Chicago is a city known for its architecture, museums, music, shopping, sports teams, culture and most of all, for its fantastic food. Many famous Chicago dishes can't be replicated anywhere else in the world. Since the early part of the 20th century, foods like Chicago Style pizza, Vienna hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches and Eli's cheesecake have become staples to a Chicagoans diet.
Chicago Style Pizza
Chicago-style pizza comes in three varieties: deep dish, stuffed and thin crust. Since its inception into the Chicago culinary world in the early 20th century, more than 2,000 pizzerias have opened in the city.
The deep dish pizza was first created in Chicago in 1943 by a man named Ike Sewell. Story goes that Sewell created the deep dish pizza to serve at his bar, Pizzeria Uno. Business was so overwhelming and the pizza was so popular Sewell was forced to open a restaurant across the street, which he aptly named Pizzeria Due.
The always popular restaurant Gino's East Pizza opened in 1955 just east of Michigan Avenue. The deep dish pizza served there was popular with fashionable shoppers on the Magnificent Mile.
In 1971, an employee of Ike Sewell named Lou Malnati and his wife Jean opened a pizzeria in Lincolnwood, a north suburb of Chicago. They called it Lou Malnati's, and since its opening, it has become one of the most popular pizzerias in the city.
A deep dish Chicago-style pizza is made with a simple thick crust, generally made with olive oil and cornmeal. It's spread into a deep round pan and pre-baked. Meats are then added, followed by a generous amount of mozzarella cheese and other toppings. The final layer consists of crushed tomatoes before it is baked. This Chicago dish is usually eaten with a knife and fork.
Stuffed pizza is usually known to have more toppings than other pizzas. It is made by placing a thin dough layer in a deep-sided pan. Toppings are placed on the dough and covered with cheese. It's topped with another layer of dough and a generous helping of pizza sauce.
Thin crust pizza is unique to Chicago and is hard to find anywhere else. This famous Chicago dish's thin crust has a good crunch but is still thick enough to be doughy on top, unlike New York style pizza. The pizza is topped with lots of Italian-style tomato sauce, which is usually spicy not sweet. Toppings like Italian sausage (a staple to Chicago style pizza) onions, peppers and mozzarella cheese are then added. This pizza is cut into squares instead of wedges, and the quality of its ingredients set it apart from other types of pizza. Aurielo's Pizza is one place to find thin crust Chicago-style pizza.
Italian Beef
This popular Chicago dish came about during the early part of the 20th century, though its origins may never be fully known. Italian beef is very difficult to find outside of Chicago.
This Chicago dish consists of thin slices of beef served inside Italian bread or another crusty bread, usually soaked. Italian beef is cut from the sirloin butt or the top or bottom round. It is roasted in broth with garlic, oregano and other spices then cooked to medium-rare or medium temperature. Finally, it's topped with sautéed peppers or Chicago-style Giardiniera, a spicy mix of Serrano peppers, carrots, cauliflower, celery, olives, oil and spices.
While some restaurants buy pre-cooked, pre-seasoned beef to use in their sandwiches, the more popular restaurants, like the famous Al's #1 Italian Beef, buy raw beef and prepare it themselves.
Chicago-Style Hot Dogs
There are specific rules to follow in order to make a true Chicago-style hot dog. Like many other famous Chicago dishes, a hot dog from Chicago is like no other hot dog in the world. At a sporting event, a Chicago-style hot dog and a beer go hand-in-hand.
A true hot dog, as any Chicagoan will say, needs to be made with Vienna beef with a natural casing. The natural casing snaps when bitten into-one sure sign you're biting into an all-beef, Chicago-style barker. The meat is steamed or boiled, then placed into a poppy seed bun. It's then topped with mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, cucumber slices, sport peppers and celery salt, but no ketchup.
Fluky's, a restaurant known to make the first Chicago-style hot dog, was started in 1929 by a man named Abe Drexler. While it's no longer located in Chicago, it has inspired other well-known favorite hot dog spots, like the Weiner's Circle on N. Clark, to serve the Chicago favorite.
Eli's Cheesecake
Cheesecake is definitely the premiere sweet of Chicago. Eli's Cheesecake is a unique Chicago dish. This all-natural cheesecake has a firm outside and a very creamy inside, with a butter cookie crust.
Eli Shulman opened a restaurant in the mid-1960s called Eli's The Place for Steak, and in 1977, cheesecake first appeared on the menu. The rest is history. It debuted at the Taste of Chicago in 1980 and was then produced for other restaurants and stores, making this famous Chicago dish a nationwide favorite. After 39 years in business, Eli's closed down in 2005.
Taste of Chicago
One way to experience the flavors of famous Chicago dishes is by attending the gastronomical delight known as the Taste of Chicago. Here, over 300 menu items from over 60 restaurants are available to foodies and tourists alike. The festival, which features all types of cuisine, including Chicago favorites, is held in Grant Park during the last week of June through July 4th. Besides food, the Taste, as it's known to locals, also has live entertainment and a fireworks display on July 3rd.
