[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by newopty

As John Stewart pointed out deep dish isn't pizza, it's a casserole.

As long as the crust is thick, not paper thin, and they don't put any fruits or vegetables other than tomato sauce, olives, or Italian peppers on it, and it has either pepperoni or Italian sausage, or both, I don't care what they call it.

Having had "pizza" in Italy, what we call pizza is very different from the original. I don't think we had pizza in the U.S. until after WW II did we? This may be urban legend, but I heard that G.I.'s brought it back from Italy and enhanced it with meat, etc.

We sometimes call my hometown, "Little Italy". It has one of the oldest and most successful Italian Heritage Festivals in the country, so we take our Italian food seriously.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

We sometimes call my hometown, "Little Italy". It has one of the oldest and most successful Italian Heritage Festivals in the country, so we take our Italian food seriously.

Minor point -- you take your Italian-American food seriously. It is still difficult to find the real deal in America. Furthermore, there is no such thing as "Italian" food. The food from Piedmont is night-and-day different from the food in Sicily. The Italians care more about regions (and even smaller areas) than some sweeping national identity.

There's nothing wrong with Italian-American food. But it is as "Italian" as Chinese-American food is "Chinese."

Fortunately, that is changing. It used to be impossible to get a decent bowl of risotto in this country, or a slice of something Neapolitans would recognize as pizza. Now we have a handful of places that serve food that can realistically be called authentic. Now if we would just quit calling that rubbery junk we top our pizzas with "mozzarella."

[cowherjaw]

Last night I had some Chicago style pizza with some Chicago style football. But my father said that last night's football wasn't authentic and nothing like old school Chicago football with Walter Payton. Then my grandfather told me that this isn't authentic football at all, so we hopped on a plane to Italy to see some real football, and I was intrigued. The quarterbacks wore different jerseys than the other players on their team, the ball was round and the players played both offense and defense.

Now, I've heard that there are places in America where you can watch that kind of football, but I keep hearing about how it's a poor imitation of what they do across the pond, and how the football I watch isn't really football at all and if I watched more of that European style football, I would realize how crappy my American style football really is. And all this time I thought I could appreciate old school Chicago style football, new school Chicago style football and maybe even the European style every now and then because all of it is delicious to me.

At some point, I hope that every time my family hears me talk about enjoying some type of American football that they would just let it go instead of interjecting how much better authentic football is and how ignorant I am for not bowing down and respecting the original football every time someone starts talking about American football.

That said, Chicago style pizza is delicious, but I prefer thin crust myself.

Every....single....freaking....time

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by cowherjaw

Last night I had some Chicago style pizza with some Chicago style football. But my father said that last night's football wasn't authentic and nothing like old school Chicago football with Walter Payton. Then my grandfather told me that this isn't authentic football at all, so we hopped on a plane to Italy to see some real football, and I was intrigued. The quarterbacks wore different jerseys than the other players on their team, the ball was round and the players played both offense and defense.

Now, I've heard that there are places in America where you can watch that kind of football, but I keep hearing about how it's a poor imitation of what they do across the pond, and how the football I watch isn't really football at all and if I watched more of that European style football, I would realize how crappy my American style football really is. And all this time I thought I could appreciate old school Chicago style football, new school Chicago style football and maybe even the European style every now and then because all of it is delicious to me.

At some point, I hope that every time my family hears me talk about enjoying some type of American football that they would just let it go instead of interjecting how much better authentic football is and how ignorant I am for not bowing down and respecting the original football every time someone starts talking about American football.

That said, Chicago style pizza is delicious, but I prefer thin crust myself.

Every....single....freaking....time

Well, that ought to shut us all up.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by cowherjaw

but I keep hearing about how it's a poor imitation of what they do across the pond,

Actually, what they do across the pond is the poor imitation. We'd already been playing football for 30 years when soccer as we know it came into being. Europeans just assume their version of soccer is older because they assume EVERYTHING in Europe is older than the Americas.

We were building 90,000-seat college bowls by the time soccer leagues started organizing in Europe.

[Isotope-C14]

Originally Posted by pooh6369

Man I love that place, I think it's one of the best pizza in Vegas. the deep dish is awesome but I really like the thin crust. and don't get me started on the Italian beef in the footlong polish!!!!!

Glad you guys are loving the I-beef!

As a Chicagoan, it's very hard to find one outside of our city that matches up to what we get locally, though I'm sure you guys are getting one made from someone who knows what they are doing (due to the positive responses)

For an interesting read, please check out:

Home of the Italian Beef

I'm not sure though what you are talking about with the Italian beef in the foot-long polish. What we have here is commonly called a "combo" and that's an Italian Sausage happily surrounded by Italian Beef and is other than the sausage, pretty much an Italian beef, just with a sausage stuck in there. Polish are different types of sausages, and the ones we have here would likely clash with Italian beef. I personally love Italian Beef/Combos but don't care terribly for most Polish, unless it is butterflied and grilled, in which case can be breathtaking. I think it has to do with a combination of consistency and crispy flavors that occur during grilling.

OK, take care!

[BigLazy]

Being a lifetime resident of Chicago I have personally tried a lot of beefs and pizza in the Chicagoland area. A lot of people here in Chicago have theyre own opinion about who has a better beef or pizza or hotdogs but I will personally miss Portillos when I move to Henderson.

[cowherjaw]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Actually, what they do across the pond is the poor imitation. We'd already been playing football for 30 years when soccer as we know it came into being. Europeans just assume their version of soccer is older because they assume EVERYTHING in Europe is older than the Americas.

We were building 90,000-seat college bowls by the time soccer leagues started organizing in Europe.

I always learn something new. Keep it going!

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by BigLazy

Being a lifetime resident of Chicago I have personally tried a lot of beefs and pizza in the Chicagoland area. A lot of people here in Chicago have theyre own opinion about who has a better beef or pizza or hotdogs but I will personally miss Portillos when I move to Henderson.

Try Windy City. They are native Chicago peeps. They even get offended if you ask for ketchup on your dog. 'aint happenin' You want ketchup, you gotta do it yourself.

[delgadobb]

Originally Posted by Croce

This is where he took you Buzz. If you looked closely you might have seen my initials from the 60s on one of those dark booths

Ginos East | Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Not sure whether that original location is still there, but it was one of my favorites as well for many a year.

Croce

Sadly, the original's no longer there ... that place was a classic, narrow hallways & dimly lit, my name's written somewhere in there as well. They tried to transfer as much stuff as they could to the new location (633 N Wells) from the original location (162 E Superior St). After several years on Wells St, they're moving to 500 N LaSalle where Michael Jordan's restaurant used to be located.

Gino's was the first deep dish I had in Chicago, so it has a fond place in my heart. My favorite now is Nancy's, the one on Broadway just north of Diversey. Nancy and Rocco Palese migrated to Chicago from Potenza, Italy (lived most of their adult lives in Turin) in 1969 & their pizza is an adaptation of "scarciedda" based on his mother's recipe. I like it better than Gino's mostly due to the subtle mix of tomato & herbs/seasoning.

If you refuse to call it pizza, you can call it "scarciedda". For all I care you can call it turd on a platter. Doesn't matter. It's delicious.

Originally Posted by NLVgal

Try Windy City. They are native Chicago peeps. They even get offended if you ask for ketchup on your dog. 'aint happenin' You want ketchup, you gotta do it yourself.

That reminds me of a classic scene in the last Dirty Harry movie. Harry's walking up to a crime scene & mumbles something about it being disgusting; another detective's eating a hot dog while Harry peeks in the back seat of a car where some guy's gotten his privates blown to bits. He eventually goes on a rant about that stuff not bothering him, but what really makes him sick to his stomach? "Nobody, I mean NOBODY eats ketchup on a hot dog."

Clint Eastwood Sudden Impact Hot Dog - YouTube