A gluten-free substitute for deep dish pizza

Of all the "regular" foods I miss on my gluten-free diet, at the top of the list by far is Chicago-style deep dish pizza. There are very few restaurants even attempting to make gluten-free deep dish pizza.

However, I did discover an interesting substitute on a visit to Giordano's in Orlando.

Giordano's, which specializes in stuffed deep dish pizza, has been one of my favorite spots in Chicago, and I was thrilled when it opened its only restaurants outside of the Midwest in Orlando. It currently has three restaurants in the Orlando area. Before my celiac diagnosis, I would go out of my way to stop there several times a year.

Of course, I can't eat the stuffed pizza I used to love but Giordano's does have a gluten-free pizza on the menu. Okay, they actually just call it a "made without gluten" pizza with disclaimers about possible cross contamination, but it works for me. It's a thin pizza, like all the other gluten-free pizzas out there, but it's different and I really like it.

Basically, it has a very thin crust but the cheese is just piled on top of it. It was so cheesy that I had to eat it with a knife and fork, which almost never happens with gluten-free pizza. But to me, it sort of had the same flavor as Giordano's stuffed pizza.

It's not quite the same experience as eating deep dish pizza but it still makes for a very enjoyable pizza experience. If you're like me and have a yen for deep dish pizza, you may want to check this out on your next visit to Orlando.