Rounding out the pizza is love discussion, we sample true Chicago Deep Dish and find out who's dared to order Domino's "Brooklyn Style" Pizza.
As with love, in the world of pizza, some things change and some stay the same. One constant is that good pizza has character. Like a hearty Chicago style pizza for those inclined in that direction. I had to try it before I continued discounting it as I have since trying my first Pizzeria Uno “Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. I knew it was bad, I just didn’t know whether it was authentic.
Jamie and Bobbie Deen to the rescue. Lo and behold, they do a show on Chicago and visit Lou Malnatis. One of the driving forces behind their road trip show, is that all these family owned restaurants they visit will deliver their specialty right to your door. My husband looked at me and said, ‘you can’t really say you don’t like deep dish based on Uno’s anymore.’
So we ordered. It arrived frozen in dry ice, a day earlier than expected. Luckily, it didn’t sit by our door too long before we found it. You can immediately see, smell and taste the difference between this pie and any other deep dish pie I've seen before. It’s far superiour to Uno’s (no surprise) but it didn't embody the rapturous, joy-inspiring qualities of the pizza of my dreams. Thin, crisp, slightly charred crust, for example.
I will say that the quality of their tomatoes was as-advertised. According to the website, “each year the Malnati brothers go to California and meet personally with the tomato growers and the finest vine ripened plum tomatoes are then blended and canned exclusively for Malnati's use.“ There’s nothing I like more than a good tomato.
We ordered a “roni” to share. The sausage pie was unavailable due to the huge hit from the show. In what has to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to New Yorkers’ claim that their water makes their bagels unique, Malnati’s website also claims Chicago’s water makes their pizzas better. I can't speak to their water, but the NYC water is legendary and truly good.
Another pizza source, if you use the term loosely, is Domino’s and they too are staking their latest marketing campaign on a tie to New York. Their latest is their “Brooklyn Style Pizza.” Everyone from the Brooklyn borough president to Adam at SliceNY, to a local Italian food authority who consulted to Domino’s is horrified at this abomination. Take a look at Kim Severson’s Brooklyn Style Pizza Meets the Real Deal post in the New York Times. Not only is the pie under-whelming (what would you expect?) but the straight outta central casting characters don’t cut it with the real people interviewed, either.
The only people I know who admit to ordering a Domino's pizza did it at a restaurant whose service was so slow, they had one delivered to their table through the window. Just to make a point! Now that, I can live with.
