Local pizza expert Steve Dolinsky wants you to know that Chicago pies aren't just deep dish. Here are his favourites, from the stuffed pizza at Nancy's to tavern-style pies at Pat's. Outside Chicago, the term "Chicago-style pizza" is invariably associated with the deep-dish pie that's often mocked by out-of-towners as "lasagna in a bread bowl".
But true Chicagoans know that the city and its suburbs are actually home to three iconic styles of pizza: deep-dish, stuffed and Chicago thin – AKA: "tavern style". "People think Chicago is all deep-dish and was invented by the Uno's guys," says renowned local food reporter Steve Dolinsky , who published Pizza City, USA in 2018, documenting all of the region's delicious styles. "But there's so much more to it.
" The story of Chicago pizza doesn't start with a deep dish, but with a tavern. In the 1940s, when men habitually popped into bars after work, "bartenders realised that by serving a salty snack, they'd sell more beer," says Dolinsky, whose book led to a Pizza City podcast, Pizza City tours and the wildly popular Pizza City Fest. "With the advent of gas ovens, they started making thin-crust pies, which they'd cut into squares and pass around the bar on cocktail napkins for free.
" Then, in 1943, when Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo opened a bar in Chicago's busy River North area, Riccardo used cake pans inherited from the bar's previous occupant to develop a deep-dish pizza, leading the duo to open The Pizzeria (later renamed Pizzeria.
