The Deep Dish: Stuffing Your Face Chicago Style at Yummy Box

As online voting continues for the 2017 Pizza Cup, The Deep Dish will be previewing a few of the restaurants vying for the title of Beijing's most beloved pie. So take a look, grab a slice, and pick the team you want to be victorious.

The magical pizza-fueled weekend at Wangjing Soho was a jolly and filling one. With blue skies gracing attendees the whole of Sunday, "eat, drink, and be merry" definitely could have been the slogan of the Pizza Cup if it hadn't already been overused throughout the centuries. One of the more impressive queues on the premises on both days was for the stall of Wangjing local pizzeria, Yummy Box. While pizza-eaters could have easily taken but a short jaunt from the outlandish Wangjing Soho and sat down at the actual Yummy Box restaurant, the festive vibes kept their fans glued, showing their support by waiting patiently in the booth's long line. 

Yummy Box currently has three branches open: Wangjing, Wudaokou and Huilongguanzhen in Changping. Their menu is varied and could easily satisfy any craving, including the often discussed and divisive Durian Pizza (RMB 98-198). The toppings on classic New York-style pizzas vary from traditional Pepperoni (RMB 58-148) or Four Cheese (RMB 58-148) and ventures onto the less-traveled road of Kimchi & Tuna (RMB 68-158), Gorgonzola with Honey & Walnuts (RMB 68-158), and Captain From Ragusa (with tuna, shrimp and pesto) (RMB 68-158). There are four generous pages full of topping options for this type of crust. If you're hosting a party and don't dare do all the cooking for a hungry crowd, there is a – wait for it – whopping 28-inch Party Pizza (RMB 399) for which you can pick four flavors to dress your dough up with.

To accompanying their fresh pizzas, you can pick from a generous selection of sides, ranging from seven flavors of wings (RMB 52-189), stuffed potato skins (RMB 38), and six other different types of fried potatoes (even if those without a generous sprinkling of cheese on top will for sure not be the healthiest food you've ever put in your mouth). But we're sure that watching the gym advertising tent that's set up in front of Yummy Box's entrance, complete with motivational music and fit youngsters doing push-ups, will surely burn some of those calories up by association.

However, I dare say New York-style pizza or wings may not be the most common request of Yummy Box customers. Everybody knows about their seriously deep deep-dish Chicago-style pies. A serious man-sized pizza seems to last forever, and you will need to bring back-up mouths and stomachs to tackle the beast. 

Disclaimer: if it's your first time seeing Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, it might scare you a little and make even the biggest foodies question their eating abilities. The medium deep-dish pizza could easily fill three hungry eaters, or two full-grown men after running the Great Wall marathon. Stay calm: With the right company, it's all possible. Chicago deep-dish comes out as a rebellious teenager in the world of dough, with toppings covered by a layer of tomato sauce, rather than the other way around. The result is melted cheese, meats and vegetables soaking in each other's flavors under the layer of tomato sauce with a solid crust guarding the whole affair.

 The most popular, the Super Box, comes with Italian sausage, pepperoni, bacon and chicken stuffing (RMB 168-198), and is guaranteed to bring you meat sweats. If you are looking for some heat, opt for a Hot Chicago (RMB 168-198), with pepperoni, Italian sausage, crushed hot peppers, and jalapenos. Vegetarians are also taken care of with plenty of New York-style pizza options and two deep-dish ones: Cheese or Vegetable. No matter your tastes, there will be cheese. So, so much cheese. 

While the Yummy Box pizzas may seem pricier than at your usual place, it also holds significantly more toppings and feeds a crowd. And by "feeds a crowd" I mean that it was my only meal of the day and I still brought back enough leftovers to feed two housemates.

If Chicago deep-dish still seems out of your league or that sweat in gym class was way too precious, Yummy Box also serves salads and has plenty of avocado dishes, but that's for later. Now's the time for pizza- eating, favorite-picking, and voting until next month.

Haven't yet voted in our 2017 Pizza Cup? Simply scan the QR code below to have your say before the winner is announced on Oct 19:

More by the author here.

Photos: Tautvile Daugelaite