Take a Pizza Field Trip with Chicago Pizza Tours

If you are a fan of pizza and want to learn more about pizza history in this great city - or you want to try out a few varieties (Chicago pizza entails way more than just deep dish), the Chicago Pizza Tours are a fabulous way to get an over view of this favorite food and sample until you're in a carb coma.

The tour company offers three different tours. One is a walking tour downtown, another is a Bucktown Pizza Crawl and the third is the Original Pizza Tour, which takes you by bus to four different pizzerias. With the unpredictable weather in early April, we decided to go with a bus tour and enjoyed our Sunday afternoon where we were shuffled around on a yellow school bus for our pizza field trip.

I knew where our meeting point was, but beyond that I wasn't sure where we'd end up - and I kind of liked that little mystery of not knowing where we'd be headed. They work with 26 different partners (and you can see a list on the website), so the tour doesn't go to the same every single time. And that's a good thing - if you ever want to do another tour, you can reach out to them in advance and let them know what tour you were on and they can work to get you on a tour where you can try some new places.

Our first stop was at Pizano's Pizzeria in Jeweler's Row in the Loop, just a block from Millennium Park. It's a perfect meet-up spot close to Millennium Station and the El as well as several hotels. On our tour, we had more out-of-towners than Chicago area folks - including visitors from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Kentucky.

This is a spot that has been on my foodie bucket list for quite some time, so I was glad to finally try out this legendary pizza that friends have raved about for years. As a big fan of Lou Malnati's, I was pleased to learn that there's a family connection and that this restaurant is also part of the Malnati family's legacy. Not sure how close the recipes, but I could definitely taste some similarity.

You will definitely not go home from this tour hungry. At this first stop, we had an opportunity to try slices of three different pizzas - two thin crust varieties and a deep dish. I loved all three and absolutely could have kept eating, but I tried to pace myself to leave room for the next stops.

We had a wonderful tour guide, James, who kept things running smoothly and filled our heads with lots of pizza trivia - and Chicago history, as well. He thoroughly covered the early pizza players in the city's food scene and as we moved through neighborhoods en route to our stops, he pointed out landmarks and shared fascinating stories of Windy City history. 

I'm of the opinion that the crunchy corners are the best part of a tavern-style pizza, no matter how small they are - and I was delighted to snag a few corners throughout the day.

Stop number two was Flo and Santo's in the South Loop. I've heard great things about this place over the years and so I was happy to finally check this one off my list, too. This place is known for their classic tavern-style pizza and it had a superb crispy crust. We tried out three different varieties of their thin crust. I also loved that here we sampled two of their signature pizzas.

Flo was a Polish lady who married Santo, a Italian guy, and so one pizza is a marriage of the two cultures, topped with pierogi and sauerkraut.

You can also enjoy some Polish beer along with your pizza. Definitely order a Zwyiec to wash down your slices.

And on the way into the restroom, say "Hi" to Flo. The place is owned by the couple's grandchildren and Flo's photo hangs on the women's bathroom. Santo's picture is on the men's room door.

The third spot was Coalfire's location in West Town where you can get a glimpse of your pizza being cooked in under two minutes at 1,500 degrees in their coal-forged oven. Here we tried two more varieties. That whipped ricotta dolloped on top was amazing. I had never heard of been to this place and it was a nice place to mix in among what is traditionally referred to as Chicago-style pizza. 

Since it was slow at the time we stopped in, James took us back for a close up look at the oven.

Our final destination was Bartoli's Pizzeria, also in West Town. This is another spot I hadn't been to. Its deep dish has won numerous awards and was excited to try. I could easily see why it is so highly-rated with its sweet sauce and cornmeal crust. 

Three-and-a-half hours later we were returned to the doorstep of Pizano's moving a little slower and with our pants a little tighter. It was such a fun way to spend a Sunday in the city. It totally makes sense why there were so many tourists on our tour - it's a nice introduction to the city and its neighborhoods and a little insight into the kind of pizza Chicagoans really eat. And for those who are local, it's totally worth it. You'll likely still been introduced to some pizza you haven't had before and you're guaranteed to learn something new about the city or the history of pizza in this great city. 

For tickets, visit chicagopizzatours.com.