The Chicago Food Dictionary
Chicago has its own food vocabulary. Order a beef "dipped" or ask for a pizza "party cut" and locals will know you've done your homework. Here's the plain-English A–Z.
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A–C
Aquarium smoker: A glass-walled barbecue pit, common at South Side rib joints, where you can watch the meat cook. It's the source of Chicago's rib tips and hot links. See BBQ →
Beef: Short for Italian beef. "A beef, hot, dipped" is a complete order. See Italian beef →
Bialy: A chewy, flat roll with a dimple of onion in the middle instead of a hole. You'll find them at old-school Jewish delis alongside bagels. See bagels →
Birria: Goat or beef stewed in a rich chile broth, served in tacos with a cup of the broth (consomé) for dipping. See tacos →
Carnitas: Pork slowly cooked in its own fat until tender and crisp at the edges, often sold by the pound. It's a specialty of the Michoacán-style taquerias in Pilsen.
Char dog: A hot dog cooked over a charcoal or flame grill instead of steamed, giving it a snappy, smoky skin.
Cheezborger: How the staff at the Billy Goat Tavern say "cheeseburger," made famous by a Saturday Night Live sketch. "No fries, cheeps."
Chicago mix: Caramel corn and cheddar cheese corn shaken together in one bag. Some shops trademark their own name for it. See popcorn →
Combo: An Italian beef with a grilled Italian sausage tucked into the same roll.
Consomé: The rich broth served alongside birria tacos for dipping. Drink what's left.
D–H
Deep dish: Chicago's famous tall, pan-baked pizza, with cheese on the bottom and chunky tomato sauce on top. See deep dish →
Depression dog: A stripped-down Chicago hot dog, usually mustard, relish, onion and sport peppers, often with fries piled right on top. No tomato, no pickle.
Dipped: An Italian beef where the whole sandwich is dunked in the jus. Also called "wet" or "baptized." Messy and glorious.
Dragged through the garden: A hot dog with all the classic toppings: yellow mustard, green relish, onion, tomato, a pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt.
Dry: An Italian beef where the meat is lifted out of the jus and drained before it goes on the roll.
Giardiniera: Chicago's spicy pickled vegetable relish of peppers, cauliflower, carrots and celery, packed in oil. It goes on beef, subs, pizza and sometimes cream cheese. See giardiniera sandwiches →
Gravy: What many Chicagoans call the jus on an Italian beef.
Hot: When ordering a beef, "hot" means hot giardiniera. Not a temperature.
Hot links: Spicy smoked sausages, the partner to rib tips at South Side barbecue spots.
I–M
Italian beef: Thin-sliced roast beef simmered in seasoned jus, served on a French roll. Chicago's signature sandwich. How to order one →
Italian ice: A smooth, scoopable frozen treat, often lemon, sold at many beef stands. The classic dessert after a beef.
Italian stance: The lean-forward, elbows-out posture for eating a dipped beef standing at the counter, so the jus drips on the floor and not on you.
Jibarito: A sandwich made with two slabs of flattened, fried green plantain instead of bread, usually with steak, cheese, lettuce, tomato and garlic mayo. It was invented in Chicago in 1996. See jibaritos →
Juicy: An Italian beef with extra jus spooned over the top, somewhere between dry and dipped.
Lemon pepper: The seasoning shaken over fried chicken at Chicago chicken shacks, usually along with mild sauce.
Malört: A famously bitter wormwood liqueur made in Chicago. Ordering a shot is a local rite of passage, and so is the face you make afterward. See cocktails →
Maxwell Street Polish: A grilled Polish sausage piled with grilled onions, yellow mustard and sport peppers, named for the old Maxwell Street market. See Polish →
Mild sauce: A tangy-sweet red sauce, somewhere between barbecue sauce and ketchup, used on fried chicken, wings and rib tips on the South and West Sides. Despite the name, it's more tangy than mild. See fried chicken →
Mother-in-Law: A corn-roll tamale served in a hot dog bun and topped with chili. It's a South Side original.
N–S
Neon relish: The bright, almost glowing green sweet relish on a Chicago hot dog.
Pączki: Rich, filled Polish donuts (say "POONCH-kee"). Chicago buys them by the box every Fat Tuesday. See donuts →
Palmer House: An ice cream flavor, vanilla with cherries and walnuts, named for the downtown hotel. It's one of the layers in the Rainbow Cone.
Pan pizza: A cousin of deep dish with a caramelized, almost burnt cheese crust around the edge.
Party cut: Cutting a pizza into squares instead of wedges. It's standard for tavern-style pizza. The corners are the prize.
Rainbow Cone: A South Side ice cream cone with five flavors stacked in slabs instead of scoops: chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House, pistachio and orange sherbet. See ice cream →
Rib tips: The meaty, cartilage-rich trimmings from spareribs, smoked and served over fries with sauce. A South Side barbecue staple.
Sport peppers: Small, pickled, fairly hot green peppers. They're a required topping on a Chicago dog and a Maxwell Street Polish.
Stuffed pizza: A deep dish variation with a second, thin layer of dough on top of the cheese, under the sauce.
Sweet: When ordering a beef, "sweet" means roasted sweet green peppers.
T–Z
Tavern-style: Chicago's everyday thin-crust pizza: cracker-crisp, topped to the edge and party cut. It's what locals actually order most. Deep dish vs. tavern-style →
Tip and link: A combo order of rib tips and hot links.
Wet: Another word for a juicy or dipped Italian beef.
New in town? Put your new vocabulary to use with 20 Foods to Eat in Your First Year, or browse our neighborhood food guides.
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