My baby, Allison, was starting Vet School in Illinois and had her “blue coat” ceremony, a ceremony to celebrate t he start of vet school and the students get their blue lab coats (yes, in vet school they are blue). As the ceremony was being held at the college, I decided to fly into Chicago and drive back with Jamie and Quinton (her now fiance’!)
Allison, her boyfriend Ashton and my niece Amber who also attends University of Illinois picked me up at the airport and we set out to enjoy a day in Chicago. We decided to maximize our day, and maximize what we could do, we opted for a bus tour of the city. It makes stops all over the city, you can get off at any stop and stay as long as you’d like, and simply just catch the next one. We made sure to stop at all the places that give out free gifts like Giradelli’s chocolates. For lunch, I wanted some traditional Chicago style pizza. I had heard of Pizzaria Uno, as everyone knows it is one of the landmark Chicago Pizza joints. (Not to be confused with Uno Pizza of Sterling Heights).
We knew the restaurant, which is fairly small surprisingly, would fill up quickly. We made our way over when it opened and snagged a cozy table on the small patio overlooking East Ohio Street.
We ordered a small deep dish, with spinach, onion and green pepper and a recommended side of garlic bread. The bread was amazing, Warm, cheesy and had the best dipping sauce which was, I assumed, the pizza sauce, it was warm and full of flavor. After waiting patiently for our pizza (the deep dishes take some serious time to cook) it finally arrived. We were a bit worried that the 6 pieces would not be enough for the four of us, but as each piece was so thick, filled with so much cheese, we were more than stuffed.
Back on the bus and we enjoyed a day of strolling through the streets of Chicago, visiting the bean, walking to the fountain and window shopping. An overall great day, amazing weather and I was able to truly explore a city that I had previously only breezed through. The day was fun, great food, great company, great sites!
I would highly recommend a stop at Pizzaria Uno, or its new sister restaurant, right down the street, Pizzaria Due.
