CHI - Lou Malnati’s
We’re in Chicago! We’ve been planning this trip for a bit and really came here for a quick visit so we could go to the Field Museum for the Pokemon Fossil Museum Exhibit that’s making it’s first year-long stop outside of Japan.
Caleb’s never been to Chicago before either so I’m excited to get to show him a little taste of my life when I lived here back in 2016 during grad school. First trip, of course, means we had to get some deep dish and since we’re making a quick turn around this first night was our opportunity.
When I lived here, I’d only ever gone to Giordano’s for deep dish. Four or five visits in two years each time someone new came to visit me to stamp their Chicago visit with a deep dish pizza. For some reason, I never strayed from Giordano’s either. I’m a New York slice every time, but when in Rome and Giordano’s became my staple. But after leaving, I realized it was a little silly that I never tried any of the competitors and I might’ve missed out so, this trip I decided we’d make a stop a Lou’s if we had the chance and we did.
LOCATION: 439 N WELLS ST., CHICAGO, IL 60654
Our hotel was up in River North and there was a Lou Malnati’s a couple blocks away. After being in a car for 10 hours, it was nice for a little walk and with the time difference, we ended up with an early dinner so there was only a 5 minute wait.
We’d been snacking all day and weren’t feeling terribly hungry and our room didn’t have a mini fridge so we weren’t looking to have leftovers and decided to just share a small pizza. Deep dish is deceivingly filling with it’s deep-ness and density so I wanted to proceed with caution and we could eat snacks or make another stop later if we weren’t full.
I was a little skeptical when I looked at the menu and the wait time for a deep dish was only 30mins. Now I’ve mentally prepared myself for years because at Giordano’s a deep dish takes an hour to bake because it’s just THAT deep. I’m not complaining about that wait time being halved but I was curious as to how they make that happen.
We were debating between getting a little salad because we’re only a day and a half into our trip but I could feel a need for some healthy veggies but Caleb isn’t a huge dressing person and dry salad’s are pretty sad for him. And again, we’re not trying to have leftovers so, we opted for The Lou which seems like a solid choice to pick a signature item. The Lou comes with a spinach mix of garlic, basil, and onion topped with mushrooms, fresh roma tomato slices, and cheese. I was half pushing for the Malnati Chicago Classic for similar reasons but it’s made with sausage and Caleb isn’t a big sausage person in general so The Lou it was! Plus some fresh tomatoes and spinach is a push in the veggies direction that I was looking for so it was an easy compromise.
So for a Monday evening, this place wasn’t packed but it was a fairly full dining room. Out server was very nice but almost dropped off someone else’s drinks until I let him know he had the wrong table and he took quite a bit of time getting us our sodas and also mixed them up. I was a little worried that it might take a little longer than 30mins if he was slow to put our order in or if it was going to sit at the pass for a bit before he remembered to bring it but it wasn’t terrible. It WAS a little longer than 30mins but we were having a nice time chatting and watching some of the screens and looking at the jerseys on the wall, and it was vacation so we didn’t have a tight schedule.
When The Lou did come out, it was the right size for what we were looking for. Nothing terribly impressive but a small pizza is a small pizza. Right out of the gate, it was obvious that it wasn’t as deep as a Giordano’s. This crust is their trademarked ‘Buttercrust’ and I’m not sure what that means but I’m not a fan. The crust was pretty dry and cracker-like. A little tough and hard to cut through for sure. Which, for a deep dish that you’re eating with a knife and fork, it wasn’t the more enjoyable cutting experience. I ended up trying to just pick it up with my hands and that kind of worked since it wasn’t so deep but also a little clumsy and clunky.
We both agreed the filling wasn’t amazing either. Overall, pretty bland and watery for a pizza. Adding a little parm (and red pepper flakes for Caleb) on top really did some lifting but it was disappointing that it wasn’t great on it’s own. I guess that’s what happens when you have a veggie pizza but you would think that a signature pizza with part of the name of the restaurant would be a little more flavorful and impressive.
Overall, a positive experience, a neutrally positive meal, but mostly mid food. I have a co-worker who mentioned she was going to be visiting Chicago in a couple weeks and asked for recommendations and I texted her before we even made it back to the hotel and let her know, Lou’s is a miss. Giordano’s is the spot to try. I’m pretty sad Caleb didn’t get to the better pizza but maybe next trip.