National Deep Dish Pizza Day: Chicago mayor declares April 5 'Giordano's Pizza Day'
CHICAGO - One Chicago pizzeria is marking a special milestone on this National Deep Dish Pizza Day!
Giordano's is celebrating its 50th anniversary. And, not only that, but Mayor Brandon Johnson has declared April 5 "Giordano's Pizza Day!"
Executive Chef Jesse Harris says the iconic stuffed pizza starts with their famous dough made by hand in the stores.
"This is our famous mozzarella blend… proprietary to us," he said, as he added one pound of cheese to the small pizza pan. "Take a second layer of our famous pizza dough, and we are going to seal it -- put it right on top like a pizza pie. Then we tear some holes to make sure it doesn't explode in the oven, and go around and seal it," he said while pressing this thumb on the dough around the edge of the pan.
Next comes the sauce!
"The tomatoes come from Mendocino County in California," Harris said. "They have a really high sugar content and low acid content."
The pie goes in the oven and comes out melted to cheesy perfection. So cheesy, when the chef pulled a piece from the pan to measure the "cheese pull" it went more than four feet in the air, until it hit the ceiling. It could have been pulled further.
"We go through 5,000,000 pounds of cheese a year," he said.
There are 60 locations nationwide. The Prudential Plaza location on Randolph Street is the busiest of the 50 stores in the Chicago area.
Giordano's CEO Yorgo Koutsogiorgas said the restaurant was a family operation from the start.
"In 1974 two brothers — immigrants from Italy — started Giordano's as a mom-and-pop pizza place on the South Side of Chicago," he said. "In 1977, three years after they had opened their first restaurant, Chicago magazine put Giordano's Pizza on the cover and called it the best pizza in the world! That was the beginning of launching Giordano's as a major brand in the city of Chicago."
Fifty years since it opened, what MaMa Giordano called her "Italian Easter Pie," is as gooey and tasty as ever!