I wanted to eat at the original Gino’s East to make sure we got the best of the best Gino had to offer. I grabbed the GPS and typed in “Gino’s East Original Chicago Pizza”. It pulled one up that was really close to where we were driving. Cha-ching!!! We ended up near the O’Hare airport and then in a sort of business hi-rise area. We pulled into the driveway where we saw the sign for Gino’s East, but couldn’t see it anywhere. What the heck. It was THEN that D.Rough pointed out that I was a complete buffoon and the GPS had read the search as “Original Chicago” Pizza. It was a pretty safe bet Gino hadn’t started his world-famous pizza business by the airport. Score one for D.”Smarty Pants”.Rough.
There was a driveway that had been closed off for what looked like new blacktop, so we assumed the restaurant was in there. We drove around back. Nope, that led to a service entrance. We saw a few cars here, but basically a back entrance to one of the high-rise office complexes. Then we saw a piece of paper taped to a light pole in the lot. It had writing on it that looked like it might say Gino’s East. Seriously? Yup. We got out and walked towards the back entrance. There we saw another piece of paper TAPED TO THE CURB. I’m not lying to you. Here it is.
We walk into this scary an unmanned back entrance to a company and looked for more signs. After walking through various corridors and following multiple signs for almost five minutes (again, seriously), we found ourselves in some sort of underground bunker – we should have made a savings throw, apparently (only Garrison will get that). Then, out of nowhere, pops the Gino’s East sign. Neither of us were all that happy to find it at that point, but we were committed now.
We walked into what appeared to be the back entrance to Gino’s East and expected to be the only ones there. Nope, the place had a good number of people hanging out. Including a hilarious stereotypical Italian family of men harassing each other loudly and enjoying what looked like incredible pizza.
We kind of knew what we wanted, so we ordered deep dish Chicago style pepperoni pizza. A medium, since we were both hungry (from walking). We also split a salad to tide us over until the pizza was done cooking.
The waitress brought us our salad and we dove in. It was a decent salad and one you’d expect from a pizza place. Iceberg lettuce with some other veggies and simple dressing. Great ppetizer. Then the pizza came out. 
This is serious pizza for those of you not familiar with Chicago style pizza. Many layers of cheese so the thing ends up being about two inches thick. And the crust itself has some sort of corn meal in it that makes it delicious. The waitress scooped out our pieces and put them on our plates (common serving style in Chicago).
We dove in and by the time we finished the first giant piece, we were both full. I’m not kidding. Then out of guilt, we finished another piece. Hahahaha. We shouldn’t have, but we did. We were in pain, but it was totally worth it. The pizza at Gino’s really is world class. The cheese is super thick and flavorful, the sauce is really quite good, and the pepperoni had a tiny bit of kick and wasn’t over done. Gino has mastered the art of making and cooking pizza. It’s no wonder people managed to walk through Mordor to get to Gino’s East.
Even though this isn’t the original flagship location (which I later found on the internet), it was a great representation. I loved this place. I will concede that I enjoy Giordano’s a tiny bit more than Gino’s East, but Gino’s is a VERY close second. I’m actually looking forward to when D.Rough and I can come back for a visit to her family – and then we’ll sneak away and stuff ourselves again!!! (I also realized with as close as it is to O’Hare, I could probably hit it on a long layover if I really HAD to…)
Top 5 things about Gino’s East
1. Cheese
2. Pepperoni
3. Deep dish corn meal crust
4. Super nice waitress
5. Very nice homey Italian atmosphere (even inside an office complex)
Bottom 5 things
1. Ridiculous trek through an office building to find the restaurant (it isn’t normally like that – they were just redoing their driveway)
2. NOT the flagship location, but that’s totally my fault
3. We were full after one piece
4. We were miserable after two pieces
5. There isn’t anything remotely like this within 7 hours of my house
www.ginoseast.com
5 comments:
I am soooo jealous.
next time you're there let me clue you in on some small neighborhood places. my fave chicago pizza was near my first place there that i think you might remember (basement level apt). it's on montrose, in-between ashland and damen. i hope it's still there; lots of changes since i've moved.
I remember that apartment, for sure. I'm always open to suggestions for pizza places. But I think D.Rough and I want to hit up the other two first to ensure we've got a good comparison. I generally love the smaller shops, but there's a reason why these three places are world-reknown.
also, there's a new mexican restaurant on 16th street at about 22nd ave. it always smells wonderful inside when i go in to deliver, but i have not yet had their food. i can't figure out the setup either - if there aren't any tables in back behind a wall, then all there is for seating is a couple standup tables that face 16th and a couch. it might only be takeout. i'll pay more attention today.
Keep me posted, Matt. Maybe we could hit it up the next time I'm in the QCs.
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