Lou Malnati's Pizzeria

Since moving to Chicago last January, I've been searching for the best deep-dish pizza. My favorite so far, and by far, is Lou Malnati's. They have multiple locations throughout the city and stretching into the suburbs. I like to order The Malnati Chicago Classic, which is lean sausage, extra cheese, and vine-ripened tomato sauce on Buttercrust. Regardless of the toppings you choose from Lou's, always go for the Buttercrust.

Here's a personal Chicago Classic. (I love that they have pizzas to serve 1.)



The runner up's so far:

At The Art of Pizza on Ashland, I was able to get a deep-dish slice straight away, as opposed to waiting for 30+ minutes for a whole pie, because they pulled the slice off a pan and just reheated it. It's not very good reheated, though the thought of not having to wait forever for deep-dish is awesome. I should still try a fresh out of the oven pie before I pass full judgment.

Giordano's is stuffed pizza, and not exactly deep-dish, with multiple locations throughout the city. I've had it a few times. It's ok, and it's terrible reheated.

Gino's East is truly great pizza, even as reheated leftovers, but the service and wait are horrendous. If you want to try Gino's, set aside at least 2 hours, and save up some patience for the long waits for service and weird constant difficulty about it.

I haven't been to the original Pizzeria Uno since they operate a chain restaurant that reaches across the country, and I've been to a few of those, so it's hard to make this place seem special.

I still have more places to try, but I really love Lou Malnati's.

Shaw's Crab House

We went to Shaw's Crab House on Hubbard St for a fancy night out. We were seated quickly. Bread and butter was served to the table first. I ordered the Filet Mignon (8oz) with bearnaise sauce, Oscar style. The filet was butterflied and cooked to my liking. There weren't any unfortunate fat chunks, and no bites were too rare or too well done.



My partner ordered the Steamed Alaskan Gold King Crab Legs (1 1/4 lb). They pre-cut the legs, so the use of the cracker was only minimal, which was nice. She received a bib prior to eating, a ramekin with butter over a candle for dipping, and hot cloths for cleaning up.



We also got a side of Macaroni and Cheese. It wasn't very special.

This place had very classy service, but we felt slightly overdressed. We were probably better dressed than we had to be to be dining there, but when I'm paying $100+ for dinner for two, I tend to want to suit up.

Some more quick bite restaurants

We recently got delivery from Begin on Armitage between Kedzie and Sawyer. The delivery guy actually rang my doorbell rather than calling me and having me meet him halfway down the block, and I liked that. We got the crab rangoon appetizer, which came with 6 small pieces. I always like even numbers with shared plates. They were a bit small, and wrapped in the way that not every bite has the crab/cream cheese filling. I ordered the broccoli entree with beef. It was pretty standard, served with garlic and brown sauce, a little spicy, and came with white rice on the side.





We also recently had Chipotle on Addison between Elston and Kedzie. Here's our chips and guacamole, 2 steak tacos with pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole, and a chicken bowl with lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.



I got Panes Bread Cafe on Sheffield between Nelson and Wellington delivered to work for lunch. Their bread is exceptionally sweet, which can be an acquired taste. It's great for me for lunch during a physically active work day. Here's the turkey club (no tomato).



Lastly, I grabbed a sandwich from The Great American Bagel on Belmont between Lakewood and Racine. The insides of the sandwich are a little thin. Here's my turkey club (again, no tomato) on an asiago bagel.

A few quick bite restaurants

I haven't been eating anything too fancy lately. I've been working a lot, and packing sandwiches for lunches and dinners, but here's a few places I've recently grabbed a quick bite.

D's Dog Hut is a corner hot dog joint in the suburbs. It's on Roosevelt Rd in Westchester just a little east of Wolf Rd. I got a Vienna Beef Hot Dog with cheese, grilled onions, and bacon on a poppy seed bun with a side of fries.




Chicago Bagel Authority has 2 locations, and I ordered take out from the Belmont location in Lakeview. It has an extensive menu. I ordered the Tonya Harding Club, which is turkey, ham, colby, and swiss on a plain bagel.




Eat A Pita on Halsted in Lakeview has fast, affordable food. Here's the Turkey Club with fries.

Turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, and cheese on a bagel

Turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, and cheese on a bagel

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 plain bagel
1 egg
3 slices turkey bacon
1 hash brown (I used the Jewel Osco store brand)
1 slice cheese

1. Toast the bagel.
2. Cook turkey bacon, and hash brown per instructions.
3. Fry egg to your preference.
4. Pile the sandwich together. From the bottom: Bagel half, turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, cheese (I use Sargento Ultra Thin Colby Jack), bagel half.

Clarke's

Clarke's has 5 locations, and before a show at Lincoln Hall, we went to the Lincoln Park location for a last minute meal. I ordered a Turkey Club.



It wasn't very good, and pricey. Service was fine though.

Blue Fin Sushi

Blue Fin Sushi at North and Winchester was our latest experiment to find "our sushi place". It was good, but we still don't have our place. The vibe in the restaurant was cool. The 2 of us used a Groupon. She ordered Miso Soup, and I ordered Vege Tempura. The Miso was fine. The tempura was squash, potato, and onion, so not a lot of variety, but we were served more than 5 pieces, which is what the menu said.

We ordered 3 rolls to split. We got the Delta Force Roll (tempura maki, snow crabmeat, cream cheese, and avocado inside, unagi sauce, masago, and wasabi mayo), Tornado Roll (deep fried maki; crabmeat, spicy tuna, avocado wrapped in mamenori and potato with masago, scallion, spicy sauce, and unagi sauce), and Green Dragon Roll (shrimp tempura, masago and cucumber inside, covered by avocado, wasabi tobiko and spicy mayo). I liked the Tornado Roll best, and she liked the Green Dragon best, which I liked least.

The rolls here can be weirdly triangular instead of round. I don't consider myself to be rookie chopstick holder, but the triangular rolls weren't the easiest to manage.