Sources like Food Network and Zagat continue to rank it above the rest for a reason.

Actually, it's four reasons.

Buttermilk crust that holds the pizza together.

Mozzarella cheese, always in slices, never shredded their exclusive blend of sausage loaded across every inch of the pie and the lengths they go to get perfectly right.

California tomatoes e think the way that they construct their pizza makes every ingredient shine every bite.

It's so hardy it is like nothing you've ever experienced.

It z so good they're known for their crust, and it's the perfect amount of like a little bit crispy, a little bit crunchy, but still like Buttery and Joey.

Right now, most restaurants and bars are relying solely on delivery and take out including Malnati's.

So I chatted with their owner, Marc Malnati, about how the restaurant is still delivering their famous pies.

Even during this really challenging time.

Did you do that yourself?

How did you do that?

You did.

I teach it you want.

All right now I'm in one of our restaurants, so now, Obviously, we're talking to you via Zoom rather than being at the restaurant with you.

Can you tell us a little bit about what your restaurant is dealing with right now and how you guys are kind of handling the changes from the coronavirus shutdown eso in this new environment, um, we're doing the best we can to deliver pizza at the curbside Thio to send it in cars.

People want their comfort food at a time like this that comfort food starts with their signature butter crust.

So the way that you curve it up, can you explain again why you do that in orderto hold it?

You said so well past the crust along the bottom of the pan, and then we'll pull it up the sides, and just so that the cheese or the tomato sauce doesn't leak out over the top, because if it does, it'll start burning underneath the crust.

And so we went the crust to be high enough to just be a solid container for all the ingredients that we put it on top of the pizza.

Then come layers of mozzarella cheese made from the same Wisconsin Eri for the last 50 years like you can really tell that that is some nice local Wisconsin cheese.

And it's not just something random picked up from the grocery store.

Is there a way of adding it to the pizza?

Is there a certain reason you do it that way with the slices layered kind of around like that?

The reason we use slices is because we use so much sausage on the pizza, and it's easier to layer the sausage on top of ah ah flatbed of cheese than it would be if it was great, it it just wouldn't stay in place.

We wanna have an abundance of sausage, so that's the main reason it's that sausage that makes the Chicago classic pie at Lou Malnati's so popular There's sausage.

There's something about it.

It just like it tastes so good.

And I think what I love about it is that there is a sausage in every single bite you get.

They use a lot of sausage, and they really take advantage of the surface area of pizza, and they just loaded up.

The seasoning is a blend of garlic, salt and pepper loaded bit by bit until you can't see anymore.

Mozzarella cheese.

It's a reason for that technique.

I want the cheese to bubble through the sausage.

It can't be a flat layer, so there's a prodigious amount of sausage, but the cheese is coming through all over the place again.

I want to taste every ingredient in everybody.

And to top it off a sweet and tangy sauce made with California tomatoes, we use the whole peal pear, tomato, and when they can, that tomato, they wait until the tomato hits its zenith.

When it's the reddest, the plum pissed, you know, the most sugar just kind of jumping out of that skin, and we'll wait till then.

We sent a group of guys out there, and they watch the tomatoes until they're exactly the right profile for us.

Pies cook for about 30 minutes each at 550 degrees.

But ever since the shutdown, manatees has taken many of its pies straight from the oven to customers doors.

You can pick it up or get it delivered if you live in Chicago or they have their frozen pies that they shipped nationwide Blast.

Freeze Those pizzas.

Eso.

They're frozen in seconds when we ship them out and we ship them out within a week of when we make them, they get to you across the country in great shape.

My mom just sent me to frozen Lou Malnati's pizzas.

It was like the best day of quarantine.

When that arrived in the mail eso she sent a cheese on fun and a sausage one.

And honestly, that was my first time having it frozen and not fresh.

Andi, it was amazing.

It tasted just like having it in the restaurant or just like having it for delivery.

Because Malnati's is now relying on orders like these rather than dining service, Mark was forced to lay off much of his wait staff.

Most of our service staff are bartenders are waitresses are waiters a bus?

Boys aren't working.

Some have picked up hours, his drivers.

But we've had a layoff.

A few 100 people help offset this mark upped employee discounts to 75% and started a staff fund for workers in need.

Our team can write into us and say, Hey, we're struggling to make ends meet right now.

I'm home because my mom has cove it.

Could you help us right now and we're sending checks out to our team, and hopefully we'll be able to keep that up and hopefully this end quickly.

And as for the rest of the locations where they, for the most part following to stay open.

Is that the plan?

Yeah, well, stay open for sure.

Uh, I mean as long as we can.

But it is not the easiest thing in the world to operate a kitchen that is really busy on a Friday night and maintain social distancing.

So my crew is getting better and better, and we've been helping Thio to this point.

I hope it stays that way, but it's a it's a scary time.

It's a crazy time.

Blue melodies really has a piece of my heart, so my hope for them is that they are able to weather this crisis and and make it through.