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| - Gino's is the only restaurant in Madison that serves an authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Because if Uno's counts as Chicago style, then Taco Bell must be traditional Mexican cuisine. This is a significant achievement in Wisconsin, or really anywhere outside of Chicagoland.
It's not as good as your average Chicago-style...but at least it is proper Chicago-style. Thick crust, thick and gooey mozzarella, tomato sauce on top, meat and veggies on the inside. At no less than 2 inches thick, two slices are a large and filling meal. To a homesick Illinoisan, it's an acceptable stand-in.
I think that their tomato sauce's spices could use a little work, and I've always gotten pizzas that felt like they were in the oven just a couple minutes too long. The crust is a little grainy, and lacks the subtle pillow-like quality found inside a great Chicago crust. Gino's has gotten the cheese right, though, and they understand that a Chicago-style can and should be stuffed with veggies. They've honored my requests to stuff it with spinach and mushroom before, which would indicate that they aren't pre-made. It's a little weird they don't offer a spinach-stuffed pizza, but some places have the nerve to write Chicago all over their menu and not even keep spinach in their kitchen.
Which, by the way, Gino's does not. The Chicago-style is humbly hidden under "stuffed pizzas" on the Gino's menu. No mention of our fine city can be found anywhere on Gino's menu, website, or advertising.
You cheeseheads should consider yourselves in a debt of gratitude. We've provided you with the blueprint for the closest taste to heaven you'll ever find on a pizza. I hope one of you gets the bright idea to put all that good cheese to proper use, using Gino's commitment as a guiding principle. Legit Chicago pizza is a very rare find outside of Chicagoland. Most Americans unfamiliar with the area will never know what it is actually like to bite into the heavy crust of the finest style of pizza in the world.
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