Tavern Style vs Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago for Visitors

My wife's folks are coming in from Cincinnati for a long weekend next month and her dad, a self-proclaimed pizza expert, will not shut up about having 'real Chicago pizza'. We live near the park, just off North and California. The problem is, my wife is convinced we have to take them for deep dish. I am a tavern style guy. Thin crust, square cut, that is Chicago to me. I have this nightmare of waiting 2 hours for a table somewhere in River North on a Friday night, just to eat one slice and feel like I swallowed a brick. I feel like tavern style is the real local move. Do I give the tourists the casserole they saw on a TV show, or do I introduce them to the pizza most of us actually eat? What's the play here?

You have to manage their expectations. He's coming from Ohio with a picture in his head from some travel channel special, and that picture is a deep dish pizza. If you serve him tavern style right off the bat, he might just think 'Oh, it is just thin crust pizza they cut funny'. It's a risk. My advice is to find a good neighborhood deep dish spot, not one of the huge tourist traps downtown. A lot of them let you call ahead and pre-order the pie while you are on your way, so it comes out 10-15 minutes after you sit down instead of making you wait 45 minutes.

I have to disagree, go with the tavern style. Deep dish is an event, but it is not a session food. You have one slice, maybe two, and you are done for the night. You cannot have a conversation over a deep dish, you are just recovering. Tavern style is what you eat with friends while having a few beers. We took my brother from Arizona for it and he loved it so much he calls it 'party cut' now. It is more uniquely Chicago than people give it credit for. You are right, it is what most of us are actually eating.

Why does it have to be one or the other? Make it a pizza weekend. They are flying in on a Friday, right? They will be tired from traveling. That is the perfect time to get a tavern style pizza delivered from a great spot in your area. It is casual and they can relax. Then on Saturday or Sunday, you make an event out of the deep dish. Take the Blue Line downtown for a late lunch. You get to give him the tourist experience he is expecting without the Friday night rush, and you also get to show him the real deal.

You all are talking about North Side pizza like it is the only option. If his father in law is a real pizza snob, you put them in the car and you drive south of Midway. The crust on a proper South Side tavern pie is like a cracker, zero flop. Nothing like the doughy stuff you get up by Lincoln Park. We took my wife's uncle from New Jersey to one of our spots in Oak Lawn and he, a man who worships New York slices, said it was the best he's ever had. That is the real 'real Chicago pizza'.

Some great points here, especially from AvondaleAndre. The two-pizza weekend is the perfect solution. We are going to get a classic tavern style with sausage and giardiniera delivered from a place over here in Humboldt on Friday night. Super low key. Then Saturday, after they have seen the Bean and all that, we will do a late lunch at a deep dish place downtown. That way he gets the knife-and-fork experience he is expecting, and I get to show him what we actually eat on a Tuesday. The tip about calling ahead to order the pie is genius, definitely doing that. Thanks everyone.