Giordano’s in Chicago is famous for their stuffed pizza. The Chicago and and Florida chain originated in 1974 in Chicago.
The founders of Giordano’s Pizza are two brothers from and northern Italian town near Torino. When the brother immigrated from Italy, they found no ones pizza matched their mother’s home-made pizza. They decided to open their own pizzeria in Chicago. Their mother’s name was Giordano, and they named their pizzeria after her.
In an interview on the Giordano’s website (giordanos.com), there is a excerpt from Chicago Magazine. In telling their story they talk about the evolution of their pizza to please, the tastes of their customers. in the interview, the owner stated “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.
Giordano’s has several Chicago area locations. There are 14 locations in Chicago and 26 locations in the suburbs of Chicago. There are 5 location in Florida.
My most recent Giordano’s meal was at Giordano’s in Gurnee, Illinois. The restaurant in located in a strip mall, near the Gurnee Mills Shopping Mall and Six Flags Great America.
Giordano’s menu includes appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pastas, thin pizza, stuffed pizza and dessert.
The Famous Stuffed Pizza is pie styled pizza. The golden brown crust holds fillings, cheese and is topped off this a home-made tasting tomato sauce. Customers can design their pizza by selecting a cheese pizza and adding ingredients, or they can select a pizza specialty. Ingredients include sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper, onions, spinach, shrimp, Canadian Bacon, pineapple, broccoli, black olives and tomatoes.
The Italian style pizzeria was nearly full on my Saturday evening visit. There were booths and tables. I was seated at a booth. The server came to the table to take my beverage order. I ordered a glass of Chianti, which was delivered within a few minutes. I selected a small deep dish spinach pizza with pepperoni added. The menu states that customers should expect about a thirty minute wait for pizza, so I also ordered a salad to tide myself over until the pizza arrived
The salad was a lettuce salad, with fresh greens and Italian dressing. While enjoying the salad, the smells of the meals surrounding me and the cooking pizza tantalized me. The food being cooked smelled heavenly, with the warm smells of crust, tomatos and garlic.
The pizza was delivered in about 30 minutes, as expected. The piping hot pizza had golden crust, in a pan style. There was a generous filling of spinach, lots of cheese and a topping of Italian tomato sauce.
The 10′ pizza serves one to two people. Half of the pizza filled me up, while the other half was taken home for a later meal. The pizza was as good as it smelled. The home-made, fresh tasting crust was fabulous. the filling and topping was equally fabulous
Visit Giordano’s for an authentic Chicago experience and great Chicago style stuffed pizza.
There are 14 Chicago City locations.
Chicago Suburban locations include: Algonquin, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Gurnee, Lake Zurich, Morton Grove, Niles, Rosemont, Streamwood, Addison, Downers Grove, Naperville, Glen Ellyn, Oak Park, Oak Brook Terrace, Oswego, South Elgin, St. Charles, Westchester, Joliet, MOkena, Orland Park, Plainfield and Willowbrook.
Florida locations are in Brandon, Kissimmee, Lake Buena Vista, Port Richey and Rockford. A new located is coming soon to Tampa.
For people who don’t live near a Giordano’s, they are now partially baking and freezing their famous stuffed pizzas for shipment anywhere in the USA. They only ship 12″ cheese, spinach and vegi pizzas. See their website for details (giordanos.com)
Resources:
giordanos.com
