Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Get pizza.

This is the comment just about everyone makes when they hear you are going to Chicago.

Duh.

Of course I’m going to get pizza. I've only heard for my entire life that Chicago style pizza is unlike anything else in this world and I also happen to come from a state that is arrogantly proud of the pizzas it has to offer. Oh yes, I’m going to get pizza when in Chicago.

The stuffed pizza, to me, is a difficult concept to explain with words or pictures. I say that only because it wasn't until I actually had the pizza before me with fork and knife to plate* that I realized the depth and true culinary mastery that is the stuffed pizza.

*Yes, I ate it with a fork and knife.** You would too if you had been walking around the city all day.

**No, I do not always eat my pizza with a fork and knife. Especially not in Jersey.

What I can tell from just a brief amount of searching on the topic of ‘Chicago stuffed pizza’ and 'Chicago deep dish pizza' is that there are a few contenders for number one. They all have some famous name to back their claim at being the “best”, or the “oldest”, or the “famous” Chicago stuffed pizza. Me, I look at this in two ways. Part of me sees the glaring sign of “BEST” like Buddy the Elf saw the “Best cup of coffee" sign in NYC. Or perhaps I should say, the way Jovie saw the best cup of coffee that Buddy had her try.*

*If you don’t get this reference, please watch the movie Elf today. It doesn't matter that it isn't Christmas time. You’ll thank me later.

Anyone can write that they are the best. Anyone can get some type of celebrity to back them. I need you to show me you’re the best.

But the other part of me does want to know the history of your pizza. I want to know that you have been crafting your recipe for 200 years (Giordano’s) and that you just so happened to end up in Chicago, the city of stuffed pizza, to sell it. I want to know that you are just so good that you now have over 40 locations (Lou Malnati’s) spanning to cities outside of Chicago. I also don’t want you to be so big that you leave the state of Illinois. (Hello Uno Pizzeria and Grill, I’m talking to you!)

One day I think I may take a trip to Chicago based completely on pizza. I’ll try a different place every day and make my recommendations at the end of the trip.

However, I have yet to take a Pizza Tour of NYC, so naturally that must happen first.

Pizza from Giordano's is not for the impatient. Even their thin crust pizza takes 30 minutes from ordering to plating.

We ordered the thin crust as our "appetizer" since the well-known double stuffed pizza would take fifteen minutes longer.

I know, I know, you don't go to Chicago and order thin crust pizza, but Hubby couldn't resist. It was not at all like a Jersey thin crust pizza. A Jersey thin crust pizza is crisp and only millimeters thick (translation: not thick at all). Giordano's thin crust pizza was equal in thickness and texture to a typical Jersey pizza, if not even a hair thicker.

The taste, however, was perfect. We ordered a simple cheese so that there would be nothing to distract from the elements of their thin crust. The sauce was subtly sweet and the cheese---oh, the cheese was amazing, the perfect amount covering a perfect lining of sauce. Extra thin pizza options were listed on the menu with the heading "lighter versions with less cheese". Though extra thin sounded like it would be more like a Jersey thin crust pizza, "less cheese" can never, ever be a good thing.*

*Except in the case of Kate and Al's pizza. I don't know how they do it, but they make a scattering of cheese taste the way angels sound.

Heavenly.

When compared to an authentic Jersey pizza with greasy* cheese and sauce and crust that tear flawlessly away with each bite, this thin crust pizza is the underdog. But remember, sometimes underdogs come through to win it all.

*A good thing.

We ate two to three slices each despite knowing that the main attraction was just moments away.

Naturally, we couldn't order just one pie. We ordered: Cheese (because, again, we needed a pure, unadulterated version of Chicago’s famous stuffed pizza) and the Chicago Classic (pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, & onions)

Take what you know about an ordinary pizza, blow it up to about ten times its size, in thickness, and turn it inside out. You might not have Chicago's famous stuffed pizza, but you'd be on your way.

I'm not a big fan of mushrooms or veggies with my pizza, so the Classic wasn't my favorite, but I could appreciate the culinary thought behind it.

The cheese though---oh my word!

After eating this pizza, everything I've ever known about pizza suddenly made sense. I now knew why we refer to pizza not as pizza but as 'pie'. I instantly understood what Mama Giordano was thinking when she called this pizza, "Italian Easter Pie". The crust is flaky and thick. Think, Thanksgiving pie, but for pizza. The sauce is everywhere, enveloping itself around crust, cheese, and incredible flavors.

Knowing I wouldn't be back in Chicago anytime soon, I made sure to push the limits. Should I have eaten three of these ginormous pieces of pizza?

Probably not.

But I did, and I regret nothing.

Bakeries of Chicago

The city of Chicago won me over with its amazing shopping, museums galore, and distinct cleanliness but if I had to pick an absolute favorite part of the trip (aside from the obvious answer--seeing family) it would be the bakeries, not only the bakeries but the event we made of each and every one.

Baking is about as 'in' right now as photography, and if you've only ever spent ten minutes on social media you know exactly what I mean. Every other girl is dreaming of starting her own little bakery in a special place tucked away from the mindless chugging of mass produced products, in a pathetically romantic setting marked with Victorian houses, a sun that always shines, organic restaurants, and flowers, lots and lots of flowers.

Meanwhile, I'm over here like, ‘Can I just come and eat it all and then write about it?’

While I do favor baking over cooking, I'm learning that I favor eating over baking any day. Writing about it only further commits the experience to memory, making me want to go for a second visit…and I’m totally fine with that.

Though I may sound a little sarcastic towards bakeries, I promise, I'm not. I love them so, so much, and might be a teensy bit jealous that I'm not independently wealthy enough to quit my job and spend my mornings in such an environment, latte in hand, nibbling* away at a pastry as I write.

A girl can dream, can't she?

*I used that word for your benefit. Realistically speaking the word would be chomping, or inhaling, at the very least.

It was desperate circumstances which led us to our first bakery, Bravo Bakery in Mt. Prospect, IL. Bravo is an authentic Mexican bakery, visit their site: www.bravobakery.biz for a list of all their pastries.

The precedent for how we would behave towards bakeries was set with this visit.

The coolest thing about Bravo is that you get to help yourself. Grab a shopping basket lined with wax paper, drool over the rows and rows and baked goodies, then load your basket with no less than five items.

At least that’s what we did.

When the cashier told me that our five monster sized pastries would be $6.00 (total!) my valley girl came out and I said, "Shut up!" She blinked at me, smiled, and nodded that the price was correct.

We brought our treasures back to the hotel room and then cut each pastry into four pieces so that we could all taste everything. This seemed the only natural thing to do and we proceeded to continue eating this way at every bakery in our trip. If you've never shared baked goods in such a way, I highly recommend it. We didn't have to go through the "eyes bigger than your stomach?" experience because we were able to go wild ordering four to six items, sometimes maybe more, which we then shared (making it as though we all had only eaten one...or two...pastries each.

It is not only my most delicious memory of this trip, but my fondest. Food has a natural way of bonding people together and bringing about natural joy. Some of my best memories started around the dinner table or over a decadent dessert made to share with loved ones.

I'm going to attempt to pick a favorite pastry from each bakery, but just know that there wasn't one thing I ate that I disliked.

At Bravo, the sugar donut was it. While in Mexico--goodness, over 12 years ago--for my senior class mission’s trip, we had fresh baked donuts available to us every morning. They were the best donuts of my life. Hubby and I are always on the lookout to find something similar in America. The closest we've come are these glazed donuts in Atlantic City.

Do you ever get a pastry filled with cheese, fruit, or creme and when the filling runs out you aren't interested in the rest because it is often too dry or lacking flavor? With the pastries from Bravo not one had an 'I don't want any more of this' quality.

We discovered Le Pain Quotidien out of, yet again, a desperate need for coffee and sweets. While shopping on Armitage Avenue we ran smack dab into three completely different coffee/bakery choices: Starbucks, a cute little macaroon shop, and Le Pain Quotidien. Starbucks was an obvious no. As much as I love my local Starbucks, when I have the opportunity to get something that isn’t ten minutes away from my house, I take it. The macaroon shop seemed too specific so we charged into Le Pain Quotidien.

Here’s what we got:

cheese almond Danish
French cream donut
chocolate croissant (pain au chocolat),
lemon tart
chocolate chip cookie

And cappuccinos, of course.

Everyone agreed, our very favorite was the French cream donut, but the lemon tart was a close second. We added the tart at the recommendation of the gentleman serving us. The crust of the tart was light and crumbly; the lemon was tart, but not overpowering, with a rich creaminess that made it divine.

Now, the donut. I’ll explain how amazing the donut was with this: after splitting it four ways (and having eaten all the other amazing pastries listed) Hubby and Joel both went up and bought another donut—each.

I’ve recently discovered that Le Pain Quotidien has locations in LA and NYC. I’m not sure how we ever missed it in our many travels to NYC, but I’ll be looking for it next time, for sure!

Now, please don’t judge me. But about an hour after we had wolfed down the amazing aforementioned pastries we ran into this building:

I knew it was of utmost importance that we try a donut from this glorious place regardless of how full we all were, the gentlemen especially.

I went simple and ordered a Vanilla Bean Glazed donut which was pretty darn close to the mission’s trip donut mentioned earlier. As we were all sharing bites, Mallory asked the girl behind the counter which one was her favorite. She pointed to a massive chocolate donut which I had immediately wanted, but my full tummy said no way! Go here: https://www.goglazed.com/product/4 to see this monster. When I realized that underneath all the chocolatey frills was a chocolate glazed donut (my favorite!) I contemplated buying one.

But I was strong and decided it was better that I didn’t.

I would have been too tempted to eat it then and there.

Are you keeping score? We’re up to two, technically three, bakeries. That’s not even counting a quick trip we made for coffee to Caffe Bene on day two.

In addition to loving the selection of treats at the bakeries we visited, the customer service was above average. In spite of the ridiculously large number of items we ordered each time, and the speed at which we made our decisions (slower than average, I’m sure), the employees at every bakery were cheerful, if not excited by our excitement over their goodies.

This was especially the case at Floriole. After we ordered an obnoxious amount of pastries, the girl who took our order brought over a pineapple upside down cake and told us it was her favorite, and that we had to try it.

Here is what we shared:

Hot cross bun
Poppyseed cookie
Peanut butter cookie
Pain au chocolat
Gateau basque (almond butter cake)
Citrus tart, Coconut
Lime Tart
Pineapple upside down cake

The winner (which almost brought Joel to the counter to order another) was Gateau Basque. This almond butter cake was moist and subtly sweet throughout—the best possible cake one could have without icing and candles. The pineapple upside down cake was very close in texture and flavor.

We squeezed our last bakery stop in right before we needed to head to the airport.

We don’t mess around. We live our vacations to the fullest.

Molly's Cupcakes is a previous winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, which means, duh, they’re awesome. When we ordered, the question wasn’t whether or not the cupcakes would be good, but which of the many flavors lining the cases we should choose. With little room to move around, people in front and immediately behind us in line, and no open table or chairs we had to crane our necks to try and get a peek of the case of cupcakes.

At Molly’s you have the opportunity to make your own cupcake instead of ordering from their premade cupcake selection.

By the time we were ordering a table cleared out and Joel ran over to claim it. As soon as his bottom hit the chair, one of the employees put a sign on the table letting us all know that we had 30 minutes at the table and that there needed to be at least three people in our group.

I’m guessing Molly’s is often packed.

Here are the cupcakes we ordered:

Cake Batter
Nutella
Cookie Monster
Choco-ccino

The éclair cupcake was interesting (it was essentially an éclair on top of a cupcake), but we decided to order two chocolate covered Oreos instead of a fifth cupcake.

Because, seriously, five cupcakes is just out of control.

The cupcakes were tough to share because they all had fillings, but we did so regardless.

And I’m so glad we did.

I can’t pick a favorite. I’m sorry. I loved them all, but cannot choose between Cake Batter and Cookie Monster. Cake Batter had raw cake batter inside and Cookie Monster had cookie batter inside. This wasn’t a squirt of basic icing inside of a cupcake. It was specific fillings, perfected to marry beautifully with each unique cupcake flavor.

I knew the bakeries were my favorite part of the trip as we finished off our cupcakes and I felt a tug of sadness over knowing I’d be leaving my brother and SIL soon and not able to so easily share in such experiences for a while.

Other than the definite need for you to immediately take a trip to Chicago to discover the amazing bakeries the city is home to, hopefully this post will excite you to grab your significant other and two of your favorite people and share in a similar bakery experience.

Little Goat Diner, Chicago, IL

We have some over achievers among us.

I began searching for where we would eat while in Chicago possibly as far as a month beforehand.

But there's no shame in my game.

I like to eat, and I like to eat well. Scrambling to find somewhere amazing can end up a few different ways, ranging from okay to good to great to sometimes even amazing food, but it most certainly will always end up in my hunger demon making an appearance.

Girl and the Goat jumped off the list of restaurant choices, and I knew it needed to be part of our Chicago dining plan. Only, when I went to make the reservation (a week in advance, for a Wednesday at 5:00 pm) they were booked.

Sign of a good restaurant choice right there.

I didn't want to pull my Giada card, so when Little Goat Diner came up as an alternate choice, I went with it. After looking over the website, and the obvious connection with the restaurant I had been dreaming about, I decided it would do.

Now that we've been there, I'm so glad Girl and the Goat had been booked.

Little Goat Diner is the perfect place for not only a quick bite, but an extraordinarily flavorful bite. The menu spans breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all of which are served all day long (their hours are from 6 am to 2 am!). Even though I have a certain unexplainable love for everything breakfast at any time of the day, on this particular day I needed dinner.*

*But don't Crumpets (with chorizo maple syrup) sound divine? How about Bull's Eye French Toast (with bbq maple syrup)?

Hubby ordered the Goat Chili Cheese Fries which I immediately dubbed as the table's appetizer. The fries were skinny, which sometimes can mean that they will be too dried out, but in the case of these fries it meant that there was a more cheese to goat to fry ratio.

By the way, goat is my new favorite meat.

Hubby and Joel both ordered the Goat Almighty burger. That's a goat burger, with braised beef (extra because they were out of the bbq pork that usually tops the beef), pickled jalapeños, salsa verde, onion rings, and cheddar cheese. I was pretty busy with my own meal, but I managed to snap a few pictures of their attempts at eating these gigantic burgers.

Mallory ordered the Veggie Chap Chae which consisted of fal veggies, tomato, goat feta, cashews all served over rice pasta. and I'm not going to lie, I wrinkled my nose at her non-meat choice, but when I tasted it I was blown away at the flavor combination.

I ordered the Marinated Skirt Steak. Skirt steaks are slowly becoming my favorite cut of beef.* They are tender, thin, and go nicely with veggies, rice, or pasta. What really moved my dinner choice was the salted goat's milk caramel sauce that was poured over the meat. (I promise, there is a healthy serving of the sauce and meat underneath the abundance of greens you see.

*Don't worry filet minon, you will always have my heart.

Though the thought of eating more was inconceivable, somehow we managed to allow the thought to fester when handed the dessert menu. I couldn't resist the Little Goat Coffee, a latte made with goat's milk and love.

We all shared a sundae, because who can resist a little vanilla gelato smeared with chocolate sauce and whipped cream?

I certainly can't.

Trying New Things is Always in Style

Of the fourteen different 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges, I have been looking forward to this past week’s the longest.

Week Six: Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.

This challenge was the perfect opportunity to take whole foods I pass by in the supermarket and think, “I wonder what that tastes like,” or “I wonder how that is cooked” and to actually explore and find those answers for myself.

I scheduled this challenge for almost halfway through all of the challenges because though it is exciting, having to cook and/or eat two completely new-to-you items each week is quite a commitment, not only in grocery shopping, but also in meal preparation.

I started out simple by choosing items I didn’t necessarily have to cook. I also stuck to one food group: fruits.

My first week’s choices:

Papaya

Star fruit

Kumato tomatoes

I decided that the items I will choose as I continue this challenge are going to be whole foods that I have never purchased and/or prepared at home. I say that because chances are some of these items I choose I may have actually tasted once before or had as an ingredient in something ordered at a restaurant.

I chose these three fruits out of a simple process of elimination. It was towards the end of the week and I hadn’t fulfilled the challenge yet. I knew I wanted to try star fruit after watching a Chopped episode where contestants were given star fruit in one of their baskets. Unlike the Chopped chefs, we ate ours raw and didn’t get too fancy by making it an ingredient in a meal. Then I saw the papaya and thought it was possible I had tasted it before, but couldn’t recall. Either way, I had never actually sliced, diced, or served one in my house. The Kumato tomatoes were my last choice after Hubby pointed to Elephant Garlic and suggested I try it. In case you have never seen Elephant Garlic…it is monstrous! I wasn’t ready to figure out why it was so huge nor did I want to try to find a recipe in which I could use such massive amounts of garlic. The Kumato tomatoes were right next to the garlic, so I suppose Hubby thought I was being rather cheeky in choosing them over the garlic. But the truth is, I’ve always looked at Kumato tomatoes and thought they were interesting, and in the same breath, a little strange. Brownish green tomatoes? Doesn’t green usually mean not-yet-ripe, and brown mean mushy-and-old? How could they possibly be tasty?

I served all our new-to-us whole foods for breakfast. We had funny eggs on our snow day and I thought that star fruit would make a perfect side.

I’m not sure how I feel about star fruit. For starters, it is pretty expensive. Only one cost $1.99 at Acme (of course, Acme doesn’t always have the cheapest prices). I liked the texture, it had a crunchy sweetness, but something about the flavor wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t hate it, but I’d rather spend half the money on a juicy orange.

I cut up the papaya and Kumato tomatoes for Saturday’s breakfast. Not even remembering that Hubby has a love for tomatoes and eggs I decided I would make a quick breakfast sandwich with the Kumato tomatoes as the star. I scrambled a few eggs with mozzarella cheese and some sliced pork roll—umm, yumm!—and served them on whole-wheat English muffins with two slices of tomato on top.

It was such a thrown together, quickie of a breakfast that I didn’t think Hubby would even mention it. But immediately he told me what a delicious and wonderful meal it had been, reminding me of how much he loves tomatoes and eggs—which, of course, I had forgotten. The papaya wasn’t as thrilling as I had expected— in fact it was pretty flavorless. Though the caviar-like seeds inside intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the papaya fruit.

What I especially love about this challenge was that instead of limiting what I could eat, it gave me the push to try out new and different food options. I’m going to branch out to new meats and grains eventually. This week I’ve purchased beets and tomatillos (apparently I’m on a tomato kick) as my two new whole foods.

I’m terrified of beets…so we’ll see how this goes.

Limited Drinks and No Fast Food--How Will We Ever Survive?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think going completely cold turkey and taking the 100 Days of Real Food challenge would have been easier than taking the 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges.  Part of my issue is that I'm constantly thinking to myself, 'Wait, what was the new challenge this week? And wait, what was last week's challenge?' 

Then of course there are the times I miss blogging about a week--like last week for example. I started the post, but life got in the way.

Thanks a lot, life.

As the week progressed, and I continued to not post about the fourth week's challenge, the realization sunk in that if I had just given everything up, then I would at least know that basically everything is off limits.

Of course then I considered that if I had made such a move I might not be writing this post from the comfort of my home. Instead I might be writing it from my jail cell, reflecting on how jumping blindy into a food challenge led to the worst food rage known to man.

Even so, I am recognizing that I am now making better choices in my eating. I question what I really want, I question what I really need, and I drink water constantly and eat more fruits and vegetables than ever before.

Homemade Kale and Basil Pesto

The most difficult challenge thus far was certainly last last week:

Week Four: "Real" beverages: Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day). 

This shouldn't have been so challenging. I haven't had a need to drink soda since the 9th grade, I rarely drink juice and if I do it is usually Bai 5 drinks which are 100% natural using only natural sweeteners and colors and coffeefruit extract (the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean). Basically it is the most amazingly good-for-you drink out there that has tons of flavor and a teeny tiny 10-calorie count per bottle. While I do drink wine, if I have more than two or three glasses in a week, then that was one crazy week!

Milkshakes are definitely an occasional weakness, but specialty coffees hold the key to my heart. Lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, basically anything with frothed milk and espresso makes me weak in the knees.

The only problem is that most of these drinks contain a lot of sugar. Luckily a cappuccino and your bare bones latte are still just espresso and milk, but of course during the past two week's my mouth desperately has been craving the sweet flavor of caramel throughout my drink.

I've been strong.

This pictures was not taken during the last two weeks, I promise. Ps: It's a Salted Pretzel Latte--yum?!

Most of the time.

I'm still keeping up with the other challenges. I haven't been able to loyally serve two fruits or veggies with every meal, but I start out my day with some fruit, occasionally adding a little peanut butter in the mix. At lunch I've tried to have a veggie and fruit, but most days I'm lucky to have brought anything with me for lunch. 

While I'm at it, I'll cover what Week Five looked like:

Week Five: No fast foods or deep-fried foods: No fast foods or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

Because our eating habits have been slowly changing, we actually haven't had too much of a struggle avoiding fast foods. Of course, this might depend on what you classify as fast food versus what I classify as fast food. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, etc...those are my "fast foods". Things like Wawa (which if you don't live on the east coast you don't have and my heart cries for you), Panera, and Qdoba I don't really lump into the 'fast food' category. It's like I saw on a sign at Pei Wei a few weeks ago: Food fast, not fast food. Naturally, you still have to be cautious. There are healthy and not-so-healthy choices at such places. And yes, what they are cooking with is probably not 100% natural. And yes, some might have items that are deep-fried (meaning now I've got to avoid them!) but they aren't of the same exact caliber of your typical fast food burger joint.

McDonald's used to be a dear friend of mine, but after a few months without it, I went and ordered a small fry (this was probably three weeks ago, before the fast food challenge) and I wasn't impressed. Maybe it was a bad batch, the wrong time of day, they had been sitting for a while, or perhaps my tastes have changed and the thrill of McDonalds is wearing off.*

*Note: I still ate that entire fry. I had to be sure.

I'm really learning, most of all, that when I'm hungry the worst-for-me-things are usually the most convenient (cookies, cakes, chips, chocolates--looks like today's letter is 'C'). But in the end they always leave me wanting more.

The same, I think, can be said for dinner. I've noticed when I overstuff myself* on fatty foods, foods that don't have a lot of 'real' foods to them, I feel bloated but longing for something better, almost regretting having chosen something of a lower quality.

*Note: This was the first challenge, and everyday I work on reminding myself of the importance of not overstuffing myself.

Though I haven’t been overly strict, yes I had one caramel latte two weeks ago; I wouldn’t say I’m miserably failing these challenges. If anything, they are alerting my mind to better standards for eating and living healthy.