Chicago by Fork

Place: Giordano's
Food: Pizza


Our first experience was very interesting. We were going to eat at a hot dog place. So we bundle up and head outside. It was cold. I mean C-O-L-D!! The wind was like stickin' your face in snow! So, first we couldn't find the bus stop. So we missed the first bus. We wait 15 minutes for the next bus and froze. The next bus...didn't stop. Drove right past. So we wait 15 more minutes and got on a bus. The bus was warm. We switch buses and are almost there! We get off the bus (all of us are starving) and walk down to the hot dog place.


It's closed.




So, we turn around and start walkin'. I remember something! I saw Giordano's from the bus. And it's just a block or so away! Giordano's is considered by many to be the best pizza in Chicago, so we weren't disappointed. We walk in and it's warm and not crowded AND they had the UofL game on.

First we ordered bruschetta.

Bruschetta is a little medallion of garlic butter toast with a tomato and red onion salad on top. I knew I was gonna like this place when I saw the ice cream sized scoop of salad on top! The bruschetta was amazing! The toast was sooo buttery and had just the right amount of garlic. You could taste it but it didn't overwhelm the salad. The edges were crispy and the middle was soft, but nit soggy. Ir wasn't crunchy, like it hurt to bite, but crispy, yet soft. The tomatoes were really really fresh and the red onion was flavorful but not too strong. It had some unidentified fresh herbs and I think it was tossed in a light vinagrette. It was sprinkled with a bit on parmesean. The salad did not soggify the bread and the flavors were wonderful.


Then the pizza.




Oh the pizza!





That is the cheese.
This is my slice of special (green peppers, onions, mushrooms and sausage)

Wow. Chicago deep dish pizza (also called 'stuffed' pizza) is upside down. Crust, cheese, toppings, sauce.
The first thing you notice is the freshness of the sauce. The herbs are minimal so the tomatoeyness comes through. The veggies were crunchy and BIG. No little wimpy pieces of onion and pepper here! They fill your fork! And the sausage was so good! It wasn't no cheap, tasteless rubbery sausage that's on most pizza. It was big chunks of good, spicy sausage. The mushrooms were flavorful and salty, not slimy or dry. The cheese! Oh the cheese! The use slice cheese, not shredded. It was smooth and a little smokey, Oh so ooey-gooey. It just strings from the pizza, oozing out. The crust was thick and withstood the heavy toppings well. It tasted so goood, with the flavor of thin crust but not the weird breaky-apartness. The last few bites is the 3.5 inch crust with a few toppings, cheese, and the sauce. Eaten sideways, it was like a stuffed breadstick, and soooo good. I would have to say, based on my pizza criteria, this was one of the best pizzas I've had. Crust, Sauce, toppings, cheese. And it wasn't greasy or heavy. It was surprisingly fresh.



Rating Scale:
yummy
awesome
yummyfuliscious
awesomefuliscious
awesomefulyummiliscious




Giordano's: awesomefulyummiicious