PIZZA
CITY, USA?
Deep dish was born at 29 East Ohio Street in late 1943, but whether the credit belongs to Ike Sewell, Ric Riccardo, Rudy Malnati Sr., or cook Alice Mae Redmond is one of pizza's great friendly arguments.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Deep dish was born at 29 East Ohio Street in late 1943, but whether the credit belongs to Ike Sewell, Ric Riccardo, Rudy Malnati Sr., or cook Alice Mae Redmond is one of pizza's great friendly arguments.
THE STORY IN BRIEF
Chicago has a famous pizza. Chicagoans have a favorite pizza. For eighty years, they've shared one city and almost no common ground.
Deep dish or thin crust? We trace both: the 1943 deep dish at The Pizzeria downtown, the free tavern pizza that fed Chicago's neighborhood bars, the Home Run Inn and Vito's Tavern stories, and the four people credited with inventing deep dish (spoiler: nobody agrees, and we don't pick a winner).
WHAT'S PROVEN, WHAT'S LEGEND
DOCUMENTED
Deep dish was first served at The Pizzeria (later Pizzeria Uno), which opened in 1943 at 29 East Ohio Street in an 1892 former single-family home. The original location still operates there today.
DOCUMENTED
Who invented deep dish is disputed, and there's no definitive record. Uno's official story credits co-founder Ike Sewell. Pizza historian Peter Regas argues co-founder Ric Riccardo likely developed the original recipe. A 1956 Chicago Daily News article credited manager Rudy Malnati Sr. Alice Mae Redmond, a cook from Mississippi, is widely credited with reworking the dough.
DOCUMENTED
The story that the founders first planned a Mexican restaurant is widely told but thinly documented.
DOCUMENTED
Lou Malnati's opened in 1971. Gino's East opened in 1966, founded by two cab drivers, Sam Levine and Fred Bartoli, with George Loverde. Stuffed pizza emerged in the 1970s, and both Nancy's and Giordano's claim to have created it.
DOCUMENTED
Tavern-style thin crust: the free-pizza-to-keep-customers-drinking origin is the widely told story, supported by family accounts but hard to pin to a single first. The earliest documented dates for specific shops are 1946 and 1947, after Uno's 1943 opening. Home Run Inn's baseball-through-the-window name story is family lore.
DOCUMENTED
"Locals' favorite" is a consensus view among Chicago food writers and historians, not a measured statistic.
CHAPTERS
0:00Famous pizza vs favorite pizza0:26Thin crust and the party cut0:41Which came first? Free pizza after Prohibition0:57Little Village: Home Run Inn1:14South Side: Vito's Tavern, and The Pizzeria downtown1:44Who invented deep dish?2:06The family tree: Malnati's, Gino's East, stuffed pizza2:31Fork or napkin: Chicago never had to choose2:50More cities, more pizza battles
SOURCES
- Peter Regas, "The Origins of Deep-Dish Pizza," Culinary Historians of Chicago
- National Geographic, "The story behind Chicago deep dish pizza"
- Tasting Table, "The Chicago Restaurant That Put Deep Dish Pizza On The Map"
- Mental Floss, "Who Invented Deep Dish Pizza?"
- Wikipedia, "Chicago-style pizza"
- Wikipedia, "Uno Pizzeria & Grill"
- Chicago YIMBY, "Two Historical Buildings Sold In River North" (2022)
- Preservation Chicago, on the Uno and Due buildings (citing Crain's Chicago Business)
- Gino's East, "About"
- Wikipedia, "Gino's East"
- InsideHook, "A 2,000-Word Argument for Chicago as the Best Pizza City in the US"
- Wikipedia, "Tavern-style pizza"
- Chicago magazine, on tavern-style pizza
- Food Republic, "Did Chicago Thin-Crust Or Deep-Dish Pizza Come First?"
- Food Republic, "Chicago-Style Pizza Is More Than Just Deep Dish"
- MEL Magazine, "Chicago's Actual Favorite Pizza? It's Not Deep-Dish"
- Fine Dining Lovers, Vito & Nick's Pizzeria
- DoMu, "History in Little Village"
- WBBM Newsradio, "Made in Chicago: Home Run Inn Pizza"
- FSR Magazine, Home Run Inn history
Spot something we got wrong? Tell us in the comments. Locals always know best.
SHORTS FROM THIS STORY
MORE STORIES TO TASTE
ALL STORIES →
← OLD FORGENEXT STORY: ALTOONA, NOVEMBER 8, 2026