Chicago is a foodie city with numerous iconic foods. We recommend four classic Chicago foods for you to try. Read on for the list and where to find them!
1. Chicago-style deep dish pizza
The most famous classic Chicago food is the deep dish pizza. We sampled the pizza at Lou Malnati’s. Lou Malnati’s restaurant started in the 1940s and is considered the oldest family name in Chicago pizza. The deep dish pizza lives up its name with a 1-inch thick buttery crust, a layer of mozzarella cheese, and fresh plum tomatoes and herbs on top.
2. Chicago-style hot dog
A Chicago-style hot dog requires very specific ingredients:
- A Vienna beef hot dog (water-bathed — not boiled — in a poppy seed bun)
- Mustard
- Bright green relish
- Chopped onions
- Hot peppers
- Tomato slices
- Dill pickles
- A dash of celery salt
You don’t add ketchup to a Chicago hot dog! You will find that the combination of ingredients creates a similar flavor profile to ketchup. We recommend trying them at Portillo’s, which was founded in 1963 by Dick Portillo.
3. Italian beef Sandwich
Al Ferrari created the Italian beef sandwich at the end of World War 1 when meat was scarce. It would feed more people by cutting the meat thin and serving it on thick loaves of Italian bread. We tried the Italian beef sandwich at Al’s #1 Italian Beef Restaurant.
4. Chicago-style brownie
You may not realize that the brownie is an also iconic Chicago food. The Palmer House Hotel invented it for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Bertha Palmer, the wife of the Palmer House’s original owner, asked the hotel to concoct a delicious and transportable dessert. They created a brownie with an apricot glaze. We did not try the original but rather a twist on the original with Nutella at the Copper Fox.
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