Here's the (deep) dish: Chicago's favorite pizza | King Arthur ...
by PJ Hamel

Oh, boy… Chicago deep-dish pizza. Just the ticket for a cold January night.
It’s been an icon on the culinary landscape since 1943, when the story goes that Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo “invented” deep-dish pizza at their newly opened Chicago restaurant, Pizzeria Uno.
Ike and Ric’s new pizza was fashioned after a traditional Italian tomato pie: a thick crust with 1”-high sides, filled with tomato purée, and sprinkled with Romano cheese. But Pizzeria Uno’s proprietors went a step (or a couple of layers) further, adding mozzarella cheese and sausage to the mix.
I’d always dreamed of sampling deep-dish pizza at its source: in Chicago. And several years ago, courtesy of a trade show, I got the chance.
I wasn’t able to go to Pizzeria Uno: everyone else had had the same idea that night, and the place was mobbed. But I asked the front desk folks at our hotel where I might find some authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza, and they quickly recommended a nearby restaurant.
The initial vibes were good; old wooden booths, dark yet warm lighting, casually friendly waitstaff. I ordered the “classic deep dish,” and eagerly anticipated a landmark pizza experience.
Wrong.
The pizza I got was thick, all right. But the descriptors that spring to mind are “sloppy mess,” referring to its presentation. Followed by “sludge,” which would describe its unknown filling.
Basically, this pizza was a deep crust filled with watery tomato sauce and something chunky (peppers? sausage?), topped with a sprinkle of grated cheese. I barely made a dent in it before admitting to myself that this simply wasn’t the deep-dish pizza of my dreams.
Now, with another trip to Chicago coming up soon, deep-dish pizza is on my mind again. But rather than wait for the authentic experience, I decided to create my own: Vermont deep-dish pizza.
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