Chicago style pizza in Indy area? (Terre Haute, Lafayette: college, eat, best)

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by Southside Shrek

Hold da fone there on Nancy's sausage. They put some in that Rocco's cheese deep dish pizza for us and I did not think it was anything great at all.

In all fairness to Nancy, maybe I better go back there and try a thin crust or one of their stuffed pizzas. I tried one of their Italian sausage sandwiches and the sausage was very mild and dry. Guess Nancy's never heard of putting some banana peppers on their Italian sausage sandwiches.

I've tried Nancy's thin crust. Decent, but not worth the price, IMO.

[grmasterb]

I'll say this much for Arni's -- they don't skimp on the toppings. I don't mind the ground meat too much, but it's not my favorite pizza by far.

[Southside Shrek]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

I'll say this much for Arni's -- they don't skimp on the toppings. I don't mind the ground meat too much, but it's not my favorite pizza by far.

I grew accustomed to eating Arni's pizza because it was one of the few pizza places in town at the time. Arni held a pizza eating contest at Market Square in Lafayette once a year but I never participated in that. Don't think I could have eaten 20+ pizzas to win 1st place. What some people will do just to win a pizza-eating contest.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Southside Shrek

Hold da fone there on Nancy's sausage. They put some in that Rocco's cheese deep dish pizza for us and I did not think it was anything great at all.

In all fairness to Nancy, maybe I better go back there and try a thin crust or one of their stuffed pizzas. I tried one of their Italian sausage sandwiches and the sausage was very mild and dry. Guess Nancy's never heard of putting some banana peppers on their Italian sausage sandwiches.

It's been real sausage every time we've gotten thin or deep dish ...

Their beef sandwiches are decent too.

[Southside Shrek]

I am waiting for Nancy's to have the all-you-can-eat pizza contest.

[indy_317]

Originally Posted by missik999

Quantity over quality. People like Domino's and Pizza Hut because it is cheap. True, you can get three Pizza Hut pizzas for the price of one Nancy's, but you could also get probably 100 White Castles for that price too.

Pizza Hut is hit or miss, a lot depends on the specific restaurant. Two well established Pizza Huts on the east side of Indy (both of very busy Washington St.) closed a couple or so years back. With all the new pizza places opening up, these two Pizza Huts were just average. However, the Pizza Hut in Noblesville is very good, and at least cooks the pizza to where the cheese is melted properly (a big issue with Pizza Hut). Domino's used to be cheap filler pizza, but after their new recipe, it is actually very good. Little Caesars hot and ready is now the new Domino's. Even Chuck E Cheese changed their pizza. Chuck E Cheese and Dominos both tied for worst chain pizza a couple of years ago. It is nice to see two companies taking steps to improve their product, and that Dominos is still offering very good deals.

We still like to make our own pizza. A Boboli crust, Pastorelli pizza sauce, and any Mozzarella and Provolone cheese blend is great.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

Nancy's in Fishers. Nothing else in the Indianapolis area compares.

Nancy's Pizza

I'll second this. There's a Nancy's near me and IMO it's the best stuffed pizza in the city.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Thomas46032

I'm a big pizza fan and have travelled quite a few places for no other reason than to eat the local specialty. St. Louis style is by far the worst of all the styles I've tried. I suppose if one grew up eating nothing but that style they'd defend it but the provel cheese blend is bad enough to turn your stomach.

I discovered the trick to appreciating St. Louis-style pizza is a liberal application of crushed red pepper. Without it though... you're right, it's weird stuff.

Originally Posted by Thomas46032

On the other side is Detroit-style, which I believe is the most underrated style in the US. Buddy's Pizza in Detroit is the place to go and you'll never be disappointed. And strangely enough in Austin, TX of all places there is a pizza trailer called Via 313 that also serves up fantastic Detroit pies.

Great...I'm hungry now!

They've started opening up Jets Pizza places around here. Actually not too bad for a fairly large regional chain. But I'm not a big fan of the big spongy crust, having grown up on the crisp cracker-thin crust of the Chicago-style thin crust variety.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by domergurl

We tended to gravitate toward Edwardo's deep dish. When we lived near Gurnee, we always went with Nancy's.

Edwardo's is my favorite of the deep-dish/stuffed regional chains behind Nancy's. Unfortunately, Edwardo's appears to be dying out. There's only 9 left. They just closed another one in the South Loop. The location still delivers, but the dining room is closed.

Originally Posted by urbanologist

I was told the chain is out of Chicago. Keep in mind some of the deep dish places in Indy are probably owned by very same people who are from the Chicago area that behind the style.

There is a Chicago's Pizza chain in Chicago, but they are not affiliated with the chain in Indiana. No big loss there -- Chicago's is pretty "meh."

Originally Posted by grmasterb

Whenever I eat pizza with my Chicago co-workers, nobody ever eats deep dish. The three pizza establishments you mention, plus Giordano's, are mostly located in downtown, River North or in other touristy/hotel hot spots around Chicagoland. When you get into the neighborhoods and check out the mom-and-pop pizza joints, not much deep dish.

Uhm, pretty much all the well-known deep-dish/stuffed chains have locations scattered all over the entire metro area. What's more, most mom-and-pop pizza joints around here offer Chicago-style deep-dish or stuffed. Some do both even though the difference is probably lost on many.

[Southside Shrek]

Drover, where is Giovanni's Pizza these days? It once was out in Roseland.