Chicago deep-dish pizza: Malnati’s vs. Giordano’s

There are no “losers” in this comparison, that’s for sure.

In late July/early August, two of us took an annual baseball trip, with this one happening in the Midwest. For a couple of days, Chicago was the base area.

Several years ago, on my first trip to the Chicago area, I had some of the famous deep-dish pizza and I had gone with the original Pizzeria Uno, and it was quite divine.

Like, truly divine. The spot felt old-school. It was smaller and tighter (at least the area we sat) and the pizza pans were worn and aged — making it perfect.

This time around, though, the chance for a comparison came to fruition. On back-to-back days, pizza was the choice for the day and it came down to Lou Malnati’s vs Giordano’s.

Again, there’s no real loser here. Both were amazing. But let’s take a look.

Lou Malnati’s

The first stop for pizza came on a day when we were seeing the Chicago White Sox in the afternoon, and the Chicago Cubs at night. In between was a perfect stop for some pizza, wouldn’t you say?

Lou Malnati’s it was.

We got here at a good time as we had a seat right away. By the time we left, there were a lot of people waiting in line for a table.

First off, this pizza was delish. But it was a little different than I am obviously used to. First, it’s very heavy on sauce. And the sauce sits on top of the pizza, with a lot of glorious cheese in the middle. Therefore, a fork and knife was a must.

But the taste … oh my. Fantastic. The sauce was very tasty and the cheese was plentiful and gooey. Good lord it was fantastic.

Being hungry, though, as an appetizer, we got their cheddar cubes, which were delightful. Think Mozzarella sticks, but in cubes and cheddar. Fantastic.

The pizza was tremendous, though. I fully enjoyed it.

Giordano’s

The following night, Giordano’s was on tap. This worked out well as we were coming back from Milwaukee and had plans to go to an independent baseball game that night.

However, it was the one night on the trip where weather took control and we decided not to go to the independent game (which, it turns out, was the right direction as the game only made it to the fourth before the rain uncorked, and that was after a delay before the game even started!), so with a Giordano’s not far from the hotel, it was the perfect decision.

I’m glad it worked out this way.

This pizza was crazy good. The sauce was where it was supposed to be, and with getting a meat lover’s pizza, it was loaded!

The first bit was divine. The rest was crazy good as well. But the beauty of it was this — you didn’t necessarily need a fork and knife! This was cooked to perfection. The crust was excellent, there was the right amount of cheese and sauce, and the rest was perfect.

No appetizer this time around, but a cannoli to finish off the meal was excellent.

The verdict

As stated earlier, you can’t lose.

We were split down the middle on which pizza was the winner. One preferred the more sauce, one didn’t. My choice was Giordano’s because I liked less sauce, and liked it on the inside with the toppings on top.

But the reality is, I’d go back to either one and wouldn’t complain. They were both amazing and the difference of opinion basically came down to the placement and the amount of sauce.

Tremendous experience to have these on back-to-back nights. Whenever I might get back to Chicago, I know I’d love to dig in again!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!