Giordano's World Famous Stuffed Pizza

I was in Chicago this past weekend for a friend's wedding where I was able to grab lunch at a Giordano's pizzeria. (btw Congrats to Jeff and Gina!) I skipped breakfast so I was especially hungry when we walked into the local pizza parlor. Knowing that deep dish pizza takes a long time to cook (40-45 minutes), we ordered immediately. We decided to go with pepperoni since that's pretty much the only topping I eat.

In preparation for the long wait, we also ordered mozzarella sticks. The deep fried cheese came out piping hot. The batter was pretty crispy and the cheese was melted to the perfect consistency. I can't stand when mozzarella sticks come out undercooked and the cheese isn't nearly hot enough. Fortunately, that wasn't the case at Giordano's. The sticks came with a side of tomato sauce (pictured above) which was pretty good but I've had better. This brings me to the next part of our meal, the pizza!

The waitress brought over the medium pie and sat it in the middle of our table. She grabbed a plate and did an excellent job serving each slice without making any mess. I put on red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese before digging in with a knife and fork. There was a ton of cheese inside however I thought there could have been more pepperonis. I thought the crust/cheese ratio was perfect (if you like cheese this is the pizza for- just see the pic above). Ok, Don't get me wrong I thought this pizza was great but it's not the best in Chicago. I can't help but compare the pizza to Gino's East. I thought Giordano's matched up evenly in all aspects except for the sauce. I felt the sauce could have been thicker with more tomoto chunks. I just prefer deep dish pizza (which has sauce on top) that has a sauce where you can see the pieces of tomato. Therefore, I give the edge to Gino's.

If you're in Chicago, I recommend trying out Giordano's and Gino's East so you can decide for yourself. Either way you'll have a great meal!

4.5 out of 5

Jason's Deli in Tysons

Last week I was walking to my office cafeteria when I stumbled across a stack of menus for a place called Jason's Deli. After studying the menu the rest of the afternoon, my co-worker and I decided we needed to check it out at some point. That all changed the next day when the Junkies (http://www.junkiesradio.com/main.shtml) talked about how good it was on their radio show. As a result, we decided to venture down good ole Route 7 to see what all the buzz was about.

Upon entering the large establishment, I was overwhelmed by the number of options on the menu. However, the young lady working the cash register really helped my friends and I work through the menu. For example, Jason's Deli offers a variety of muffalettas (ham, salami or turkey) which can be ordered as a quarter muff, half-muff and if you're really hungry the 9" Whole Muff. They showed us the quarter muff which was enormous. If I had the muff then I would have fallen asleep when I got back to the office so I had to pass.

Jason's also offers a wide variety of soups including chili and gumbo. I asked the cashier what her favorite soup was and she said "tomato basil" and I immediately asked her what her second favorite soup was. I forgot her answer but it wasn't something that I liked so I just order the Fire Roasted tortilla soup. She then told me that was her sister's favorite soup and we both laughed. The soup was pretty tasty. It had a little heat but not too much. Ideally, they would have had Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Texas Pete that I could add to my soup for the extra kick. I later saw a girl walking around with a bottle of hot sauce and I just looked at her and said "the fire roasted tortilla?" She responded with a "you know it!"

Now that I had my soup ordered, I have to review the rest of the menu which included salads, po'boys, pasta, sandwiches, potatoes, and paninis/wrapinis. I decided to get the chicken club wrapini. It was grilled to perfection. There was a ton of moist grilled chicken in between the warm tortilla. The wrapini came with ranch as opposed to mayo which was a refreshing touch. For the record, mayo grosses me out (not as much as ketchup though) but I absolutely love ranch dressing (dipping pizza crust in ranch is a favorite of mine).

My meal came with a pickle and ruffled potato chips. My friends also ordered wrapinis. They also liked their sandwiches and would definitely order them again. After a few hours, my friend emailed me to let me know that he was feeling "gassy" which was a shame. I am pretty sure he fully recovered.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the best part of my experience. They have FREE low fat ice cream!!! It was fantastic. I got the chocolate/vanilla twist and I actually went up for seconds. So if you ever find yourself near Tyson's corner and need a good lunch spot, I recommend checking out Jason's Deli. http://www.jasonsdeli.com/

4 out of 5