There are at least two Denver restaurants with a Chicago-themed name - a sub shop and a pizza joint. The sub shop doesn't promise a good beef sandwich, so we let them be, but the pizza place comes very close to offering a Chicago-style pie, which we just had to investigate.
Mark went in and talked to the regional manager, who seemed very nice and, if given the benefit of the doubt, probably has never had even one slice of a true deep-dish sausage or a crispy bit of heaven that is the thin crust with toppings slathered to the edge. So if he's told this is Chicago pizza, he's acting in good faith. But hey, pal, sometimes you gotta question your faith.
So we bought a pie and offered it up to the hardest-working Chicago news crew in the media ghetto here at the Pepsi Center in Denver to see if we had a find here. Turns out, not so much. Check out the video for the results.
And to our new friends in Denver, a truly beautiful city with lots of nice people, don't be mad. But keep in mind, we don't try to build Denver-style mountains and bring the Colorado skiing experience to Chicago, so maybe you should leave slinging world-class pizza to the pros.
But any time you want to visit, we'll buy. You bring the beer.
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It's sad but true. There is no such thing as Chicago-style pizza. There is only real pizza and bad imitations. No where in the country can you get the real stuff like at Giordano's or Viccino's.
And don't fool yourself about ordering frozen Lou Mal's, their pizza isn't great to begin with and its pretty awful after its been frozen for a few days.
So Old Chicago didn't quite make the grade? I'm not surprised as I've had it before in Omaha and it was, well, pizza, but no one will ever mistake it for Giordano's. Denver has good pizza, but its good Denver pizza, not to be confused with a good Chicago pizza.
But, great Chicago pizza can be had anywhere in the US with a phone call, a credit card, and some planning. Lou Malnati's is just a mouse click or a phone call away if you're willing to wait a day for it.
Even Chicago-area chains like Rosati's are quickly branching out into other states. They just opened in Las Vegas.
I do notice the differences in real, genuine Chicago pizza made in Chicago versus the pizza styles in Colorado. Although they are complete contrasts, I think it is a matter of preference. Naturally, I am a loyal, deep dish "stuffed" pizza eater and do not like the calzone type that they serve at Old Chicago. Still, you do with what you have. If I wanted to always have the authentic pizza, I would have stayed in Chicago. Thank goodness, Giordano's and Lou Malnati's delivers airmail pizza...for a price! Just like fresh sea food, if you live in a non-coastal region, it isn't as fresh and good, but just a matter of making do. And if a person is a good cook, kudos to a fine meal.
This clearly demonstrates the inferiority complex of Chicagoans, particularly those in the media.
Getting excited about a restaurant with your city's name on it is what someone from Des Moines does, not Chicagoans.
On top of that, you have to put Denver down because their pizza wasn't the same as what you expected. That's pathetic, and an embarrassment to all Chicagoans.
Please go work for the Des Moines Register or for Omaha or even down in Springfield or something.
People who live in great cities know they live in one, they don't get excited about mundane things, and they don't feel the need to put other places down.
No one from Boston screams when they see a Boston Market restaurant, and no one from Philadelphia obsessively talks about cream cheese, they don't have to.
You are embarrassing us. The Chicago I know is one of the great cities in the world. It lacks in movie and television appearances compared to New York and LA (which is probably your standard of measurement), but as a real city, as a functioning unit, it is just as great as any of them.
Please, just know that, and be secure with it.