Nancy's Pizza - Atlanta (Buckhead), Georgia

My dining companion is a fan of Chicago deep dish pizza. I like it too but I prefer Sicilian style pizza. Neither style is easy to find. Many places will say that they make one style of pizza or the other but most of the time the claims are unfounded. So it was with a healthy dose of skepticism that we headed to Nancy's Pizza recently. There are two locations in Atlanta, the only outposts of this chain located outside of Illinois. That in itself seemed promising.

Nancy's keeps track of the time locally and in its home base of Chicago

Nancy's is located in a strip mall in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. The space is pleasant enough. Several tables fill a space that is dominated on one side by a large projection TV screen and a bar on the other.

Orders are placed at the counter and brought to your table by a server, typical fast casual dining. We each ordered a personal sized pizza, about 6",  grabbed our table marker and headed off to wait for our pizza. And wait we did, which to me, in this case, means that the pizza was being baked to order and not just warmed up in an oven. I took this as a good sign.


The pizza was well worth the wait. The crust was crisp and flavorful, stuffed full of delicious ingredients and authentic to the Chicago style.

Having been disappointed by what was passed off as Chicago deep dish pizza in the past, it was a treat to be served the real deal. If Chicago style deep dish pizza is your thing and you find yourself in the Atlanta area, pay a visit to Nancy's Pizza. It's good pizza and represents this Chicago mainstay in fine fashion.

Happy travels!

Chicago, IL - Not just for layovers anymore

Chicago for me has always meant a stopover, a place I ended up on my way to somewhere else. Well, no more. We finally planned a trip with Chicago as the destination and I'm really glad that we did.

 We were only in town for a weekend and our goals were modest; eat some deep dish pizza, see the submarine at the Museum of Science and Industry and have lunch at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill. Mission accomplished. However, I realized while we toured the city by bus that we definitely need to return, and soon.

We missed the culinary experience that is Goat and The Girl and Publican and I didn't make it to the Skydeck of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). But we plan to remedy those oversights on our next trip along with eating a Chicago style beef sandwich and their much lauded hotdogs.

Thanks once again to a Hop On/Hop Off type bus tour we were able to see a great deal of the city for a really reasonable price and at a nice pace. (For my money the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour is a great way to get a feel for a city. It's especially nice to be able to get off at one stop, see the sights, then get back on for the rest of the tour or just to the next stop. Definitely worth the price of admission.)

We stayed in the Old Chicago Water Tower District along the Magnificent Mile at the Hotel Sofitel. We were within walking distance of Frontera Grill and right near one of the tour bus stops. I'd stay in that area again when we return.

Besides lunch at the Frontera Grill (I had a wonderfully seasoned grilled ribeye there, fabulous) we also ate at the Weber Grill Restaurant. What first caught our eye was the huge Weber grill attached to the side of the building.  Good steaks, burgers and one of the best grilled meatloafs I have ever tasted. Worth checking out if you enjoy good grilled foods.

We had the requisite deep dish pizza, not from one of the famous, iconic pizza places, but from a small joint near the hotel. The pizza was good and the beer was cold so a winner in my opinion.

The Chicago Museum of Science and industry was a fun way to spend a morning. While we were there to see the submarine, a German WW II U-boat, we spent time enjoying many of the exhibits. I also got the first of what would soon become a Mold-o-Rama collection (or obsession, the jury is still out).

Now that we've gotten out of the airport and actually spent some time in this former layover city I don't know what took us so long. It won't be long until we return.

 

Are there any cities that you've only experienced as a waypoint that you now want to visit? If so what are they? Please share your thoughts and comment below.