Marketing

Lou Malnati's will start serving pizza with Portillo's Italian beef

Two Chicago restaurant icons offer limited-time mashup for shipping nationwide.
The mashup is flash frozen and available for shipping nationwide. /Photo courtesy of Lou Malnati's.

Ever wondered what would happen if Portillo’s and Lou Malnati’s had a baby together?

Now you can find out, at least for a limited time.

Starting Monday, the food shipping company Taste of Chicago is offering a Lou Malnati’s deep-dish, buttery-crust pizza topped with Portillo’s Italian Beef.

Available flash frozen for shipping nationwide, the nine-inch Lou Malnati’s x Portillo’s Italian Beef Deep Dish Pizza can also be topped with Portillo’s sweet peppers or giardiniera (also available through Taste of Chicago) for an extra taste of the Windy City.

Marc Malnati, owner of the 75-unit Lou Malnati’s chain, said in a statement the first-time mashup takes two Chicago signatures to the next level.

“For more than 50 years, Lou Malnati’s has been serving up the very best deep-dish pizzas Chicago has to offer, handmade from scratch using the finest and freshest ingredients,” he said in a statement. “The only way we knew to top ourselves was to top our pizzas with the famous flavors of Portillo’s.”

Michael Osanloo, Portillo’s president and CEO, said the collaboration resulted in “pure Chicago deliciousness.

“When we tasted the Italian Beef Deep Dish for the first time, we knew we had created something special,” he said in a statement.

The Hulu/FX series “The Bear” this year has created more national demand for Italian beef. The series was about a fine-dining chef who rescued his family’s iconic Italian beef restaurant after the suicide death of his brother.

Both Lou Malnati’s pizza and Portillo’s Italian Beef sandwiches are also available separately for national shipping at TastesofChicago.com, which is operated by Lou Malnati’s, along with several other options from the pizzeria’s menu.

 

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