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Chicago-GAF OT of Not the Second City, the BEST damn city.

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Nothing in St. Louis is superior to CHicago. Unless you count the rate of communicable diseases amongst each cities' respective populace.

Oh wait, your baseball team. Fuck the Cubs.
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
also our Pizza, and our Ravioli, and a delicious little concoction called the St. Paul Sandwich.


As for the pizza, I amn not a native, so I despise the pizza here.

Ravioli. I don't care.

Lastly, we don't need to know about your Catholic sex perversions, St. Louis.
 

cameltoe

Member
I grew up in the Gage Park area.....best pizza I ever had was from The Pizza Kitchen on 55th near Western Ave (moved to 59th near cicero but changed owners) Joe's Pizza in Wheeling is damn good, as is Caponies on N Harlem Ave. Thin crust is the best crust!
 
I grew up in the Gage Park area.....best pizza I ever had was from The Pizza Kitchen on 55th near Western Ave (moved to 59th near cicero but changed owners) Joe's Pizza in Wheeling is damn good, as is Caponies on N Harlem Ave. Thin crust is the best crust!

Well be careful, apparently St. Louis has dibs on thin-crust pizza being "St. Louis style."

eyeroll

Edit: I love thin-crust, but if I have a complaint it's that it's simply not nearly as much food; I can down a large by myself in just about one sitting; can't say that about a regular or deep dish large despite them usually being the same price.
 
Well be careful, apparently St. Louis has dibs on thin-crust pizza being "St. Louis style."

eyeroll

Edit: I love thin-crust, but if I have a complaint it's that it's simply not nearly as much food; I can down a large by myself in just about one sitting; can't say that about a regular or deep dish large despite them usually being the same price.
theres more to it than thin crust brah.
 

Az

Member
I am coming out on May31st for the Mexico-Bosnia soccer game. Never been there, really looking forward to it.
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Hit us up, we'll show you around!
 
another good kumas alternative is the bad apple on lincoln near montrose. on weds they have a 90 day aged wagyu beef burger with different toppings every week. one week that i had it was the best burger i've ever had in my life.

I love this place. Draft beer selection there is great, much better than Kuma's, on par with Hopleaf and Map Room, but not as crowded as either of those. Veggie burgers are better than Kuma's, since they make their own, while Kuma's used to but doesn't anymore. No mac and cheese at Bad Apple though, Kuma's still has the best I've ever had.
 

ChiTownBuffalo

Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
I live near Weiner's Circle and every weekend night, I see a bunch of people I'd want to beat up there.
 

SephCast

Brotherhood of Shipley's
Loop pizza is bad!

I'm not being a Chicago Pizza elitist, as Lou's and Gino's are pretty good. I wouldn't turn them down. However, I strongly, strongly, strongly advise all Chicago Deep Dish fans to try Pequods. It's out of this world good.
 
Was just messin', broo; never had it; I'm sure it's tasty. :)

But is it really distinct from the thin crust pizza people can get anywhere? The wiki you linked doesn't really indicate why that would be.

St. Louis style pizza uses a special kind of processed cheese called PROVEL, which is a combination of Provelone, Swiss, and White Cheddar. Also the sauce on St. Louis style pizza is thicker and a lot sweeter. And finally the toppings tend to be piled on and the pizza is cooked in a conveyer belt toaster oven at a super high temperature really quickly to get crust crispy and cracker-like and keep the toppings from having a chance to dry out or get soggy.
 

J2 Cool

Member
And seriously the only time you can go to Kuma's nowadays is at fucking 11:30 AM and already there's 30 people in line.

This seems true. I was lucky enough to have a friend with an apartment down the block, and an NFL playoff game on to really enjoy our two hour wait.

why do people always recommend gino's or uno's. those places are bad. they're why everyone calls it pizza cake!

I actually love Uno's. It's seriously delicious, very garlic-y. I don't understand a bad rep if you're hitting the original one. The chain is bad but whatever, it's among my favorites.

Love Pequods and up north Burt's Place for deep dish as well. You have to reserve Burt's Pl., and they're totally weird people, but the pizza is fantastic. Burt started Pequods, now just works with his wife and serves people Wed-Sun until ingredients run out those nights. Actually not a fan of Lou's from a couple trips. Too much cheese & sausage to sauce ratio.
 

fat pat

Member
St. Louis style pizza is superior in every way.

You can just get the fuck out of here. If i wanted a saltine cracker with ketchup on it, id just eat that. St louis pizza is one of the few pizzas i can say is actively BAD.

It is in no way comparable to chicago thin crust.
 
I love this place. Draft beer selection there is great, much better than Kuma's, on par with Hopleaf and Map Room, but not as crowded as either of those. Veggie burgers are better than Kuma's, since they make their own, while Kuma's used to but doesn't anymore. No mac and cheese at Bad Apple though, Kuma's still has the best I've ever had.

Yeah, Bad Apple is great. I'm also really liking the multitude of Epic Burger's popping up all over the place, and there's a Hackney's close by where I live. M Burger's okay and I'll leave it at that.

For dogs, it depends on my mood. If I want super traditional I'll go to Superdawg or Paradise Pup (though getting up there from the city is a hassle) or if I want gourmet-eclectic, I'll go to Frank N' Dawgs which I think is doing better flavor combinations as opposed to the "what wacky meat can we put in sausage form" thing that Hot Doug's sometimes gets too into.

Also Chicago Deep Dish is a once a year thing for me. Chicago thin crust though is off the hook. Check out Damenzo's on Taylor by UIC. It's pretty run down and you may get shot on your way out, but it's amazing and super cheap.
 

hellclerk

Everything is tsundere to me
Hey ChicagoGAF, NYC Metro dweller here. I'm going to be in town for an event over Memorial Day weekend due to something my dad is dragging me along to. I was wondering if there were any good blues/rock independent music venues to try and get booked at since my band would like to come along if we can get a show there that weekend. Any suggestions (and commitments to come out and see us would only help :p) would be much appreciated. I know the New York/North Jersey scene pretty well, but that's only after a couple years of exploring it in depth. I'm wondering if there's any venues that would take an upstart band from North Jersey to maybe open up a night or some-such.

Thanks for the suggestions if there are any.
 
Sup ChiGAF,

Its outside the city limits, but Gene & Jude's hotdogs are the world's greatest.

Its not just my opinion, either. They were rated #1 in the Nation. Check them out if you are ever over by River Grove/Rosemont/O'Hare Airport.

I grew up in River Grove; my folks still live there, about a block from Gene & Jude's. One of my best friends took some wedding pictures there.

The interesting thing is that they don't serve traditional "Chicago-style" hot dogs because they don't use pickles, sesame seed buns, tomato or celery salt.
 
Some other good burger places: Cobra Lounge and DMK

My favorite sandwich place is right on Sheffield over by DMK- Pannes Bread. Get the Super Pannes (ham, turkey, and bacon- btw, I switch the mustard with mayo) The place is excellent.
 
I'll have to check out DMK. Is it owned by the same people who own Fish Bar? they seem related-- fish bar, burger bar.

This seems true. I was lucky enough to have a friend with an apartment down the block, and an NFL playoff game on to really enjoy our two hour wait.



I actually love Uno's. It's seriously delicious, very garlic-y. I don't understand a bad rep if you're hitting the original one. The chain is bad but whatever, it's among my favorites.

Love Pequods and up north Burt's Place for deep dish as well. You have to reserve Burt's Pl., and they're totally weird people, but the pizza is fantastic. Burt started Pequods, now just works with his wife and serves people Wed-Sun until ingredients run out those nights. Actually not a fan of Lou's from a couple trips. Too much cheese & sausage to sauce ratio.



yeah, the sausage at Lou's is actually just several big sausage patties, not small sausage parts. I usually don't get it, but sometimes i'm in the mood for it. It's fucking heavy though.

I gotta get to pequod's, based on how many times it's been mentioned in real life and this thread already.


anyone been to Budacki's drive in in logan square? I hear the wings are great.
 

Wellington

BAAAALLLINNN'
Ok bros, I just got in to my hotel. I'm staying on Wacker in the Loop. Where's a good place to go eat? Is Pequod's really that much better or would I be ok going to Lou's?
 
Finally made it to Kumar's Corner today. Got there at 1130am, line out the door by 1145. Kumar's burger with egg, bacon, cheddar cheese and Wytchcraft beer. Pretty decent burger and beer.

Best part was as soon as I walked in, Sleep's "Jerusalem" version was blasting the entire 56 minute album :)

Going to hit up Mastro's Steakhouse tonight and some bars elsewhere.
 

Wellington

BAAAALLLINNN'
Fuck it, walked to Pizano's.

Are there any good bars anywhere near the loop? All I see around here is preppy places.
 

Wellington

BAAAALLLINNN'
Honestly I'm really just looking for what the best bar/lounge/club part of town is and I'll head there. This area is boring!
 

KingK

Member
Chicago is pretty great. I've lived in Indiana, about 2 hours east of Chicago, my whole life, so I've been there tons of times.
 

Sai-kun

Banned
I had Portillo's yesterday and I remembered that Italian Beefs are a Chicago thing. The friend who I texted about it was like "You're having a what?"

Also, hello Chi-townGAF. :) Reppin' LP/Depaul U. here!
 
You can just get the fuck out of here. If i wanted a saltine cracker with ketchup on it, id just eat that. St louis pizza is one of the few pizzas i can say is actively BAD.

It is in no way comparable to chicago thin crust.

And here we have some poor misinformed soul who has no idea what good St. Louis style Pizza tastes like. You poor, poor man...
 

Dead

well not really...yet
I miss Chicago, sigh. Lived all my High School years there, but haven't been back since. Probably my favorite place I've ever lived.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Finally made it to Kumar's Corner today. Got there at 1130am, line out the door by 1145. Kumar's burger with egg, bacon, cheddar cheese and Wytchcraft beer. Pretty decent burger and beer.

Best part was as soon as I walked in, Sleep's "Jerusalem" version was blasting the entire 56 minute album :)

Going to hit up Mastro's Steakhouse tonight and some bars elsewhere.

I live right down California from Kumas and I'm now prepared to say it's the most overrated burger in Chicago.

Granted, I live in Logan Square and would put Best Burger up to Rocking Horse, but still. Kuma's was good, but not THAT good.
 

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Just had my Second City conservatory audition Friday. Wish me luck, gaf!

HEY! Good luck, Man! I remember talking to you about doing the improv stuff awhile back! Glad to see it's starting to pan out for you. Make sure you post in here when your show is if you make it in! Have you done auditions for other theaters or other shows yet?

Honestly I'm really just looking for what the best bar/lounge/club part of town is and I'll head there. This area is boring!

Easy to get to from downtown would be over at State and Division. But best in the city? My money really would be that whole Wicker Park area on Damen.
 

Seth C

Member
Honestly I'm really just looking for what the best bar/lounge/club part of town is and I'll head there. This area is boring!

I'm late, but I'd suggest Wicker Park. I like Flat Iron.


I had Portillo's yesterday and I remembered that Italian Beefs are a Chicago thing. The friend who I texted about it was like "You're having a what?"

Also, hello Chi-townGAF. :) Reppin' LP/Depaul U. here!

Next time try Luke's. It's my favorite Italian beef. It's close to Sears Tower (fuck Willis).
 
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