San Diego’s Best Pizza: Chicago Pizza Company Review
In the Fun Diego Family, pizza taxonomy, Chicago deep dish falls into the thick crust category. This also includes Sicilian style and Detroit pizza, but many consider Chicago deep dish an entirely separate entity. To many New Yorkers, deep dish is an abomination to the name pizza. On our end, we love all styles of pizza and often get a craving for Chicago deep dish. One of our best places in this category is the Chicago Pizza Company off the beaten track in Santee.
UPDATE 2022: The Chicago Pizza Company has moved to a new location right down the road. We have yet to try this location.
WEBSITE: http://chicagopizzasantee.com/
Chicago Pizza Company rarely shows up on best of lists for San Diego pizza because it is way out in Santee. It is located in a small strip at the intersection of the 67 and 52. We get a laugh because next door is the Discount Gun Mart. This is a good half hour from our house. We simply do not make it here as often as we should. Nevertheless, Chicago Pizza Company makes a great pizza.
Over the years I have actually identified four different styles of Chicago pizza:
- Deep Dish
- Stuffed Crust
- Thin Crust
- Pan Pizza
The best description of these styles I found in this article. Chicago Pizza Company has deep dish and pan pizza. The pan pizza is a style I am not very familiar with (outside of Pizza Hut). I think this may be the style they serve at La Jolla’s The Spot, which originally started in Chicago,
We have tried both the pan pizza and the deep dish at Chicago Pizza Company. The deep dish has a thicker 2-inch crust, versus 1.5 inches for the pan pizza. However, other than that there did not seem to be a huge difference. Both pizzas were excellent.
One advantage of Chicago style deep-dish (and pan) is it is good for takeout. These pizzas reheat nicely and leftovers can be frozen. Generally, you will have leftovers. A 14-inch deep dish (or pan) can easily serve 4 people with leftovers.
Chicago Pizza Company is great for takeout because the actual restaurant is fairly small. A deep-dish pizza takes at least 45-minutes to cook, so we almost always call in advance no matter where we order from. I don’t think the pan pizza takes as long, but I am not sure as we always order in advance and get takeout.
We did notice a pretty large price difference between the pan pizza and deep dish. A 10-inch pan pizza at Chicago Pizza Company is $15 versus $20.89 for a deep dish. The 14-inch versions are respectively $22 and $28.
Overall, I don’t pay much attention to the price difference as I think this type of pizza is a bargain. For $50 we could get both a large deep dish and pan pizza and easily serve 10 people with leftovers. Chicago Pizza Company even has an article about why their pizza is such a value.
One thing I have learned about ordering Chicago pizza is to try the sausage, meatballs and Italian Beef. Italian beef sandwiches are a Chicago specialty and it makes a great topping for deep dish pizza. Chicago Pizza Company has a good Italian beef topping and their sausage and meatballs are definitely up to snuff.
Chicago Pizza Company also does a thin crust pizza which we have never tried. I have never been a fan of Chicago thin crust. However, a recent visit to Chicago favorite Giordano’s (the Las Vegas locations) may cause me to reevaluate that position. They had an excellent thin crust.
Chicago Pizza Company has a large menu of salads, appetizers, pasta, and sandwiches. We can’t comment on these because we stick to take-out orders of pizza.
Fun Diego Family is on a quest to find San Diego’s best pizza in four different categories. Right now, Chicago Pizza Company is a top contender in the thick crust/deep dish category. If you are a fan of this style, Chicago Pizza Company is right up there with Berkeley Pizza, Chicago Bros Pizzeria, Lefty’s Chicago Pizzeria, and The Spot.
Check out our full rankings of thick crust pizza.
To see our full guide to San Diego’s best pizza go here.
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