TravelShark's Quest for Chicago's Sharky Under-Crust Continues with Some Deep-Dish

Everyone wants to share their smiles in Chicago!

By Becca Schwartz | Thursday June 14, 2012

By the third day of TravelShark’s sharky Chicago adventure, Mako Mark’s investigation was in full swing. Katie O’Block, Mako, and I had arrived in Chicago to film a series of in-depth TravelShark videos about the city at the beginning of the week, and at the request of Mako Mark, to find out why Chicago is called "The Windy City.”

What we had discovered, though, was that Chicago has a ton of nicknames.

On the hunt for some comedic relief 

In the morning, the three of us set out for the Magnificent Mile, one of the busiest, but most beautiful sections of Michigan Avenue. Mako Mark insisted that we make a stop at the landmark Chicago Theater in an attempt to hunt down comedian Conan O’Brien. This week, as it turns out, had been dubbed “Just for Laughs” week, and we’d been running into “Team Conan” all over the city. Alas, Conan was nowhere to be found, so we went back to our quest for answers about “The Windy City” instead.

Mako Mark sniffs out the truth behind "The Windy City"

Mako Mark at the Chicago Theater

The more people we stopped to ask about Chicago nicknames, though, the more nicknames we realized the city had! “The Windy City” may be the most well known, but names like “The Second City” and “The Hog Butcher of the World” seemed to be pretty classic aliases, too. Other names that came up were “The Smelly Onion,” “Chicagoland,” “The City of Big Shoulders,” and “Chitown.”

After a few hours of grilling people on the streets—Chicagoans and visitors to the city alike—we were all starving. We decided that the best way to sate our hunger would be to try Chicago’s most famous dish: the deep-dish Chicago-style pizza.

Digging in to Chicago-style pizza

We’d done a bit of research into the matter, and at the suggestion of a few locals (as well as food-aficionados like Anothony Bourdain), we’d picked a place that, while a bit hard to get to, seemed to attract eaters from far and wide: Burt’s Place Pizza in Morton Grove, Illinois.

Delicious Chicago-style pizza at Burt's Place

We were all a bit unsure about what deep-dish pizza actually was (Katie, for one, imagined it as something of a casserole), but after Burt gave us the general run-down, he assured us that his pizzas were unlike any others. Mako was a bit skeptical, but after interviewing Burt, we were served a piping-hot pan pizza that looked good enough to make even a shark’s mouth water. Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

Our time in Chicago was coming to an end, but Mako was still unsatisfied. We’d been searching high and low for answers, but everyone appeared to be sugar coating over the truth.

It was time to find some Chicagoans who would tell it like it really is.

Becca Schwartz is a chocoholic from New York City who started at TravelShark as a Content Associate last fall. She loves telling stories about how much she loves the Rocky Mountains just as much as she loves telling stories about how much she loves Central Park, but nothing compares to her love for travel.

Posted under: Team TravelShark • Sharky • Travel Plans and Travel Itineraries