NEW VIDEO! Making Chicago-Style Pizza with Lou Malnati’s
As you may or may not know, Chicagoans are very serious about their pizza. In fact, we’re very serious about most of our food, including hot dogs. So when Hillary and I were given the opportunity to go behind the scenes at (arguably) Chicago’s most famous pizza restaurant, we couldn’t wait!
You’ll have to watch the video to see just how a deep dish pizza is made (Top Chef 4 contestants could’ve used this advice earlier in the season), but here’s a little information about Lou Malnati’s. The first Lou Malnati’s Pizzaria opened in 1971 and quickly became a neighborhood favorite. When Lou fell victim to cancer, his sons took over the business, expanding to 28 locations that are still family owned and operated.
The unique taste of a Lou Malnati’s pizza can be attributed to its simple, unchanging ingredients: hand-selected California vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh mozzarella (from the same dairy that originally supplied Lou at his first location), and a buttery, flaky crust that still remains a family secret. Sounds like a recipe for success – and it tastes like it too!
See the video after the jump!
Hungry yet? Well it doesn’t matter whether you live in Chicago, New Mexico, Washington or Florida, anyone can order Lou Malnati’s straight to their door! (Apparently dreams do come true…) Lou Malnati’s pizzas can be shipped anywhere in the United States through the Tastes of Chicago website – you can also get other Chicago favorites like Portillo’s, Carson’s Ribs and more.
Special thanks to Danny and Meggie at Lou Malnati’s who graciously allowed us into the kitchen and withstood the heat of the 500 degree ovens for our filming! You can find all of Lou Malnati’s locations here.
Tags: chicago-style pizza, deep dish pizza, lou malnati's, pizza, video
Thanks so much for your informative post. So hard to find great OK.. so now I really want pizza. So much for my diet! Oh well.. thanks anyway guys.
Yours Truly
Posted by Jorge at March 3rd, 2010, 5:28 amJorge
A very interesting story. I’ve heard about Lou Malnati’s pizzerias. They are as famous as Papa Johns pizzerias. So, it was interesting to learn, how this chain appeared. Good video. Thank you.
Posted by Silvi at August 30th, 2010, 6:11 amThe mystery is, what is the 1/4 cup of cornmeal used for, the recipe never explains this? I can only assume, that it is sprinkled in pan before the crust, so the pizza can be remove easily, after being cooked. That is not demonstrated at all here in the video. Why is the cornmeal in the recipe?
Posted by JusJudy at January 25th, 2011, 7:16 amI’m so JEALOUS you got to go in the Lou’s kitchen! That is our favorite pizza, pepperoni and garlic to be exact. We live right by the Palatine carry-out location so we are frequent customers. We just visited NYC too and all that talk about who has the better pizza is just talk, it’s Lou’s hands down. Thanks for sharing your video.
Posted by cliff @ livelovepasta at April 27th, 2011, 4:35 pm@Silvi: The cornmeal goes into the dough.
Posted by John at October 3rd, 2011, 9:51 pm