Gino’s East opened in 1966, and quickly made its way into the top five Chicago pizza places (of course that is a very subjective list). They became well known for their deep dish pizza and cornmeal crust, and for the sheer size of their pizzas. At the 162 E. Superior Street location (the flagship restaurant), the decor (and I use the term loosely) was also well-known: besides the classic red and white checkered table clothes, any part of the dark paneled booths or walls were fair game for carving or writing your name, date of visit, or just about any (non-profane) thing that you could think.
Quite some time ago, however, the flagship restaurant closed, replaced by a super-sized Buona beef location. Other Gino’s East locations remained open, and pizzas were still available in local supermarket freezer sections. But then in early 2005 (or so, the exact date escapes me now), Gino’s East re-opened at the Superior street location. This location has an expanded bar area in the front, featuring seats at the bar, a few booths, and some high bar tables with bar stools thrown in. There is a carryout area as well. Dining areas are present on the first floor, behind the bar area. This dining room has a set of celebrity caricatures on the wall, and a Chicago mural on the other. The second floor, reached via a sweeping staircase, has banquet rooms in addition to additional dining areas.
In homage to the orginal Gino’s East, they even replicated the graffiti on the walls.
On to the pizza, then. As mentioned Gino’s East is known for its huge, heavy deep dish pizzas. We had the Supreme, which is sausage or pepperoni (our pick), onions, green peppers, and mushrooms ($24 for a medium which guaranteed leftovers). We received the requisite warning that it would take around 45 minutes for our pizza to arrive. We opted for an order of mozzarella sticks ($7.95), in addition to a pitcher of "312." "312" is a wheat ale, brewed by Goose Island Brewing Company, a Chicago-based brewery and restaurant (but that is perhaps another review for another time).
The mozzarella sticks were nothing special, a serviceable enough offering with plenty of marinara sauce for dipping.
The pizza, however, was far better than we remembered it. Besides the generous spread of pepperoni, their tomato sauce featured plenty of tomato chunks. The cornmeal crust was nice and firm, and it has to be to support the massive slices of pizza. They are pretty generous with the butter or oil used to season the pans, too; the crust did seem to have a buttery taste which actually was quite good.
Service was efficient and friendly, and geared toward making out-of-towners feel welcome.
Suburban locations have virtually the same menu, although the Nathan’s Jumbo hot dogs are only available downtown; prices are a couple bucks cheaper out of the city as well.