Hungry after ‘The Bear’? These spots serve classic Chicago dishes in D.C.

For deep dish pizza, few other spots are as beloved as DC Chi Pie, whose owner Grant Thompson fell in love with the pie and subsequently taught himself how to make the fluffiest, richest version in the District amid the pandemic. Now, the banners above the carryout counter in its modest Capitol Heights storefront and on its website not so modestly declare it “the best deep dish pizza in the DMV,” and The Post’s Tim Carman is inclined to agree. As he wrote in his 2022 review: “This pie was a dense puck, perfectly round, its thick, imposing crust looking like castle walls that had to be scaled. The sauce was, according to deep-dish traditions, evenly distributed across the surface, and a row of overlapping pepperoni slices formed a cool stripe down the middle of the pie, each circle blackened on the part of the sausage exposed to the high heat of the oven. This thing had heft, too, like the weight of a good pan. You could feel its quality in your hands.”

Della Barba Pizza on Capitol Hill doesn’t just serve Chicago-style slices (though, of course, there is plenty of debate about whether Chicago’s signature slice is deep dish or tavern-style pizza); it also offers New York-style thin crust in addition to the slightly denser “Nonna” style and the even denser Detroit style. As per the requirements for deep dish pizza, Della Barba makes its crust with cornmeal, a major contributor to that signature fluffiness and flavor. Choose your style, then choose from its long list of toppings, ranging from classics like pepperoni and cremini mushrooms to more unusual options like charred kale and shaved fennel — and yes, it has pineapple, too.

Among the loudest and proudest Midwesterners in D.C. are Josh Saltzman and Chris Powers, co-owners of Shaw’s Ivy and Coney, recently named one of D.C.’s best dive bars. The multilevel space is top-to-bottom Windy City, but The Post’s team favors its Detroit-style Italian Beef-Za, which fuses two favorites into one perfectly hearty bar food — or a classic Italian beef sandwich if you’d rather have the original. If you’re perfectly fine without the beef, it also offers a giardiniera pizza; or you could go for a Chicago-style hot dog, among other Midwestern options. And, for bonus points, it offers happy hours and deals almost daily: Mondays are half-price pizzas, Tuesday has half-price Italian beef sandwiches, and every day has its signature “Chicago Handshake,” an $8 pint of Old Style or lager paired with a shot of anise-and-wormwood-flavored Chicagoan liquor Malort.