Anybody been to Lou Malnatis yet? (Phoenix, Scottsdale: delivery, exodus, radio)

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

I am sure it is used extensively by the locals but to the rest of us it just sounds dumb. "the Chicago area" would work a lot better. I hear ads in L.A. referring to the area as "Southland" but I have never run into anyone using the term.

Im sorry if it sounds "dumb", but its a nice way of incorporating the entire area, so people can relate. What sounds stupid is the "Valley of the Sun". Its a gimmicky, embarrassing title that also gets tossed around on TV like its going out of style. Watching the Super Bowl and hearing the announcers say "welcome back, we're live in the Valley of the Sun" makes me gag. Funny they didnt call it that during the 2nd Bowl we hosted when it was cloudy n crappy out.

Anyways, Chicagoland has roughly 9 million people in it, and is a vast area. I particularly like the nickname. Sure beats "Chi-town"! Now THAT sounds stupid.

[petlover8]

Originally Posted by sargeant79

Not sure if you're from the city or the suburbs,.......

I'm from Chicago, Mundelein, Oak Park, Schiller Park, Streamwood, and Lake Zurich. From 1952 to 1991.

[sargeant79]

Originally Posted by petlover8

I'm from Chicago, Mundelein, Oak Park, Schiller Park, Streamwood, and Lake Zurich. From 1952 to 1991.

Perhaps it faded from the vernacular of folks that lived in the city as time went on? In my lifetime, I honestly almost never heard anyone in my neighborhood or elsewhere actually use that term to refer to the area except on local tv, mostly on the news and in commercials.

Either way...this thread is about pizza and we got way off topic. My apologies for my part in contributing to it. Would still be curious to hear from anyone from Chicago if the pizza from the new Malnati's here tastes identical to their pizzas in Chicago or not.

[quigboto]

Originally Posted by sargeant79

Perhaps it faded from the vernacular of folks that lived in the city as time went on? In my lifetime, I honestly almost never heard anyone in my neighborhood or elsewhere actually use that term to refer to the area except on local tv, mostly on the news and in commercials.

Either way...this thread is about pizza and we got way off topic. My apologies for my part in contributing to it. Would still be curious to hear from anyone from Chicago if the pizza from the new Malnati's here tastes identical to their pizzas in Chicago or not.

I just had Lou's the other day here in Chicago and it was delicious. Could someone air mail me some Phoenix Lou's and I'll tell you how it compares....

[azriverfan.]

What is funny is Lou's is an above average place in Chicago but when it is brought to Phoenix, it's a huge deal. The same applies to Portillos. Portillos is nothing a but a burger and hot dog joint. There is nothing remotely special about it but because it's from Chicago, it is romanticized here as if it's better simply because it's from the big city of Chicago. It reminds me of Americans flocking to anything that is European for the same faux romantic vestige ie it's from Europe so it must be better. We've had great Chicago style pizza joints here such as Vitos for a long time.

I remember when In an Out Burger moved here in the early 2000's. We grew up with it in California and it was just another burger joint. In Phoenix, it was like the second coming of the Beatles. People would wait 1-2 hours in the drive thru for a year just to have a have an In and Out Burger. Again, it's a good burger but nothing special. It was hyped because it was from L.A. and the L.A. residents clamored for a piece of home which turned into massive hype.

Lou's will do what the others have done. They will create additional restaurants to meet the demand and then the hype will die down due the supply increasing. But Phoenix residents need to stop with this hero worship of anything that comes from some place else. Some of the lousiest places I've eaten have been overhyped restaurants that came here from other cities.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

What is funny is Lou's is an above average place in Chicago but when it is brought to Phoenix, it's a huge deal. The same applies to Portillos. Portillos is nothing a but a burger and hot dog joint. There is nothing remotely special about it but because it's from Chicago, it is romanticized here as if it's better simply because it's from the big city of Chicago. It reminds me of Americans flocking to anything that is European for the same faux romantic vestige ie it's from Europe so it must be better. We've had great Chicago style pizza joints here such as Vitos for a long time.

I remember when In an Out Burger moved here in the early 2000's. We grew up with it in California and it was just another burger joint. In Phoenix, it was like the second coming of the Beatles. People would wait 1-2 hours in the drive thru for a year just to have a have an In and Out Burger. Again, it's a good burger but nothing special. It was hyped because it was from L.A. and the L.A. residents clamored for a piece of home which turned into massive hype.

Lou's will do what the others have done. They will create additional restaurants to meet the demand and then the hype will die down due the supply increasing. But Phoenix residents need to stop with this hero worship of anything that comes from some place else. Some of the lousiest places I've eaten have been overhyped restaurants that came here from other cities.

Interesting, slightly patronizing, way to frame things.

But I think the Malnatis is played up because of the shear presence of Chicago transplants. I'd wager close to 1/2 of the regulars on here are from that area. In n out was already close, we already knew that was good.

[petlover8]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

I remember when In an Out Burger moved here in the early 2000's. We grew up with it in California and it was just another burger joint. In Phoenix, it was like the second coming of the Beatles. People would wait 1-2 hours in the drive thru for a year just to have a have an In and Out Burger. Again, it's a good burger but nothing special. It was hyped because it was from L.A. and the L.A. residents clamored for a piece of home which turned into massive hype.

Lou's will do what the others have done. They will create additional restaurants to meet the demand and then the hype will die down due the supply increasing. But Phoenix residents need to stop with this hero worship of anything that comes from some place else. Some of the lousiest places I've eaten have been overhyped restaurants that came here from other cities.

I agree completely. I ate at an In & Out Burger....... Once. All I heard was how everything was just SO FRESH!! Big deal. I thought their fries were crap. All starchy and hard with little to no taste. The burger itself was fair to average, but nothing special for sure. After one time it was back to Wendy's, which has them beat 11 way's to Sunday. All hype, and nothing but.

As I said, I've eaten at Lou Malnatis in Chicago. It was OK, but nothing to jump up and down about. There were far better pizza joints in and around Chicago. None of them were franchised or chains. Most who had terrific pizza were small family owned and local one restaurant places. And they're not moving or going anywhere.

My wife and I ate at that New York City Pizza & Wings something or other, that's right next to Cabela's a year or so ago. It turned out to be the saltiest, overrated crap I've ever eaten. The "Wings" were all blubbery and had so much Vinegar in them, they tasted like they were soaked in Ketchup for 3 days. Again, all we heard was how wonderful it was.

[sargeant79]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

Interesting, slightly patronizing, way to frame things.

But I think the Malnatis is played up because of the shear presence of Chicago transplants. I'd wager close to 1/2 of the regulars on here are from that area. In n out was already close, we already knew that was good.

You're right, but I think there's another factor at play too. Among those of us that moved to Phoenix from Chicago (or elsewhere), many of us left by choice because we wanted a better life, probably wanted better weather, and in general wanted something different. But that's not to say that there aren't parts of our hometowns that we still love even though we found it necessary to leave.

I love Chicago, but I love my new home in Arizona more and I don't ever plan on going back. But being able to have legit Chicago-style pizza from a Chicago restaurant out here in the desert allows me the opportunity to have the best of both worlds. It isn't as much about Malnati's being that great (but for the record I do think it is an excellent deep dish pizza)...it's more about Malnati's bringing back good memories of home without having to remember all the ****ty things about it that made me want to leave in the first place. I suspect SoCal transplants probably feel the same way about In N Out.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by sargeant79

I suspect SoCal transplants probably feel the same way about In N Out.

I'm still waiting for Tommy's Burgers and Wahoo's Fish Taco to follow me out here

[AlohaAZ]

Placed an online order last Sunday and took it home. It was pretty good, but I prefer Giordano's and Geno's for Chicago-style pizza.