Why Deep Dish Is More Than Just A Pizza

The mystery behind one of Chicago’s signature meals lingers even deeper than the pizza itself.

Chicago, Illinois – Nowhere else can you find a 3-inch deep, steaming-hot pizza pie filled with layers of thick mozzarella cheese with the toppings of your choice and a chunky dose of fresh tomato sauce on top. This is deep dish pizza, and it’s not just a meal: It’s a Windy City experience that you cannot reproduce anywhere else in the world.

I will never forget my first deep dish experience. It occurred during a college visit to the Chicago area, when my family and I decided to step into Giordano’s. Coming from California where pizza is flat and simple, my encounter with this Chicago creation began the transition to a brand new world. Did I really have to eat my slice of pizza with a fork and knife? Why was the sauce on top of the cheese? Where did my “toppings” go? But, upon my first taste of the rich and hot entrée, it was love at first bite. Deep dish pizza is not just something you pick up on the go – it is truly the flavor of Chicago; something to be shared among friends and family; a dish that welcomes you into its warm embrace with every encounter.

Courtesy of Muy Yum

With such a legendary pizza, one can’t help but wonder about the history behind it.

The origin of Chicago’s pizza pie is somewhat of a mystery, since no one really knows exactly who came up with the idea. With very little documentation, the one fact that anyone does know is that this type of pizza emerged in 1943 from a restaurant opening in a mansion at 29 E Ohio Street. According to the Chicago Tribune, the founders of the restaurant were Richard “Ric Riccardo” Novaretti, the owner of Riccardo’s Restaurant, and his friend Ike Sewell, a Chicago liquor distributor. Phone books and city records show that by the 1940s and 1950s, housed at the mansion were Riccardo, Rudy Malnati Sr. and a restaurant that offered a foreign dish called “pizza.” Sewell, who was not listed as a tenant of the mansion, was the person credited for super-sizing the pizza that was originally an appetizer-sized dish. Opening in 1943 as “The Pizzeria,” the restaurant’s name was changed to “Pizzeria Riccardo” and ultimately settled as “Pizzeria Uno” in 1955.

Courtesy of mdfeeds.com

Although there is no official evidence that proves anyone as the inventor of deep dish pizza, Rudy Malnati Jr. argues that his father should get partial credit for inventing one of Chicago’s greatest wonders. He possesses a 1956 newspaper clipping that calls his father the person who established Pizzeria Uno. Perhaps this is a piece of proof in this mysterious story.

The world may never know who invented the deep dish pizza, but as long as the specialty still exists, people will continue to come to the Windy City to get a taste of it. Don’t wait for the mystery to get solved – grab a slice of the deep dish tonight and take a bite of the rich history that Chicago has to offer.

*Featured photo courtesy of JGrana

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.