A long, long time ago, I was a fledgling meat blogger just getting his bearings. In a desperate attempt to eat Giordano’s and get it on the blog, I bought a half-baked pie in Chicago, packed it in ice and brought it back to LA to finish the baking myself. The result was delicious, and while I reviewed it, I always felt that it was unfair to judge a restaurant in which much of the cooking was up to me. Since those days, very little has changed, but my desire for Giordano’s has only grown stronger. So on my last visit to Chicago, I made sure to hit Giordano’s for real, or to at least have some of my family pick it up for me in Evanston.

For those of you that don’t know, Giordano’s is the king of Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Some may dispute my claim and have valid reason to do so. After all, I am no resident of Chicago, but any claims of Lou Malnati’s or Uno having better pizza I can quickly rebuke. So in my limited visits to Chicago, Giordano’s is my go-to deep dish. Chicago-style deep dish is often called more of a casserole than a pizza, but whomever makes such claims are outrageous. It may be thick, the sauce may be on top, but it is certainly pizza.

On this Chicago outing, we ordered one pepperoni and one spinach pizza. I had no part of the spinach, but it is worth mentioning simply because the only thing distinguishing these two pizzas externally was a single pepperoni that Giordano’s had tossed onto the real pizza. I took myself a slice and got to work on the only style of pizza in the world that I condone taking a knife and fork to. It was as glorious as I remembered and brought back a rush of pizza memories. The crust and sauce are what make Giordano’s so good and these were spot-on on this pizza. The crust was hearty, but slightly crumbly and the sauce was just perfect. It wasn’t just some simple marinara, but a thick tomato sauce built for the sole purpose of being a part of a thick pizza.

One thing that was a little strange to me was that the pizza wasn’t quite as thick as I remember. Sure, it was plenty deep, but in my memory a single slice was equivalent to at least three slices of any lesser pizza. Perhaps gravity was a little heavier that day or my memory is not what it used to be. Either way, there was no disputing that this was a delicious way to finish out my weekend in Chicago. No trip to the Windy City is complete without some true Chicago-style deep dish and Giordano’s is pretty much the best way to do it.

On my last day in Chicago, I was craving Chicago-style deep dish pizza, but I didn’t have enough time before my flight to wait for an entire pizza to cook. Luckily, I was told that Giordano’s can “half-bake” a pizza for you so you can finish it off later without losing the texture and flavor typically lost in a reheated pizza. With this knowledge, I called Giordano’s up to order a half-baked medium with pepperoni. Giordano’s has locations throughout the Chicago area, with my pizza coming from the Evanston branch.

I brought the 10-pound monster of a pizza on my flight back to Los Angeles and threw it in my fridge for the next day.The box came with instructions on how to bake the second half of the pizza, and I followed perfectly (although it wound up needing five minutes more than the recommended twenty).

Chicago-style pizza is unique in that all of the toppings are baked inside and can’t be seen until you start eating. This can pose a bit of a problem, because if the restaurant accidentally slips some vegetables between the folds, it’s already too late. It’s a high risk/reward ratio, but it pays off big time. After a two-day wait, my long-distance pizza was finally ready. I took the risk, and it sure paid off. The pizza was a cheesey, doughy, saucey, pepperoni-ey taste-tacular. It was actually almost as good as if Giordano’s had completely cooked it. After two slices, I was stuffed and left the rest for the vultures (read: friends). The only downside of Giordano’s is the price. The medium cost me a little over $20, but it was a small price to pay for the perfect pizza to feed four people.

Incredibly, Giordano’s can actually be delivered anywhere in the country. Order yours here.