Things We Wish We'd Never Eaten #7: Deep-Dish and Dogs

Pizza and hot dogs are a staple in this country, and they come in all shapes and sizes. The most distinctive interpretations of these junk-food classics, though, are found in Chi-town.

Pizzeria Uno opened in 1943, and it's been going strong ever since. This particular restaurant claims to have originated the deep dish pizza, so iconic in Chicago. We got two individual 'pies' to share, one a barbecue chicken and the other a supreme.

Deep Dish Pizza

I'm not sure if deep dish pizza actually counts as pizza; it truly is more like a pie. The crust resembles shortbread or pastry, thick, solid and crumbly. It's quite heavy, really, and the texture just doesn't live up to what you expect of a pizza. The toppings are layered, some two inches thick. They're your standard pizza ingredients, but they don't cook as thoroughly and the proportional balance is different. It was an interesting experience, and not entirely unpleasant on the taste-buds, but we agreed it wasn't something we needed to try again. Dogs on the other hand...

Chicago Dogs are sometimes said to have been "dragged though the garden," and it's a fairly accurate description. On a Chicago Dog you will find all the ingredients you could imagine on a steamed poppy seed bun - sausage, onion, sweet pickle relish, mustard. You'll also find a lot of things you most likely wouldn't have imagined - crushed and quartered roma tomato, celery salt, pickled sport peppers (jalapeno-esque) and a pickle spear. Having you noticed the glaring omission? You will find no ketchup on a Chicago Dog, and it's presence immediately disqualifies anybody from having the Chi-style food experience.

Dog stand

A Chicago Dog

I ordered a plain hot dog with mustard and ... KETCHUP ... and the guy glared at me like I was a Yankees fan. Daniel went the full hog and said that, apart from being ridiculously hard to eat, it got his vote. He described it as a party in your mouth. This particular party, though, got advertised on Facebook and some unexpected guests turned up, but by the end you decided they really helped the mix of things. On the way home, however, he patted his belly and announced that the party was over and everybody wanted to leave... Nice.