Lou Malnati's - Chicago, IL Review
439 North Wells Street • Chicago, IL 60610
312-828-9800 • http://www.loumalnatis.com
Best Pizza Ever? Maybe...
budget diner, adventurous, frequent diner, carnivore, a chow hound, a four-year Domino's pizza veteran
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AUG
7
2007
About Lou Malnati's
The restaurant has several locations, but the one that we visited was on North Wells Street. We'd spent a long morning walking all through the south side of Chicago, and we ventured back over the river and up to Lou's around 1:45PM. We were seated quickly in the back room, but getting back to our table was an exercise in agility, as the restaurant was packed. At nearly two in the afternoon! I took this as a good sign.
Lou Malnati's serves deep dish pizza, as well as thin crust pizza. The menu featured a good selection of appetizers and other non-pizza items, but we mostly ignored those. We did order the Bruschetta, which was fantastic: crusty slices of bread surrounding a very large bowl of seasoned diced tomatoes with a little onion.
I was very, very thirsty when we arrived, and after draining the glass of water set in front of me, I ordered a Diet Coke which arrived in an exceptionally large glass. (And I still managed to drain the whole thing before our pizza arrived.) We ordered a medium pepperoni (just 'roni, in "Lou's Speak") and sausage thin crust pizza, and eagerly awaited our food.
The clientele at Lou's seemed to be mostly tourists at 2PM. One table ordered a large deep dish pizza, and we overheard them say as it arrived, "Is it too late to cancel our pasta order?" Another table of four guys from New York took the sheer volume of pizza they had ordered in stride, apparently considering it a challenge to put away the large and medium deep dish pies. When the waitress asked if they wanted to take some home, they appeared to take it as an affront, and each of them tucked in to eat just one more slice of pizza so they could clear their plates.
In light of all that, we were very glad to have just a medium, thin crust pizza come out. It took about forty minutes from the time we sat down to get our pizza, and while I was getting a little antsy for my lunch, I was completely forgiving of the long-ish wait once it arrived. Pizza this good apparently takes some time, and I'm okay with that.
The waitress arrived with our thin crust pizza in a shallow pan, looking for all the world like a flattened version of the deep dish pizzas. The crust was very similar to that of a deep dish pizza, and it was incredibly buttery, which seemed to be a Lou's trademark. It was the first thin crust pizza I've ever had that wasn't cracker like. Instead it was flaky and layered. It was heaven in a pan.
The rest of the pizza was quite remarkable as well: The "sauce" on the pizza appeared to be pure crushed tomatoes, and the toppings were placed over the tomato base, but under the cheese, giving the pizza just a wonderful, layered texture. The pepperoni wasn't greasy. Overall, the pizza was just perfect. And the medium was a perfect size for the two of us.
Cat's Bottom Line
Lou's was busy, and the wait was a bit long, but the pizza was well worth it. The saddest thing about visiting Lou Malnati's pizzeria is knowing that I'm going to have to travel back to Chicago to enjoy pizza that good again. Lou's does Chicago style pizza justice, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for delicious pizza, deep dish or thin crust, in the area!
Website: http://www.loumalnatis.com
Last edited on Aug 07, 2007
Lou Malnati's - Chicago, IL is recommended by Cat
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