As I mentioned earlier, Greg and Kate spent Christmas in Chicago with my family this year. As we do with all out-of-town guests, we made it a point to take them for authentic Chicago deep dish pizza during their visit.

I suggested Lou Malnati’s, since it’s my absolute favorite (you can read my review here). And we certainly weren’t going to Gino’s East after it compared so unfavorably to Lou Malnati’s (you can read that review here – yes I write a lot of deep dish pizza posts apparently!).

But Josh overruled me, and instead of Lou Malnati’s we went to dinner at Giordano’s. I hadn’t had Giordano’s since I was in high school, so I couldn’t remember much about it. I was curious to see how it tasted now, and whether it measured up to Lou Malnati’s.

We ordered two pies. Josh and Kate picked out one that had pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms.

Look at all of that cheese! I feel like I need one of those heart-eyed emojis right about now!

This one ended up being my favorite of the two, even though I picked out the other pie!

Our other pizza (yes, the less-good one that I picked out…) just had sausage. I was hoping it would taste just like Lou Malnati’s Chicago Classic, which also just has sausage, but I was ultimately disappointed.

With our first bite of Giordano’s pizza we had initial thoughts of “wow, this is so good!” And it was nice to be eating deep dish pizza again. But then after a few bites the magic faded. Yes it was good, but it wasn’t amazing, and (I can’t believe I’m actually saying this) had way too much cheese. In fact, the cheese was the focus of the entire pizza, with the sauce and crust as an after thought.

Lou Malnati’s, on the other hand, does have a healthy (or… umm… unhealthy) amount of cheese, but what makes it taste incredible is its sauce. The sauce at Giordano’s was just lacking, and similarly the crust wasn’t as good as Lou Malnati’s either.

So, it’s official: Lou Malnati’s remains the best spot for deep dish pizza in Chicago!

You can find out more information on Lou Malnati’s here and Giordano’s here.

After we ate, we headed to The Second City, another Chicago institution. Basically every SNL comedian ever has gotten their start at The Second City, and the sketches are hilarious and memorable. You’ll end up laughing the entire night! You can read more about my experiences at The Second City here.

It couldn’t have been a better Christmas in Chicago!

And then after it was over, Greg and I escaped the 1° weather (yes, 1°!) for sunny Florida.

Where we were able to celebrate a belated Christmas with his family.

Two Christmases in one year?! We’ll take it!

Then it was off on our next adventure… celebrating New Year’s Eve in Naples, Italy!

~A