Lou Malnati's Pizzeria - River North

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in River North is the downtown outpost of one of Chicago's best-known family-run deep dish chains, at 439 N Wells Street in the Illinois city's busiest dining district. The Malnati family's pizza tradition is closely tied to the city's deep dish history, and the brand is a fixture on visitor itineraries as an alternative to the other famous deep dish names in Chicago. The cuisine is classic Chicago deep dish: a tall, buttery crust pressed up the sides of a steel pan, a thick layer of cheese laid directly on the dough, toppings above it, and a chunky tomato sauce spread on top. That inverted construction is what separates Chicago deep dish from other American pizza styles. Signature orders include the Malnati Chicago Classic, built around sausage, and the Lou, a vegetarian deep dish of spinach, mushroom and sliced tomato. A buttercrust sausage pizza is the other staple, and the buttery crust is the house signature. Because the pies are baked from scratch in a deep pan, they take roughly 45 minutes from order to table, so the kitchen is often asked to start a pie while the party is still seated with drinks or appetizers. The dining room is casual and loud at peak hours, with booths, families, convention visitors and pre-theatre groups mixed together; there is no dress code. A full bar serves beer, wine and cocktails alongside salads and appetizers, and the River North location is one of the few in the chain that takes online reservations through its website. Reservations are advisable on Friday and Saturday evenings, when walk-in waits can be long, while weekday lunches are far easier. The restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday from 11AM to 11PM and Friday and Saturday from 11AM to midnight, which makes it workable for late dinners after an evening in the Loop or on the Magnificent Mile. Pricing is moderate for downtown Chicago, with a large pie feeding two to four people. Takeout and delivery are widely used, and whole pies can be shipped nationwide through the brand's website, a service many visitors use to take the taste home.