David Witter

Taylor Street, the late 1890s. The neighborhood of Italian immigrants, largely from Naples, is packed with handcarts and makeshift stands selling fruit, vegetables, olive oil and bread. Speaking mostly in Italian, they buy, sell, argue and barter, when suddenly a man walks onto the street pushing a cart holding two copper washtubs. Their bottoms are packed with charcoal, keeping round pies of bread, tomato, spices and cheese hot. Walking near Taylor and Racine, he sells these pies for two cents each, and the people seem to like them. Little does he know that he is America's first pizza vendor, and in a hundred years those few cents would turn into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Pizza migrated from Naples to America via Chicago and Taylor Street, but according to "The History of Pizza," that was just one in many Chicago events that shaped the round pie. Chicago also claims to be the birthplace of both the deep dish and stuffed pizza.

Pizza itself goes back as far as to BC times, when Virgil's "Aeneid" mentions flat flour cakes, and evidence of the same was also found in the ashes of Pompeii. But pizza did not really get rolling until 1522, when tomatoes were brought to Naples from Peru. Known as "pizzaioli," it was a peasant dish, until King Umberto I (1844-1900) took a liking to it. In order to duplicate the colors of the Italian flag, it was fashioned out of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, taking it one step closer to the dish we know today.

The honor of the first American pizza parlor goes to Gennaro Lombardi's "Patraca dela Pizza" on New York's Spring Street, which is still open today. Not integrated into the American mainstream, the tomato pie remained as an ethnic enclave until 1943. That's when Chicagoan Ike Sewell opened Pizzeria Uno at 29 East Ohio. The key to this recipe was the crust. Baked in thick cast-iron pans in giant ovens, Uno's deep-dish crust revolutionized pizza. Sixty-five years later, Uno's, with its dark cavernous booths, is a landmark.

Other surviving pioneer pizza parlors in Chicago include the Home Run Inn. Originally started as a bar at 31st and Kildare in 1923, Nick Perrino, the son-in-law of the original owners, came up with an idea and started serving a medium-crust pie in 1947. Times were good and the small bar became crowded. Eventually demand got to the point where Perrino introduced another concept to the Chicago area--frozen pizzas.

The 1950s and early sixties were the glory days for the nationwide expansion of pizza. At that time, Italian-Americans were the rage, and stars like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin ("the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie") ruled Hollywood and Las Vegas while Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida rivaled Marilyn Monroe with their exotic beauty. Pizza was the new and trendy dish. A novelty like the hula-hoop or yoyo, its ease of cooking and the fact that you could eat it without utensils made it ideal for parties. Also, unlike hot dogs and hamburgers, pizza tastes good cold.

As a child in the 1970s, I grew up next to Franks Pizzeria on North Clark Street. I can still remember the smell of the pizzas blowing from the exhaust fan into my room in hot summer nights. Frank's was like hundreds of corner joints throughout Chicago selling pizza, chicken, ribs, Italian beef, frozen raviolis, etc. In order to break this pattern, the owners of Nancy's Pizza took the recipe from an Easter pie called Scarciedda and introduced another Chicago first, the stuffed pizza, in 1971.

Today Chicago has pizza any way you want it. Thick, thin, greasy, stuffed, wood-oven-baked, topped with vegetables, smoked meats, exotic cheeses and, of course, the old standbys mozzarella, pepperoni and sausage. If only the pushcart vendor on Taylor Street was alive to see it all today.

(2006-05-09)

Also by David Witter

Feeding Frenzy
In the old days, "Bridgeport and dining" usually meant meat. Steaks, ribs and chops from the nearby slaughterhouses served in restaurants like the Glass Dome Hickory Pit, where politicos like Richard J. Daley, Otto Kerner and William McFetridge cut into prime rib through thick clouds of cigar smoke
(2006-05-02)

A Fish Story
For many who grew up in and around Chicago, a fish dinner meant breaded perch, a fish sandwich, or every mom's favorite--fish sticks. Yet when you open the twenty-by-twenty-foot freezers at Rubino's Seafood, 735 West Lake, a different picture begins to emerge
(2006-03-28)

The Pork-Chop Wars
The smell of grilled onions is the first sign of the rivalry between The Express Grill, at 1260 South Union, and Jim's Original "Maxwell Street" next door
(2006-02-28)

The Chicago Archives of Alcohol
The best way to understand the history of Chicago is to go to a saloon. Much of Chicago's history, and especially its politics, revolved on a barstool
(2006-01-17)

Song Sung Blues
(2005-12-13)

Death in the Woods
(2005-10-25)

Puppy love
(2005-09-20)

Last, last call
(2005-08-16)

Old Town Blues
(2005-08-02)

Pie-eyed
(2005-07-21)

Carnies
(2005-06-28)

My parade, part 1
(2005-06-24)

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