We knew the winnner before the votes were counted. At Giordano's restaurant it was unanimous love at first taste. It's pizza was so delicious that we applauded the chef, Efren Boglio. He told us this story:
"My brother Joseph and I both own and cook for Giordano's. We were born in a small northern Italian town near Torino, where our mother was know for her exquisite dishes. Of all her repertoire, though, my family was most fond of her deep-dish, double-crusted pizza, which she made on Easter and stuffed with ricotta cheese.
I loved her pizza so much that when I came to America in 1967 I took a job at a pizza restaurant, pleased to be near my favorite food. but the pizza there was only fair-not nearly as good as Mother's. And, as time passed, I tasted pizzas at other restaurants, I was surprised to find that the very best around didn't approach the worst of those I'd eaten back home in the old country.
So I opened my own pizza restaurant. It was called Roma and was doing all right. But then my brother Joseph came to Chicago, and we decided to close Roma and open a restaurant specializing in Mothers's
pizza-one which would be called by her name, Giordano. We worked for months, trying to develop a superlative Chicago variation of Mother's pizza; then, in February 1974, we opened Giordano's.
Don't get the idea that we're satisfied, though. We're not. We alter our pizzas as time passes, as the necessity arises. Our first pizzas, for example, had just the right amount of garlic for us, but too much for most of our customers; so we cut down some of it. But besides surveying our customers constantly, Joseph and I go once a week, to different pizza restaurants, in order to taste the competition.
The thing about pizza is that like everything good, it has to have an evolution. To stay the same means to go backward. It wasn't my mother or my brother and myself who invented the pizza we serve here. The recipe probably began with our great, great, great, great, great-grandmother. You ask how long it took to develop the recipe. I'd have to say 200 to 300 years. And it's still developing."
Find a Giordano's near you
CHICAGO LOCATIONS
BELMONT
(773) 327-1200
1040 W. BELMONT AVE.
JACKSON
(312) 583-9400
223 W. JACKSON BLVD.
PULASKI
(773) 582-7676
5159 S. PULASKI ST.
LOGAN SQUARE
(773) 862-4200
2855 N. MILWAUKEE AVE.
RANDOLPH
(312) 201-1441
310 W. RANDOLPH ST.
GREEK TOWN
(312) 421-1221
815 W. VAN BUREN ST.
MIDWAY
(773) 585-6100
6314 S. CICERO
RUSH STREET
(312) 951-0747
730 N RUSH ST.
HYDE PARK
(773) 947-0200
5309 S. BLACKSTONE AVE.
MONTROSE
(773) 275-4600
2010 W. MONTROSE
SHERIDAN
(773) 262-1313
6836 N. SHERIDAN RD.
IRVING PARK
(773) 736-5553
5927 W. IRVING PARK RD.
PRUDENTIAL PLAZA
(312) 616-1200
135 E. LAKE
NORTH & NORTHWEST SUBURBS
ALGONQUIN
(847) 854-0076
1505 S. RANDALL RD.
BUFFALO GROVE
(847) 520-1600
270 N. McHENRY RD.
EVANSTON
(847) 475-5000
500 DAVIS ST.
GURNEE
(847) 856-6100
7105 GRAND AVE.
LAKE ZURICH
(847) 726-1500
455 S. RAND RD.
MORTON GROVE
(847) 966-4300
5990 W. DEMPSTER ST.
NILES
(847) 297-7300
8630 GOLF RD.
ROSEMONT
(847) 292-2600
9415 W. HIGGINS RD.
STREAMWOOD
(630) 372-8600
1556 BUTTITTA DR.
WEST SUBURBS
ADDISON
(630) 458-0044
1323 W. LAKE ST.
OAK PARK
(708) 386-2223
1115 W. CHICAGO AVE.
SOUTH ELGIN
(847) 841-8700
320 RANDALL RD.
DOWNERS GROVE
(630) 435-5999
5115 MAIN ST.
OAK BROOK TERRACE
(630) 530-7799
17 W 280 WEST 22ND ST.
ST. CHARLES
(630) 762-1600
3641 MAIN ST.
DOWNTOWN NAPERVILLE
(630) 428-2111
119 S. MAIN
OSWEGO
(630) 551-4411
2870 Route 34
SYCAMORE
(815) 899-2999
1840 DEKALB AVE.
GLEN ELLYN
(630) 790-1717
455 W. ROOSEVELT RD.
SOUTH NAPERVILLE
(630) 904-9800
3224 S. ROUTE 59 SUITE 120
WESTCHESTER
(708) 531-1122
10410 W. CERMAK
SOUTH & SOUTHWEST SUBURBS
JOLIET
(815) 254-2700
3058 W. CATON FARM RD.
ORLAND PARK
(708) 349-7500
14325 S. LA GRANGE RD.
WILLOWBROOK
(630) 325-6710
641 PLAINFIELD RD.
MINOOKA
(815) 521-1222
2075 S. RIDGE RD.
MOKENA
(815) 806-8282
11400 LINCOLN HWY.
PLAINFIELD
(815) 609-5900
2344 RT. 59
FLORIDA
BRANDON
(813) 655-2828
11310 CAUSEWAY BLVD.
LAKE BUENA VISTA
(407) 239-8900
12151 S. APOPKA VINELAND RD.
KISSIMMEE
(407) 397-0044
7866 W. IRLO BRONSON HWY.
PORT RICHEY
(727) 868-7600
10042 US HWY. 19
TAMPA
(813) 872-5900
401 N. DALE MABRY
OTHER LOCATIONS
ROCKFORD, IL
(815) 398-5700
333 EXECUTIVE PKWY.
COMING SOON
ALTEMONTE SPRINGS, FL
NORTH AURORA, IL
Today Show "Best Pizza in America"
Tamron Hall, WFLD-TV "Giordano's Deep Dish is by far the Best In Chicago"
"Reader's Choice" Giordano's pizza is a must when in Chicago
"The Ultimate Pizza"
"Silver Platter Award" (Every Year for the Past 10 Years)
Giordano's Pizza
