Author Spotlight
Addie Moore
Both times I’ve stepped off the plane and into Chicago Midway Airport, the only thing on my mind is deep dish pizza. I made a beeline straight to Giordano’s for their famous pizza — a staple of the city.
The crispy crust and overload of sauce are what rank deep dish the highest in my pizza-loving appetite. But living 500 miles away from my favorite restaurant makes it hard to immediately satisfy any cravings, so I embarked on a quest to find the best deep dish pizza in Kansas City.
When I googled “deep dish pizza in KC” the first thing to pop up and highest rated was Third Coast Pizza — and for good reason.
After internet stalking the restaurant and drooling over the beautiful pizzas, I walked up to the register and ordered the cheese deep dish pizza. After being told the pizza would take about 35 minutes to come out, I decided to order the meatball appetizer to soothe my hunger.
The appetizer had two meatballs covered in marinara sauce — which was great to save space for the 10” plate of heaven headed my way.
The pizza was one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen — the intense globs of sauce made me visibly giddy. Once I took a bite, my happiness increased even more. The sauce-to-cheese ratio was impeccable, and it even stayed on the slice — which, in comparison to the other pizzas I tried, is apparently a lot to ask.
I’d go back to Third Coast Pizza any day of the week. It’s the closest to Giordano’s I’ve tasted without having to buy an $87 plane ticket and fly an hour.
With four customers eagerly crammed inside the small takeout lobby of Rosati’s Pizza, my expectations were high.
When I opened the to-go box in my car, I almost sped home with excitement. The strong smell of the pizza sauce made me nostalgic for the Windy City.
The gooey cheese and perfectly-cooked crust made my heart happy — the only issue being its lack of sauce. When I picked up a slice, almost all of the sauce slid off. The piece was dry without it, causing me to dip it into the pile of sauce from my fallen pizza like a breadstick.
One notable aspect of the pizza is the crust. It’s difficult to bake something with such a thick crust in a reasonable amount of time — only 25 minutes — without burning it or leaving it undercooked, which Rosati’s did perfectly.
Although its lack of sauce made it taste like a glorified cheesy bread stick, I’m not completely opposed to going back. However, the speeding ticket on the way back wouldn’t be completely worth it.
For a restaurant that’s named after the city, you’d think they would know their pizza. Wrong. On the Old Chicago website they claim to serve “traditional Chicago-style deep dish” — and after I tried their pizza, I’m not sure what they’re talking about.
After browsing the menu, I ordered the classic deep dish cheese pizza. I was surprised when the waitress came back less than 15 minutes later — Giordano’s pizzas take around 45 minutes to cook all the way through. Despite my worry, I carried on.
The pizza was presented in a deep dish pan, but didn’t remotely resemble its gloriously oversauced model. The thick crust looked more like the puffy crust on DiGorno oven-baked pizzas, and the sauce was under the cheese.
Yes, you heard it right. Under. The. Cheese.
The easiest way to identify a deep dish pizza is by the large vat of sauce placed right on top.
I was already disappointed by the appearance, but to top it all off, the crust was undercooked, making it doughy and chewy. Oh and there was a strand of hair on the first piece I grabbed — ew.
Deep dish is tourist pizza. We Chicageoans eat thin crust cut I to squares. Also, just cheese?? Uggh! Where was the sausage, green pepper and onion? If you like mushrooms those are included as well. None of what you ordered is truly Chicago pizza.