By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host Published Apr 05, 2024 at 9:16 AM

Chicago meets New York in Lou Malnati’s newest pizza release: Lou’s x Mike’s Hot Honey Pizza.

The new collaborative creation will be available beginning on April 5, a fortuitous Friday that also happens to be National Deep Dish Pizza Day.

The pizza, available in both deep dish and thin crust variations, begins with Lou Malnati’s signature crust topped with mozzarella, sausage, giardiniera and cupped pepperoni. It finishes with the pièce de résistance: a drizzle of sweet, spicy Mike’s Hot Honey. 

“After an exhaustive search over many years, we finally found something from New York that is worthy of adding to our Chicago deep dish pizza,” notes Marc Malnati, owner of Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.

“A little drizzle of Mike Kurtz’s Hot Honey creates a spectacular marriage of sweet and savory that every pizza lover will want to experience.”

Saucier news 

In addition to a drizzle of sweet heat on their pizza, Lou Malnati’s will also introduce Mike’s Hot Honey as a sauce option for their traditional and boneless chicken wings. True fans can also add more sweet heat to either their pizza or wings by purchasing an additional 1-ounce dipping cup of the spicy honey.

Hot Honey WingsX

"We are thrilled to be partnering with the oldest family name in Chicago pizza to create our first deep dish pizza collaboration," said Mike Kurtz, founder of Mike's Hot Honey. 

"As a New Yorker, I was wary about deep dish pizza, but after trying Lou Malnati's, I'm sold and I can't wait for their guests to taste this delicious Chicago meets New York creation and have the opportunity to enjoy our hot honey on thin crust pizza and wings, too."

More sweet & spicy news

The new partnership will kick off with a week-long celebration taking place April 5 through April 11. During launch week, dine-in and carry-out customers will be eligible to participate in activities and score special swag.

Even better, over 7,000 lucky guests will get a free small Lou’s x Mike’s Hot Honey Deep Dish Pizza. Hungry fans can also enter to win “Free Pizza for a Year.” Seven winners will be chosen (based on the seven ingredients on the new pizza). 

For more information visit loumalnatis.com.

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host

Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. 

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.