In dismissing L’asso’s new deep-dish pie, Nick Solares makes a curious claim on Slice today: “There’s no Chicago deep dish pizza available in NYC (putting aside the few remaining branches of awful chain Uno Chicago Grill, which is actually headquartered in Boston).” Adam Kuban corrects him — apparently there’s “a place in Astoria” that reportedly makes them (he may be thinking of La Vita Mia, which tells us it sells a Chicago-style “meat lover’s” pizza by the pie and slice). But the question remains: Are there really so few deep-dish pies in New York?
A quick search of “Chicago deep dish” on MenuPages turns them up at La Bruschetta, Bravo Pizza, Big Nick’s, and Joe’s and Sam’s in Brooklyn. Still, every time this subject comes up on Chowhound (see here, here, and here), ’hounders come up empty, suggesting either Uno or getting a pie FedExed from Lou Malnati’s. Another pointed to La Villa, but the Park Slope pizzeria says it doesn’t cook its deep-dish pies at the high temperature of Chicago-style pies (giving the dough more time to rise) and doesn’t pile on the ingredients. Meanwhile, Elegante in Rockaway does a noteworthy sixteen-inch deep-dish pie with mozzarella on the bottom and spicy marinara on top. Again, no bombardment of toppings and very sauce-heavy — but it does the trick if you’re looking for that thick crust. If you’ve had the real deal anywhere, tell us about it in the comments. Lord knows we need a break from Neapolitan.
