Gino's East of Chicago

Location: Chicagoland

            I'm gonna start this post out by saying this, with Chicagoan's, I bet you if you asked 20 people on the street at random where their favorite pizza place is, 5 would say Lou's, 5 would say Gino's East, 5 would say Giordano's, and 5 would say Pizzeria Uno (or Due)... That being said, we all know now that I am one of the 5 that would say Lou Malnati's, so keep that in mind during this review.

            Note: believe it or not, I have no affiliation with Lou Malnati's other than the fact that I was raised on it, I promise you, I don't get free deep-dish shipped to me every time I mention them (unfortunately, Lou's if you're reading this send me an email and I'll send you my school address!).

            Gino's East is almost as well known as The Bean, or the John Hancock, the SEARS tower (notice... not the Willis tower), or Italian Beef, it is a very well known Chicago pizza, and because of this a lot of tourists end up going to Gino's (while great, I still think they should try the others too, coughLOU'Scough). 

            The Pizza: Gino's East offers a nice alternative to Giordano's and Lou's, I have friends who like it more than the other places, and I have friends who don't, It depends what style of deep-dish you like. Gino's chooses to use a much saucier... sauce...... there aren't usually chunks of tomato or anything like that, while some may prefer this, I'm one for tomato chunks. Their cheeses and other ingredients are obviously great and fresh, and they do have some good sausage, which is pretty similar to Lou's in that they use a patty of sausage, not just small pieces. In my opinion the sausage could have used a bit more flavoring, but it isn't bad by any means. Their crust is also quite different than Lou's, they seem to use less butter and more corn-meal in their crusts, if you like that thing, it is outstanding, I personally go for the buttery crusts. Their crust is also a lot thicker at the ends than Lou's crust is, if you like their crust it means you get more of it (yay!), if you don't, meh. The first time (in a while) that I ended up at Gino's we ended up getting two cheese pizzas (don't ask why....) and honestly, while I'd still take deep-dish cheese pizza over, honestly, most any other thin crust (except for a few), why get cheese pizza at a deep-dish place? The second time however, we got one sausage and one veggie pizza... One thing Gino's does have over Lou's, their veggie pizza is less watery, therefore staying crispier throughout your meal, so if you like veggie pizza definitely try out Gino's East.

                   Picture from Gino's East of Lake Geneva: http://www.ginoseastlakegeneva.com/

                The Details: Gino's East has 10 Illinois locations, and oddly, 3 out of state locations, including one Wisconsin restaurant and two Indiana locations. One of the reasons Gino's sees so much attention from tourists (other than it is genuinely good pizza) is that they have a location just east of Michigan Avenue, north of the river (The Magnificent Mile) on E. Superior. This location makes it very easy to quickly leave the trail of shopping and sight seeing and stop for some great Chicago pizza, while you have to go a few extra blocks west to get Pizzeria Uno, Due, and even farther for the Lou's on North Wells. Gino's downtown has a large restaurant, but they also have a lot of people to move in and out, If you are going on a thursday-sunday I'd expect to be waiting a bit, it is worth it though. They also have a Lincoln Park location on the northern section of one of the the many chicago 6-way intersections at Lincoln, Diversey, and Racine. This location has outside seating and some great deals on pizza's on Monday (not sure if that is just this branch or the whole franchise?). Prices are on par with Lou Malnati's, though going to the downtown locations you will be paying extra so keep that in mind, still, their downtown price of about $27 for a large deep dish sausage pizza will feed three very hungry people, 11 dollars a person with tip and tax is still a bargain for great food if you ask me. Gino's does also ship pizza's nationwide, and prices on that is very similar to that of the competitors as well.

              Gino's East offers a great tasting deep-dish pizza that is authentic Chicago deep-dish, anyone trying deep-dish should definitely try it out as it truly is personal preference between the big four. With good locations and competitive prices, portions, and a great taste, I'm giving Gino's East 8/10. It isn't my favorite deep-dish in the world, but I will NEVER say no to making a trip to one of their locations if it's an option.

8/10