Chicago deep dish vs tavern-style pizza: which should you order?

Chicago has two signature pizzas, and they could hardly be more different. Deep dish is a tall pie baked in a pan, with the cheese under a thick layer of chunky tomato sauce, and it is the one visitors line up for. Tavern-style is a cracker-thin pie cut into small squares, and it is the one most Chicagoans actually eat week to week.

What is Chicago deep dish pizza?

Deep dish is baked in a deep, round pan, which gives it high sides and a sturdy, almost bread-like crust. The order of the layers is the giveaway: the crust goes in first, then the cheese (usually plenty of mozzarella) and any fillings such as sausage, and the tomato sauce goes on top. The layers are reversed because the pie bakes for a long time, and sauce on top protects the cheese from burning.

It is a knife-and-fork meal. A single slice is filling, and a whole pie takes a while to bake, so expect to wait at the table longer than you would for a thin pizza.

Where did deep dish pizza come from?

Deep dish was first served at Pizzeria Uno, at 29 East Ohio Street in the River North area, in 1943. Who actually invented it is still argued about. The restaurant's own story credits its owner, Ike Sewell. Other accounts credit his partner Ric Riccardo, and food historians have pointed to two people who actually made the pizzas: the restaurant's manager, Rudy Malnati Sr., and Alice May Redmond, a cook from Mississippi who worked in the kitchen. Whoever deserves the credit, the style spread across the city from there.

What is tavern-style pizza?

Tavern-style pizza has a crust so thin and crisp it is closer to a cracker than to a typical thin crust. The sauce, often slightly sweet and full of dried herbs, goes right out to the edge, and the pie is cut into a grid of small squares instead of wedges. That square cut is also called the party cut.

It grew up in neighborhood taverns on the South and West sides in the 1930s, a generation before deep dish. Bars served it to keep drinkers in their seats, sometimes for free, and the small squares meant nobody needed a plate: a square fit on a napkin and could be eaten with one hand while the other held a drink. Pies were often set out on a tray on the bar for people to help themselves. The same easy sharing is why the square cut became the standard at kids' birthday parties, which is where the name party cut comes from, and why tavern-style is still the pizza Chicagoans order for a crowd.

Which pizza do Chicagoans actually eat?

Ask around and most people who grew up in Chicago will tell you deep dish is an occasional treat, and that tavern-style is the pizza of birthday parties, Friday nights at home and the corner bar. Food writers who cover the city say the same thing: tavern-style is what Chicagoans turn to most often, while deep dish is what the postcards sell. Both are genuinely Chicago, so the honest answer is to try both.

What is the difference between deep dish and stuffed pizza?

Stuffed pizza is a close cousin of deep dish and is often confused with it. It is also baked in a deep pan, but it has an extra layer of dough over the fillings, pressed to the side crust like a pie, along with tomato sauce. The result is even heavier, with more cheese and more crust than a standard deep dish. If a menu offers both, stuffed is the bigger commitment.

How do you order pizza in Chicago?

If you want	Order
The famous Chicago pie	Deep dish
Something even heavier	Stuffed pizza
What locals order at home	Tavern-style thin crust, square cut
A pizza to share at a bar	Tavern-style, which is made for passing around

A few practical points. Deep dish takes time to bake, so some places let you order your pie while you wait for a table. When a thin pizza arrives cut in squares, the corner pieces are crunchiest and the center pieces are softest, and people have strong opinions about which is best.

How much should you budget and tip?

Chicago restaurant bills include sales tax plus a restaurant tax, and the combined rate is higher in the downtown area than in most neighborhoods. Rates change, so check before you go if it matters to you. At a sit-down pizza restaurant, tip your server as you would at any American restaurant; at a counter, tipping is up to you.

Can you get both styles in one trip?

Easily. A good plan for a short visit is deep dish for one sit-down dinner, when you are hungry and not in a rush, and tavern-style another night at a neighborhood bar or pizzeria away from downtown. Deep dish places cluster in the tourist areas around River North and the Loop, while tavern-style pizza is everywhere across the neighborhoods.

Whichever you try, it helps to know what the person before you thought. On Mosey you can rate the places you eat and the dishes you order, with photos, keep lists of favorites and follow friends whose taste you trust.

More guides to read next:

• Logan Square and Wicker Park: where to eat on Chicago's Northwest Side
• Chicago Italian beef and hot dogs: what they are and how to order
• Pilsen, Chicago: a guide to Mexican food on 18th Street

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