Illinois’ ‘Signature Food’ Announced as one of America’s Best

These national food lists always kill me and here's why.

If you're a food blogger and made your way into Illinois for one day, there's a very good chance you're going to try to eat one of two things:

A. Pizza

B. Hot Dogs

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So when that national food blogger decides to put together a big list of all the best foods in America and shares what food they love from Illinois, they write about one of two things:

A. Pizza

B. Hot Dogs

That's why it shouldn't surprise you that Far and Wide's list of Best Signature Food in Every U.S. State includes, you guessed it, either pizza or hot dogs.

Far and Wide:

The first deep-dish pizza was served in 1943 inside the kitchen of what is now Pizzeria Uno. And the rest, as they say, was history.

Today, there are few things that Chicagoans are as passionate about as their pie with its thick chewy crust smothered in cheese and then chunky tomatoes (yes, the sauce goes on top of the cheese to prevent the cheese from burning!).

I never understood the national infatuation with deep dish pizza. Don't get me wrong, it's really tasty, and for my money, I'm either grabbing a pie from Lou Malnati's like Far & Wide mentioned or getting it from Giordano's.

For me though, it's all about tavern-style pizza. If you're reading this and you live out of state, do yourself a favor and avoid doing the touristy thing the next time you visit Illinois, order a thin square-cut tavern-style pizza.

You can thank me later.