- I love meeting our VFS from all over the country.
I mean, this is how we're doing it in 2020.
This is our new solve
until we get back to a studio audience.
But I have to say,
I think this is so great because
we get to really open it up.
Instead of people just in New York,
we get to be with people from all over our amazing nation.
And I also love eating food from all over the place.
That's right.
So that's why I'm excited to have a brand new segment
where we're finding out which regional dishes rank supreme!
It's time for Battle of the Bites, Chicago pizza.
(energetic theme music)
Num num num num num num num, oh.
(audience laughing)
We all know...(gibberish)
We all know Deep dish pizza is a Windy City fav.
And today, we're gonna try slices
from all three Chicago restaurants
that are some of the favorites in the city, all right?
And we have a very coveted award,
The Battle of the Bites trophy,
it's right over there.
(orchestral music)
(audience cheering)
By the way, we did a trophy also for like best costumes.
I'm telling you these awards, they're really attractive.
I'm just saying.
I need a pizza partner in crime though, to help me judge.
So welcome back to the show, our co-pilot for the week,
the Emmy-winning, Ross Mathews.
- Yes!
Let me tell you how excited I am about pizza today.
- I woke up with a real spring in my step.
- Last night I had a salad for dinner
cause I knew we were doing pizza today,
and I got salad for dinner tonight,
but I'm going in on this pizza.
- You know what, that reminds me,
I need to take like six digestive enzymes.
So have you ever had...
They work?
- These you say, Drew.
(laughing)
- It's all about good digestion.
I only know that after I treated my body
like a garbage truck for my entire life.
Now it's gotta be a holy place of worship.
Have you ever had real Chicago deep dish?
- Let me tell you.
Chicago is one of my favorite cities.
And if you go to Chicago and don't get deep dish,
you didn't go to Chicago.
Right? Can I get an amen on that?
So yes I have and that's why I know
what is waiting in front of me right now.
- See, I have been to Chicago many times,
but I always am like, I'm one of those foodies
who looks like on the Eater list.
Eater is my favorite website ever.
Eater, if anyone knows Eater, it's a holy place.
And I try to go to like the best new sandwich shop
or this like restaurant that got a rave review recently.
And I haven't had real authentic Chicago deep dish pizza.
(Ross gasps in surprise)
- What! Today is the day, Drew.
- Today is the day that I'm gonna do it!
And we have three slices in front of us.
One from Lou Malnati's, one from Gino's East,
and one from Labriola.
- And people very passionate about these pizza places
and their deep dish.
- Yes, that's why we're lucky enough to work with them
'cause they are like top-tier.
And guess what, we also sent three slices to our VFS
and they can taste and be virtual judges, all right!
(cheering)
Marissa, Kenny, and Marjon.
- Hey. - Hey.
- Oh, and this is a fun fact.
Our six judge today with us, you guys,
is going to be Twitter. - Great.
- We put a poll out asking you to vote
on your favorite slice
and then we're going to count that as one of our votes
and determine the winner as well.
Okay, is everyone ready?
Why am I wasting so much time?
- By the way, this is like the closest I've gotten
to a dinner party in almost a year.
- [Drew] I know - Right?
Look at this.
- By the way, this is what we dreamed about with this.
Well, you should see behind there.
It looks like AI.
It looks like a Steven Spielberg movie.
It's like, okay... - Order.
- Are you doing for fork and knife?
Hello, yeah. - Oh, wait.
Oh, God. They just said in my ear, "Go to the tape first,
go to the tape first."
Sorry.
Our first slice comes form Lou Malanati's.
Can you tell I'm eager?
Take a look. - [Ross] Right?
- Hi, Drew, I'm Marc Malnati
from the Lou Malnati's Pizzeria in Chicago.
In 1971, my parents opened a little pizzeria
and we had lines out the door, around the corner,
down the block.
Last year, we shipped over to 2 million pizzas.
We have a beautiful dough.
It's flaky, it's buttery.
Others have criticized it for being too thick, too bready,
but this is a meal in Chicago.
There's almost 3/4 of a pound of mozzarella
and 1/2 a pound of sausage.
Next, we're gonna pile on whole peel
pear tomatoes from California.
We finish it.
Blend of Romano, Parmesan, hue herbs.
You've got buttery, flaky, creamy, salty, garlicky,
and sweet tang of tomatoes.
Drew, we'd love to send some to you.
So let's see what it looks like.
Coming out right to you.
I'm guaranteeing that we will take home the goal.
(cheering)
- My mouth is watering.
All right, let's do this. - Ready.
- Everybody, here we go.
- Oh, my God, I can't even...
- Oh, my God.
- [Ross] I'm not even speaking.
- Ross, thoughts?
(Ross stammering)
I mean...
- [Drew] No, I dunno. - Thank you.
Yes!
- Yup, yup, yup, yup.
- It is sort like bright tomato, tomato-ey, acidic.
Cheesy, the crust is yummy.
- Yeah, yeah.
It's so cheesy.
It's like, I feel like I'm eating cheese
rather than cheese on bread
- Yeah, and I'm fine with it, turns out.
- Marisa, you've never had a deep dish before,
what are your thoughts?
- I haven't had one before, but oh my gosh,
the tomatoes tastes like they were just picked off the vine
and this crust is delicious.
I'm gonna have some more.
- What a great critique, by the way.
Like fresh off the vine?
Gina.
Okay, next.
Okay, we're gonna do Gino's East.
Take a look.
- Hi, Drew, thanks so much for having us.
We're so excited to be here.
My name is Jordan Himmel
and I'm from the original Gino's East of Chicago.
Gino's East started in Chicago in 1966.
Since then we've taken every step we can
to preserve the way we always made our pizza.
We sustainably source our ingredients
and we take quality to the utmost importance.
What's unique about our pizza is that we have this
delicious golden, flaky crust.
We're very excited to be honored on your show.
Enough chit chat.
Let's eat some pizza, shall we?
Oh, yeah, that looks delicious to me.
I'm gonna sit here and enjoy this slice.
I hope you enjoy yours.
Thank you.
- All right, let's try it, everybody.
Here we go, guys.
Gino's East.
- [Ross] Hmm, mh-hmm, mh-hmm.
- Oh, very different.
- So different.
Way herbier.
- I was gonna say gonna say oregano.
- Oregano you did.
- Kenny, what do you think?
- No, this has the visual of what I think of
when I think of a deep dish pizza.
It's a lot of dough but the ratio is still good
between the cheese, the dough, and the sauce.
- I agree, and you're a deep dish fan.
None of your friends like deep dish,
but you've also never tried
these three particular places, right?
- That's correct.
Anytime I have deep dish, no one else wants it,
so I end up eating the entire thing by myself
and then regretting it later.
- Oh, I feel you there.
We have one more place to test
and we've already tried Lou Malnati's,
Gino's East and, and Gina and Kenny did those.
And now we're gonna go to Labriola, Chicago.
Take a look.
- Hey, Drew, it Labriola here from Labriola, Chicago.
We've been making deep dish for four years right now.
We set out to have the best pizza in Chicago.
And that was the goal.
And we achieved the goal
through many hours of trial and error
to get a pizza that is unlike any other.
We're doing 1,500 pieces a week at this time.
So on our deep dish, the most important part,
because I'm a baker, is the dough.
And our dough is similar to a focaccia dough.
There's 48 hour fermentation
and another 24 hours once it hits the restaurant.
So that's optimal for flavor.
Always whole milk mozzarella.
Always finish with graded pecorino Romano.
We also add a little bit of Italian Calabrian chilies
to our sauce.
Our deep dish pizzas's actually very light and flavorful.
And those are the elements for a great deep dish pizza.
Drew, our pizza is unbeatable,
and once you taste it, I think you'll see why.
(cheering) - Oh, bring it!
- Can we eat it yet?
- All right, let's do this, ready?
Oh, I've got aluminum foil, hold on.
- [Ross] Okay. (pizza crunchng)
- Ross, what do you think?
- Already, I'll notice the cheese
goes all the way to the crust, which I appreciate.
- This crust is incredible.
Marjon, you're like me, right?
You've never had an authentic Chicago deep dish, right?
- Absolutely, Drew.
But this right here...
And I'm not even a cheese pizza person,
but this right here makes it seem like
eating a whole bunch of ingredients in one.
Cheese is phenomenal.
And the crusts, oh me!
- I've only had like Numero Uno.
I'm from Californian '80s.
They're like, this is Chicago deep dish.
And by the way, it's great, I always loved it.
But this is really such a fun experience.
Like Marisa, Kenny, and Marjon,
I'm so excited that I've gotten to do this with you,
and of course Ross.
But it is the moment of truth, it is time for us to vote.
But before we start,
let's see who won the Twitter poll first, okay?
- [Ross] Oh, yeah, that's interesting.
- [Drew] Ready?
It's Lou Malnati's won the Twitter poll.
- [Ross] Big time. - Like by a landslide.
All right, now let's see.
One at a time.
We're gonna reveal our favorite, guys.
Are you ready?
Marisa, Kenny, Marjon.
- I'm taking this way too seriously really.
- Rossy Ross? - I know
- Okay. (drum rolls)
Okay, okay.
Ready? - Yeah, you're gonna go?
- Yeah, I'm going.
- Whoo! - Whoo!
- It was the crust. - [Drew] Marisa?
What do you got?
- Labriola, the crust.
Ross knows where it's at.
- Thank you.
Kenny?
Oh, everybody's...
Oh, my God!
Well, you know what?
To each it's own.
Okay, so that's three.
- Lou Malanti's.
- It was a close one, but I got to go Lou Malanti's.
- Lou Malanati's, okay.
Okay, Marjon is Lou Malnati's.
All right, so I'm an odd man out with Gino's East.
Here's the good news, eerybody gets the love on this show.
No one feels bad, and I like that.
Because I don't like that in life,
when people make people feel bad.
So good, every restaurant got love.
But the winning restaurant is, Lou Malnati's!
(cheering) (victorious music)
There you go.
I will say I did love the Labriola crust.
The crust for me...
But I have to say, I really love Gino's East
and I'll tell you why,
'cause I love the herbaceousness.
- Herbaceousness is this is our word of the day,
thank you, Drew.
(audience laughs)
- Congratulations to everyone.
I'm at work right now.
And I just wanna say that nothing has been as fun as this.
Look at our jobs today, you guys.
Come on!
We are so lucky.
Thank you for doing this with us.
And I just want to say also
that I'm really grateful to Goldbelly.
They're one of my favorite companies, literally,
because you can order from restaurants that you love
all across the country. - Yes.
- And stuff it in your mouth like this.
You too could eat while you work, talk while you eat,
and enjoy something very extraordinary and special.
How many times have we said,
"Oh, if I could only have the clam chowder
from Legal Sea foods in Boston?
- Just yesterday.
- No. - No, not really.
- My sister-in-law, Jill Kargman,
sent me something through Goldbelly.
So thank you, Goldbelly.
That's how they made this happen.
Thank you to everyone.
- I could order deep dish pizza to my house from Chicago?
- From Goldbelly. - Amazing, I'm doing it.
- I love you, Gold belly.
And Marissa, and Kenny, and Marjon, Rossy Ross.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
(theme music)