6203 W Sand Lake Rd.
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 377-0022
The origins of the Chicago-style deep-dish pizza go back to 1943, and most believe that the original Pizzeria Uno in Chicago and its owner Ike Sewell had a hand in inventing the monstrous creation. However, a 1956 article from the Chicago Daily News says that Uno’s original pizza chef Rudy Malnati developed the original recipe. By the mid 1970s, Pizzeria Uno was so successful, that it provided the inspiration for two now famous Chicago chains, Nancy’s Pizza,founded by Rocco Palese, and Giordano’s Pizzeria, operated by brothers Efren and Joseph Boglio, to open their own restaurants.
In an effort to keep with traditions but stand out as something different than what Uno was offering, they began experimenting with deep dish pizza and created the “Stuffed Pizza”. Palese based his creation on his mother’s recipe for scarciedda, an Italian Easter pie from his hometown of Potenza. Giordanos creation began in a small northern Italian town near Torino where mama Giordano was famous for her most beloved meal known as “Italian Easter Pie”.
As you can see, both establishments have a similar background and story, and both were often making headlines and news stories for the huge pies they served, but this led to a never ending debate. To this day, you can easily start an argument with just about anybody from Chicago by asking…”Who was first..Nancy’s or Giordano’s” If you want to see more info about the great pie debate, Go Here and take a look at another review I did for Chicago’s Stuffed Pizza , a newcomer to Orlando and to the whole Pizza vs. Pie debate.
Giordano’s has three Central Florida locations mostly all close to the attractions and resort areas. For my visit I went to the one on Sand Lake Road. The other two locations are on W. Irlo Bronson highway in Kissimmee and S. Apopka Vineland road in Orlando.
In addition to all of the famous deep dish pizza pies, Giordano’s serves up a nice selection of appetizers and salads. Some of the featured items include: Tomato Bruschetta, Chicken Wings, Garlic Parmesan Fries and Fired Calamari.
If you are not in the mood for Pizza, They also serve up some pretty good sandwich choices. The sandwich menu includes the Chicken Parmesan, Italian Market Deli, Mamma’s Meatball Sub and the popular Italian Beef Sandwich. For a different take on the classic Italian Beef sandwich, you can order the Northside Italian Beef and have all of the ingredients cooked inside Giordano’s legendary pizza dough.
Tastes Of OrlandoWe started with an order of the Ripe Tomato Bruschetta with diced tomatoes, olive oil, fresh mozzarella and basil on crispy garlic toast with a balsamic glaze. This was one of the better Tomato Bruschetta’s I’ve had.
Tastes Of Orlando
For our pie selection we chose The Special with sausage, mushrooms, green peppers and onions.
Tastes Of Orlando
Compared to other Pizza Pies I have had, I enjoyed Giordano’s a little bit more simply because it was more edible. What I mean by that is that the pie was not too thick and heavy, but just the right size.
Of course there are a few dessert selections available at Giordano’s as well like Tiramisu, Mini Cannoli, Chocolate Layer Cake and even a S’mores Pie. It all sounded very tempting, but after consuming so much bread and cheese, there was no room left. Perhaps next time.
I really enjoyed Giordano’s and plan on going there again sometime soon. I was impressed on my recent visit with all of the nice people from Chicago eating there. They all told me that Giordano’s is legit….and that’s a good thing. Great pies, great foods, and great for family get togethers.