The Best Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago

Year zero. The deep dish was invented here in 1943, in this River North mansion, and the original recipe still holds the room: tall buttery crust, a proper sausage layer, tomato cap with actual brightness. Tourists line up for the history; the history happens to still taste right. Start here because everything else on this list is in conversation with this pie.

The standard-bearer. Lou worked at Uno’s before opening his own room in Lincolnwood in 1971, and the buttercrust he built is the deep dish other deep dishes get measured against — flaky, rich, structurally serious. The vine-ripened tomato cap is the best sauce in the category. If a friend has one deep dish left in them, this is the safe perfect answer.

The modern heresy that works. George’s ferments its dough 48 hours into a light, airy, sourdough-tangy crust with a caramelized Pecorino Romano edge borrowed from Detroit — and the neighborhood keeps selling it out. This is the deep dish for people who swore they didn’t like deep dish. Pre-order or mourn.

The cornmeal signature. Since 1966, Gino’s East has baked its deep dish in a bright golden crust with real crunch, in rooms wallpapered with decades of customer graffiti. It’s the most robust, old-school version of the style — the one that reminds you deep dish was invented as a working dinner, not a delicacy.

The overflow room that became its own institution. Ike Sewell opened Due a block from Uno in 1955, in a Victorian mansion, serving the exact same iconic pie — same recipe, same payoff, half the line. Connoisseurs argue the pies bake slightly different. The crew’s position: that’s an excuse to order both.

The people’s deep dish. From a Bridgeport-adjacent storefront in 1963 to the ballpark concourses of the city, Connie’s bakes a pan-leaning pie that’s a touch lighter and breadier than the downtown heavyweights — the version you can eat at a White Sox game and still want again Friday. Zero pretension, full Chicago.

The Loop’s speakeasy-pedigree pub does double duty — famous for ribs, quietly excellent at deep dish. It’s the after-work, pre-theater version: no destination hype, just a proper buttery pie in a room that’s been feeding the Loop for decades. The sleeper pick on this list.

The Southwest Side neighborhood option. Danny’s runs thin, double-dough, and deep dish side by side, and the deep holds its own — a no-ceremony, sports-bar-honest pie for when you want the style without the downtown parking.