What to eat in Chicago? / Pizza Uno, pioneers in the creation of the deep-dish pizza.
An invention that originated in Chicago in 1944 is an extraordinary pizza with a hard crust, served in a deep metal pan, featuring excellent tomato sauce and cheese.
By Alejandro Pohlenz
I was truly amazed by the origin of the word Chicago. Before the 19th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi tribe. They named the place with a word that, as I was told, doesn’t have an exact translation, but roughly meant: “this place smells awful!” The stench came from a type of wild leek growing along the Chicago River that smelled like onion or garlic. (The literal translation is “stinky onion.”) Quite the hilarious origin story for Chicago, don’t you think?
This city sits on the shore of Lake Michigan, and its metropolitan area has about 9 million inhabitants (so yes, it’s pretty big). What I strongly recommend is: don’t go in winter. The wind feels like an explosion of sharp knives on your face, and you constantly fear losing your nose and ears.
The Deep-Dish Pizza
Chicago is where a dish I had never heard of before was created: the deep-dish pizza. It was invented in 1944, when two entrepreneurs opened what was originally supposed to be a Mexican restaurant. Instead, they proposed creating a more “substantial” kind of pizza. They named their place Pizza Uno.
Deep-dish pizza is an astonishing dish: the crust is very thick and hard (you’ll struggle a bit cutting through it), and it’s much “fatter,” obviously, since it’s baked in a deep pan. It’s cooked slowly so it bakes evenly, and honestly, it’s a wonderful addition to the world’s food catalog.
Types of Pizza
The “Uno” pizza contains sausage, onion, peppers, and mushrooms. Another one, the Chicago Meat Market, is a protein explosion: sausage, ground beef, and pepperoni. And so it goes—there’s a vegetarian version, a cheese-and-tomato one, and a simple pepperoni. What’s absolutely undeniable is that both the tomato sauce and the cheese are spectacular.
There are plenty of other items on the menu (the usual thin pizzas, burgers, steaks, etc., all in the generous portions Americans love—big enough for two or three people). But what’s truly mandatory is trying the deep-dish pizza.
Pizza Uno is small, and you can definitely feel its age. The service (as in every place I visited) is kind and efficient.
You have to visit Pizza Uno because it’s part of the history of this “stinky place.”
- What we love and you must try: the deep-dish pizza.
- What we don’t love as much: the onion-and-pepper pizza isn’t my favorite.
- Address: 29 East Ohio, Chicago, IL 60611
- Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Best for: lunch and dinner
- Payment: cash and cards
- Accessibility: yes
- Phone: +1 312-321-1000
- Reservations: none
- Pet-friendly: no
- Kid-friendly: yes
