Chicago consider yourself lucky because here in Daphne, AL Domino's may be our best option. Even the Mellow Mushroom everyone from Georgia brags about is not all that good.

quote:

---

20+ years ago Mellow Mushroom was worth the hype. They've over expanded and gone steeply downhill since then.

---

Sadly it seems like a lot of good places do this. Johnny’s Pizza back in the 1970’s and 80’s had a location in Monroe and Ruston that were pretty good. Different kind of pizza than New York or Chicago but it was uniquely pretty good. The Sweep the Kitchen was not bad. Doe’s in Greenville, MS has blown up with locations. Ruth Chris is another. Chipotle was pretty good for what it is when there was only a few of them in Colorado. Funny how it’s hard to replicate a good thing once places start expanding everywhere.