Which is better, Giordano's or Gino's East?

Poll to follow.

I have been missing Chicago style pizza for darn near twenty years, and barring a couple slices I had in '05 while traveling through, I have not had it in some time.  These are the two pizza shops that will ship me Chicago pies to New Orleans, so I hope some Chicago area Arfcommers will give me guidance.

Invalid poll - Lou Malnati's isn't an option.

http://www.loumalnatis.com/ship-lous


ETA:  Also Connies, although I would go with Lou's or Gino's first

http://conniespizza.com/ship-pizza-anywhere.html

Gino's!!

Gotta get the sausage patty

Man, I feel an absolute ass now......anyone else with suggestions about ordering will be welcome-----I only used the two I listed because they were the only ones I found who offered shipped pies.

Gino's? WTF?

FIFY

As a NJ transplant, I almost voted for NY pizza, because it is better, but that really wasn't what the OP asked.  I miss this.

Lou's Shipped

They ship too

Check out

pequods pizza

and Dimos pizza

Dont forget "Beggers", "Phils", "Palermos",  and LouMalnatis would be my first choice.

Beggar's is one step above frozen pizza.  They use canned mushrooms for one.

pequads!

Lou Malnatis

Giordano's. I've been disappointed the last couple of time at Ginos. Of course, my favorite is still Aurelio's.

Reading is fundamental!!!!   The OP is looking for pizza that can be shipped to him in New Orleans.

Ginos, Giordanos, Lou Malnatis, Connies.

If any of the others mentioned will do so, I'm sure the OP would appreciate a link.

Of those, Giordano's. I do not live near Gino's so they are not in my rotation. I typically would prefer Lou Malnatis however because of the crust. There are some local shops that I enjoy more such as Aurelio's, Tortoricies (probably my favorite), and Palermos. The best pizza I had in New York tasted like it was from some food court in a mall around here.

Aurelio's ships, but you have to call. Can't online order for frozen.http://aureliospizza.com/locations.php

second this can't stand Girodanos.

Lou's, 100%.

Connie's

Connies is consistently good, not great, but good.

Lou Malnati's.  Hands down.

Gino's East but they've closed all the ones near me.

Malnati's


/pizza.

Lou Malnatis?

Well, given the responses, I just ordered a couple from Lou Malnatis, and will be trying one Saturday.  I also checked out the Connie's site, and ordered a pair from there as well, which I will serve up at a get together at my house next Tuesday, so I will able to compare those two.

Lou Malnatti's FTW!!!

Quoting 'cause I can't see it.

Upon viewing, I agree.   Said get together (a Haven watching night with a couple fans who don't have cable/satellite,) has not happened yet, but I tried the Lou Malnatis sausage and It Was Awesome.  Haven't tried the Connie's yet, though I can say their customer service is great*, but when I next buy a shipped pie from Chicago, it will be a Lou Malnati's, unless Connie's is somehow better.


*Their pies showed up in two days, but they were packaged for local delivery in Chicago.  I will leave to your imagination what they were like two days later in New Orleans on my porch.  My hearty endorsement of their customer service stems from their, despite their "no refunds, no returns" policy, sending me out a second pair without charge, this time packaged with dry ice and sent overnight delivery.

Glad to see they took care of you.

For no other reason than that I feel like it, here's the New Orleanian review of Connie's and Lou Malnati's (did not try Giordano's, mainly because they don't have any pictures of their pies online, and did not try Gino's East, primarily because, despite the appetizing appearance, they end up being like fifty bucks a pie shipped---a little too pricey for me compared with about $30 each, shipped, from Connie's and Lou Malnati's.)


Crust:  

Hands down, Lou Malnati's. Tasty, crunchy on the edges, soaks up some sauce giving it a nice tomato-ey taste and texture on the parts in contact with sauce, just all around excellent, especially compared with the rather pedestrian and doughy consistency of Connie's.


Sauce:  

Both good, with a slight edge to Lou Malnati's for texture and the way it kind of seeped into the crust in the cooking process.  Neither caused heartburn, which is an issue I've begun to have with pizza and pasta sauces as I get older.


Cheese:

Again, both good, but, again, an edge to Lou Malnati's, larger than the sauce edge.  Lou's cheese is perfect in proportion, and melted evenly in the cooking, while Connie's cheese was in chunk form on the pizza, and melted and cooked somewhat unevenly.  Not bad, mind you, but I gotta take points off for the uneven melting cause by the chunks of cheese.


Sausage:  (I am not a pepperoni fan, and ordered sausage pizzas from both for my eating.)

Hands down, Connie's wins this one.  I don't know the details of their ingredient sourcing, but Connie's sausage was flat out better and more flavorful than Lou Malnati's.  Though I must admit, I am not entirely sure if I perceived this because of actual quality, or because the sausage in the Connie's pie was in large chunk form like their cheese, but there it is.


Customer service:

Both shipped promptly, so I have no negatives for Lou Malnati's, but I must give extra points to Connie's, given that they flat out state that they offer no refunds or returns, but they did volunteer to send me two replacement pies free of charge after their first two showed up on my front porch packaged as if for local delivery in Chicago, just with a larger shipping box.  (They were quite smelly when I encountered them.)



Overall winner:

Sorry Connie's, and I will in future buy a couple from them, just to make sure to reward good customer service, but barring said one order from Connie's, I am confident that every time I crave pizza for my once a week cheat meal, it will be a pizza from Lou Malnati's.  Like the one I am sliding in the oven in about five minutes or so, when the temp hits 425 in there.