You know I couldn’t leave Chicago with out enjoying some deep dish pizza, right?
All weekend I had been dying to get my hands on some great deep dish pizza, but with a jammed packed schedule, I was struggling to find time to get it in. I was green with envy listening to all my fellow Healthy Living Summit attendees rave about the great local deep dish pizza they’d been experiencing since arriving in Chicago. I wanted pizza too!
My plan was to save room for pizza on Sunday, but the majority of people I had spoke with had already experienced the thrill of deep dish pizza (some people twice!). Bummer. 
Luckily, I was able to track down a small group of fellow deep dish virgins (minus Chandra) who were ready to take in the true Chicago deep dish experience with me. 
Evan, Suki, Chandra, Monica , Emily, and I walked the 1.8 miles to Gino’s East for what we were told would be a true Chicago Deep Dish Pizza experience.
We were told there would be a wait, but we had literally sat down for 10 seconds when they called out name and told us our table was ready. I think it helped that we arrived about 10 minutes after the doors opened at noon.
Gino’s East was a great grafetti-fied restaurant where every inch of the walls, chairs stairwell, etc is signed with signatures of past diners.
The deep dish pizzas take a full 45 minutes to make, so we started with a family style salad.
It was a standard pizzeria salad with basic iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and olives with a hour dressing on the side.
I had a plate with all the fixins, a little dressing, and some delicious homemade croutons.
The wait for the pizza wasn’t bad at all. I guess it helps when you have a table full of bloggers and lots and lots to talk about.
Forty-five minutes later we had deep dish!
For the 5 of us (Evan ordered a special gluten free crust pizza) we ordered a medium vegetarian and a small spinach which ended up being way too much food! Honestly, I think we could have ordered the one medium and been great!
First up: a whole slice of the vegetarian pizza which was filled with peppers, onion, and squash.
Wow! This pizza was good! I loved how saucy and cheesey it was. The crust was also to die for! Despite the overload of toppings, the crust was still crispy and flaky. I wonder how they do that?!?! 
Next, a half slice of the spinach.
Again, amazing crust and lots of sauce and cheese! My favorite bites were the ones that contained the huge forkfuls of spinach. I almost wish I had enough room in my stomach to enjoy the full piece!
We left stuffed, happy, and satisfied.
After all the pizza, the 1.8 mile walk back to the hotel was a welcomed activity.
Emily and I calculated and if you add up the 16 miles we ran this morning plus the nearly 4 mile walk to and from lunch, we were on our feet a total of 20 miles today. No wonder I’m so tired!
I was sad to have to say good bye to all the friends I had made this weekend. Leaving for the airport was very emotional as I gave hug after hug to all my new friends. Thank goodness we all have blogs to keep in touch with. Plus, there’s always HLS 2011!
On the plane I had a pear I had snagged from a snack break yesterday.
And once I made it home I had a lame frozen Indian dinner.
It was easy quick and pretty tasty.
My bed is calling my name.
GOOD NIGHT!!!
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