Taste of Chicago - Lou Malnati's

Tour boats on the Chicago River. 2/24/2026 dwm

The second day of the conference we were on our own for dinner, so most people take advantage of the opportunity to get out of the hotel and do something special for dinner.

Less than four blocks south of our hotel was the Chicago River, and I was interested in getting a look at it.

It surprised me to see tourists sitting on the upper, exposed deck of a tour boat on the river (white boat in photo at left). It was a nice day for February, but sitting outside for a boat ride would be real cool.

Instead, I walked back across the street to eat in the Wrigley Building.

The sign at left says, "Lou Malnati's." dwm

Like Ed Debevics, where I ate the day before, Lou Malnati's was another iconic Chicago restaurant I wanted to try.

From Rush Street, I walked through the glass doors and up a short flight of stairs and asked for a seat at a table in the bar.

For a location inside a huge office building, the interior felt like a small pizzeria. I was ahead of the dinner crowd, and seated quickly with a menu.

I was happy to see I could get a six-inch, personal pizza because I knew I couldn't eat even a small deep dish pie.

A warm welcome awaits. 2/24/2026 dwm

Ever since reserving a spot at the conference, I knew it time to try a famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza from one of the places known for making and shipping them around the world.

Just like Debevics, I was asked if I had been there before, the answer was no, so my server let me know it would be at least 30-minutes to get my order.

My reply was that I'd waited all my life, what's another half-hour?

After the server left, a guy from a nearby table stopped to say hi, he said his family loved Lou Malnati's and before traveling on business, he would eat at Malnati's first.

The 1st of 4 slices. 2/24/2026 dwm

The wait was worth it. Lou Malnati's uses vine-ripened tomatoes from ; exclusively seasoned sausage; and mozzarella from the same local dairy for more than 40 years. The crust is made with an old family recipe.

According to their website, Luciano Malnati started working in the 1940s at the first deep dish pizzeria in Chicago. Lou and his wife, Jean, opened the first Lou Malnati's in Lincolnwood in March 1971. Sadly, Lou died seven years later from cancer, but Jean and her two sons continued the family business.

Today it has 60 locations around Chicagoland; 9 in Arizona; 7 in Indiana; and 5 in Wisconsin (although not Madison).

The entrance off Michigan Ave. 2/24/26 dwm

After eating, I walked out of the main entrance that was connected by pedestrian mall with the .

The two levels of city-life was interesting with streets and sidewalks built at a height where they could see into second floor windows with other streets funneling traffic one-way or another at ground level. There was one stretch where a sidewalk was supported by piers from one elevated street to another.

Between the restaurant and hotel was a shopping mall called Gwen, that was anchored by a Nordstrom Department Store with dozens of smaller retail shops on each floor.

It was a good place to find a gift to take-home and when I came across a Jelly Cat store inside the entrance of Nordstrom's, I was pretty sure any gift I bought here would be unexpected. I learned that Jelly Cat is a Tik-Tok phenomenon.

There weren't a lot of stores along the Magnificent Mile that appealed to me, but the energy in and around the Magnificent Mile and Streeterville area was a fun experience.