"Mysteries of the Deep"...Dish Pizza

The cover story of the RedEye yesterday, “Mysteries of the Deep” was a fun historical lesson on the origins of the deep-dish pizza. Although little was solved in this mystery, it was nice to learn about the family’s that opened some of my absolute FAVORITE pizza establishments.

Did you know: Pizzeria Uno does approximately $3.2 million dollars of business a year?! $3.2 million. That’s incredible! I’m probably responsible for about $2.1 million of that alone. Kidding, but I do love and worship pizza.

It's sister, Pizzeria Due makes about $3.4 million a year, and most intriguing is that neither of them delivers. Their profit is solely based on dining-in.

Dining-in at a pizzeria was a thing of the past I thought. I had no idea people still did that. I guess not everyone is as lazy as me and actually leaves their house to eat pizza.

The article was not just pointing out how much these pizzeria’s make, more importantly they wanted to find out where and when the idea and recipes of the deep-dish originated and hopefully someone to claim it their own. Historian, Tim Samuelson spent countless hours researching to get to the bottom of this. Here is what he found out:
•The deep-dish emerged from a mansion on East Ohio and Wabash in the 1940s.

•The founders: Richard Novaretti “Ric Riccardo” and friend, Ike Sewell.

•They opened “The Pizzeria” in 1943, which soon became Pizzeria Riccardo.

•In 1955 the name was again changed to “Pizzeria Uno” and soon after they opened “Pizzeria Due” at Wabash and Ontario.

•Somewhere between the 40s and 50s, Rudy Malnati Sr. (sound familiar?) became a tenant of the mansion and close friends of Riccardo and Sewell.

And who to give credit to for the amazing deep-dish recipe? That, my friends, is still unknown despite Samuelson’s efforts to bring it to light.

Pizza Invades Chicago
If you’re like me, you are wondering ‘what about the other tasty pizzeria’s that specialize in deep-dish’? Luckily, the RedEye is one step ahead of you. Here are some interesting facts about other Chicago Pizzeria’s:

Gino’s East:

Alice Mae Redmond was first the cook at Uno’s before opening Gino’s East!

Lou Malnati’s:

A former bartender at Uno’s, Luciano Malnati became the manager at Due and later opened Lou Malnati’s!

Pizano’s:

Son, of Rudy Malnati, opened this pizzeria in honor of his father’s devotion to pizza.

So I guess no one will ever know who really invented the deep-dish pizza. Most give credit to Riccardo and Sewell, but Rudy Malnati Jr. thinks his father should be included. He insists that his father should get at least partial credit for the deep-dish invention because, “a 1956 news clipping calls his father the person who established Pizzeria Uno, and assurance that Malnati's 82-year-old widow still helps make the dough at Pizano's Pizza, which Malnati Jr. opened in 1991.”

I must admit that the article was a bit confusing. I thought that Rudy Malnati Sr. opened Lou Malnati’s after he broke away from Uno and Due…buuuuut the article says later that some “young bartender” from Uno actually opened it. I am confused as to why they did not specify who this Luciano Malnati is. Wouldn’t you suppose he is a relative of Rudy Malnati?? And if so, why was that not in the article?

Confusing. Either way, I am super hungry for pizza now. Where will your next pizza adventure take you? Feel free to e-mail me about your hottest pizza joint and their specialties: sally.k.dwyer@gmail.com Ciao!